Tillgång till rättvisa för kvinnor i Asien UN Women, ICJ och OHCHR i samverkan

According to the first global synapses of the justice gap presented by the Task Force on Justice in its 2019 report, the majority of the worlds population does not have access to meaningful justice. Over five billion people fall into at least one of three groups of people denied justice: people living in the most extreme conditions of injustice, people who are unable to have their justice problems resolved, and people who cannot enjoy the rights and protections law provides. Women's unmet justice needs reflect experiences of disadvantage, exclusion, discrimination and violence. The social norms and stereotypes that discriminate against women can materialize as legal discrimination or can obstruct the implementation of laws to protect women's rights. Examples of results: - The programme addressed these challenges by applying a people-centred approach to legislative change and supporting formal justice mechanisms to enhance women's rights protections. Efforts to close the justice gap include supporting the diversification of justice mechanisms, specifically by working with community-based justice mechanisms and whole communities to provide protection and prevent legal and social problems. The programme convened a platform for over 1,800 women to engage with formal and community-based justice mechanisms. The communities took part in justice dialogues to prevent discrimination and provide protection for women justice seekers. - The programme used international obligations and frameworks to advance gender equality within justice systems. For example the CEDAW reporting process in Indonesia led to the passage of the Anti-Sexual Violence Act in mid-2022. The engagement process was OHCHR and UN Women working jointly with Komnas Perempuan (End Violence against Women and Girls or EVAW Commission) to support a monitoring system for the implementation of the Anti-Sexual Violence Bill. ICJ had urged the government to prevent sexual violence and provide redress to the survivor of sexual violence. - The Bangkok General Guidance for Judges on Applying a Gender Perspective (BGG) helps to promote fairness in the adjudication of cases, which will in effect allow equal opportunity, equal access and equal outcomes in the dispensation of justice to those whose rights are at risk because of their gender. ICJ hosted a South Asia Judicial Dialogue with thirty judges from across the region. The result was the BGG has been incorporated into the Nepal Supreme Courts Strategy document. Maldives judiciary has asked ICJ for assistance to incorporate the BGG within their court system. 235 (157 women) lawyers were trained in the focus countries on women's access to justice and BGG. - In Fiji, 35 lawyers (21 women and 14 men) attended a hybrid workshop conducted in partnership with the Fiji Women Lawyers Association. The primary objective was to assist lawyers to identify gender discriminatory practices and improve access to justice for women. Some lawyers later offered pro bono services to the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre, which works with victims of domestic and other forms of gender-based violence. - In Nepal, the programme led to increased public satisfaction with community-based justice providers. While a baseline survey of 10 programme communities in October 2019 showed a satisfaction rate of 14 per cent, this increased to 52 per cent by December 2021. Platforms for dialogue were developed for regular exchanges among local judicial committees, mediators, informal justice actors, district courts, mayors, police, lawyers and women human rights defenders (WHRDs). In total, the programme supported dialogues among 604 justice and service providers, including 60 committee members (34 women, 26 men), 234 mediators (125 women, 109 men), 202 informal justice providers (84 women, 118 men) and 108 (55 women, 53 men) other service actors such as shelter providers, women CSOs, etc. Regular exchanges between service providers and communities strengthened trust and the social contract towards sustaining peaceful communities. Two local governments acknowledged the importance of gender responsive justice and allocated USD 20,000 of their own resources to strengthen the judicial committees in their districts. - In Indonesia, the programme established a platform for regular exchanges among pokjas, counselling services, CSOs and government legal aid services. This led to a service referral agreement among the parties. Nine training sessions for 79 pokja members (47 women and 32 men) on international human rights and the legislative framework for women's rights, including legal services, helped develop guidelines covering basic paralegal knowledge, referral procedures and formal justice structures, and advocacy strategies for womens rights. - In the Philippines, the Philippines Commission on Women committed to developing a policy paper on women in detention. The Philippines Representative to the ASEAN Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Women and Children accepted membership to the Technical Working Group on Women in Conflict with the Law and is offering to leverage her regional advocacy to gain national government support for the policy agenda on women in conflict with the law. - The programme continues to function as the secretariat and source of capacity-building for the Pacific Human Rights Defenders Network, which has grown into a coalition of 105 human rights defenders from different Pacific Islands countries and territories. They exchanged good practices and challenges in promoting and protecting women's human rights and elaborated recommendations for a Pacific strategy to protect human rights defenders. - It was found that the project has made progress on working with a number of allies to strengthen WA2J. OHCHR has been working with UNEP on the protection and promotion of environment and HRDs. UN Women collaborated with the regional UNODC Asia Pacific as leading UN sister agency working on law enforcement and women in conflict with the law. At the country level, UN Women works with UNDP, specifically in Nepal, Indonesia and Timor- Leste. At the regional level, UN Women and UNDP jointly implement a Behavioural Insights and Gender Justice pilot initiative. - A joint UN working group Access to Justice for women and girls with disabilities was established between UN Women, UNFPA and UNICEF. With UNFPA there are also informal exchanges and support SRHR and justice for women with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities.