A practitioner’s toolkit on women’s access to justice programming”, developed jointly by UN Women, UNDP, UNODC, and OHCHR, and launched by Nicole Ameline, a member of the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) during the 62nd session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, demonstrates that these problems are not insurmountable.
It provides practical guidance on how such challenges can be addressed across justice systems more broadly, as well as within the key context areas of marriage, family and property rights; ending violence against women; and women in conflict with the law, with special reference to country-level programming. Designed primarily for staff of the United Nations system, the toolkit presents a menu of options for responding to current deficits in women’s access to justice programming and the growing demand for technical assistance in this area. It consolidates and complements existing resources and aims at stimulating bolder gender-responsive justice interventions for the full realization of the rights of women and girls.
This Practitioner’s Toolkit on Women’s Access to Justice Programming harnesses experiences, lessons and promising practices to ensure non-discriminatory and inclusive justice systems. It is meant to inform and inspire comprehensive, rights-based access to justice programming that recognizes women’s rights as indivisible and interdependent. The Toolkit signals a determination to explore new ways of doing business.
Thematic Areas
While relevant to such contexts, the Toolkit is also capable of responding to evolving shifts and developments in global and regional situations. In this context, the Toolkit is a dynamic tool, capable of expanding over time. It elaborates on the theory and practice of women’s access to justice and incorporates thematic “deep dives” into the areas of:
- marriage, family and property rights;
- ending violence against women;
- women in conflict with the law; and
- programming at the country level.
What is Covered by Toolkit?
This Toolkit presents a common operational model for the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of women’s access to justice programmes in all country contexts, crisis situations (conflict, post conflict, natural disasters and development) and across legal systems.
Examples
It reaffirms the importance of justice for women through a range of examples of innovative programming, grounded in a human rights approach and builds on three mutually reinforcing programmatic entry points:
- reforming formal and informal legal norms, policies and budgets that discriminate against women;
- reforming justice institutions with a view to making them effective, accountable and gender-responsive; and
- legally empowering women.
Programming Principles
The adoption of the four UNDAF integrated programming principles (leave no one behind; human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment; sustainability and resilience; and accountability) and three programming entry points (creating an enabling environment for women’s access to justice; effective, accountable and gender responsive justice institutions; and women’s legal empowerment) ensure that the following perspectives are taken into account in programming:
- The elimination of discrimination based on both sex and gender across the entire justice chain, recognizing the complex network of actors and institutions.
- The varying needs and circumstances of diverse groups of women. The Toolkit promotes the inclusive agenda of leave no woman behind—especially those who face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination based on personal characteristics and situational circumstances such as age, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity, location and HIV/AIDS status.
- A continuum in women’s access to justice programming across all country contexts— conflict, post-conflict, humanitarian and development (low, medium to high human development), including when countries transition across such contexts.
- Limited awareness of rights-holders (women) and duty-bearers (justice actors) of their rights and duties within and across the justice chain as well as accountability for their actions.
- Considerations for the local context, history, politics and culture of the country in question.
You can Download this Free Toolkit From here.
