UN: Justice Still Out Of Reach For Millions Of Women

Flagship report from UN’s new organization for women recognizes progress, but calls on governments to take urgent action to end the injustices that keep women poorer and less powerful than men in every country in the world 24 November 2011, UN Women Timor-Leste:

Justice remains out of reach for millions of the world’s women, a flagship report launched on 24 November by UN Women and the Ministry of Justice warns.

On 24 November at the Legal Training Centre, Rua de Caicoli, Dili, UN Women and the Ministry of Justice launched the first flagship report of UN Women, Progress of the World’s Women: In Pursuit of Justice. This publication is UN Women’s first major report, following the organization’s launch in 2010. It recognizes the positive progress made – 139 countries and territories now guarantee gender equality in their constitutions, for example – but also shows that too often, women continue to experience injustice, violence and inequality in their home and working lives.

The Progress report highlights ten recommendations to make justice systems work for women:

1. Support women’s legal organizations

2. Support one-stop shops and specialized services to reduce attrition in the justice chain

3. Implement gender-sensitive law reform

4. Use quotas to boost the number of women legislators

5. Put women on the front line of law enforcement

6. Train judges and monitor decisions

7. Increase women’s access to courts and truth commissions during and after conflict

8. Implement gender-responsive reparations programmes

9. Invest in women’s access to justice

10. Put gender equality at the heart of the millennium development Goals

To ensure justice becomes a reality for all women, UN Women calls on governments to:

• Repeal laws that discriminate against women, and ensure that legislation protects women from violence and inequality in the home and the workplace.

• Support innovative justice services, including one-stop shops, legal aid and specialized courts, to ensure women can access the justice to which they are entitled.

• Put women on the frontline of justice delivery. As police, judges, legislators and activists, women in every region are making a difference and bringing about change.

• Invest in justice systems that can respond to women’s needs. Donors spend US$4.2 billion annually on aid for justice reform, but only 5% of this spending specifically targets women and girls. “With half the world’s population at stake, the findings of this report are a powerful call to action. The foundations for justice for women have been laid: in 1911, just two countries in the world allowed women to vote – now that right is virtually universal. But full equality demands that women become men’s true equals in the eyes of the law – in their home and working lives, and in the public sphere.” Michelle Bachelet, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women.

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