WUNRN
International Center for
Transitional Justice
WOMEN
& TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE
Women in the village of Svay Khleang, Cambodia, read a book
about the ECCC's work. (Brendan Brady/IRIN)
Gender-based violence is often a common element of conflict and authoritarian regimes. In these contexts, impunity for violations against women is pervasive. At the same time, women are often absent or underrepresented in efforts to address such abuse.
Despite increased international attention to the gender dimensions of conflict, gender justice concerns have yet to be integrated in many transitional justice initiatives. Recent examples of truth commission mandates, judicial opinions, and reparations programs have shown little regard for the distinct and complex nature of gender-based violations.
Recent developments in international law on gender-based violations and resolutions (such as UN Security Council Resolution 1325, 1820, 1888 on women, peace and security) have strengthened the international community’s commitment to combating these crimes. However, despite these advances, there has been limited success in prosecuting crimes of gender violence at the domestic or international level.
What Role Can
Transitional Justice Play?
Transitional justice mechanisms offer a means to pursue gender justice by revealing gendered patterns of abuse, enhancing access to justice, and building momentum for reform.
Transitional justice mechanisms can assist gender activists to challenge structural causes of gender inequality, by publicly acknowledging the factors that made such abuse possible. Recommendations made by truth commissions and reparations initiatives can challenge discriminatory practices that contribute to women’s vulnerability during repression and conflict.
Transitional justice mechanisms also offer women opportunities to participate in and influence peace-building processes. This can be achieved by ensuring participation of women’s rights groups and victims in shaping and monitoring transitional justice processes.
ICTJ’s Role
ICTJ works to ensure that women’s voices infuse every aspect of transitional justice, and that women have the skills and knowledge they need to meaningfully participate in transitional justice initiatives.
Our research aims to provide new insights into how the gender dynamics of conflict can be addressed by transitional justice. For example, we have examined how sexual minorities are specifically targeted for human rights violations by state actors and armed groups, and how often these victims are invisible in transitional justice processes.
We give technical support to gender activists on the ground, and seek to strengthen their policy influence by linking them to a global transitional justice network.
- We support local women’s groups to influence
transitional justice processes. We provide them with the knowledge and
tools they need to do their work. In 2011, we will run workshops on
transitional justice for local women’s activists throughout the MENA
region.
- We bring activists together to learn, share ideas and
strategies. In 2010, we connected women activists from across the African
Great Lakes region at a workshop to discuss transitional justice
opportunities and challenges in their countries. Activists used this
opportunity to strategize on their engagement in the [ICC Review
Conference] in Kampala.
- We advise policymakers on implementing gender justice
initiatives. In 2007, we worked with the Liberian
Truth Commission to help draft their gender policy.
- We share examples of transitional justice in other
countries to help craft policies and procedures to address gender-based
violence. For example, ICTJ has shared lessons learned from the Peru, Sierra
Leone and Timor-Leste
truth commission experiences with women’s groups and policymakers in Liberia
and Nepal.
This information was then used to help draft truth commission policies and
legislation.
- We research and analyze global processes to address
gender justice. We have developed resource materials to share this
expertise with others, including country case studies and an operational
handbook on truth commissions.
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TRANSITIONAL
JUSTICE FOR RULE OF LAW & HUMAN RIGHTSFOR EVERY CITIZEN - GENDER
15
November 2012 - The message from the new generation of young people in the Middle
East and North Africa is clear: they want a “relationship between the State and
its people which is built on the rule of law and respect for human
rights”.Addressing a consultation in Cairo on transitional justice developments
in the region, senior representative from the Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights, Mona Rishmawi said, “for decades, people in the region have
suffered from the denial of their basic rights. They endured torture, arbitrary
detention emergency rules, the denial of freedom of speech and association, the
shrinking of political space and the forging of elections, when and if they
took place.”
Rishmawi
told the participants from Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, among others,
that, “the wall of fear and silence has fallen and the desire and determination
of people to claim their rights regardless of the personal sacrifices and pain
is being proven on a daily basis.”
The movements for reform and democratic change which started in Tunisia two years ago generated uprisings across the region.
Transiting from authoritarian regimes to systems of governance based on participation, accountability and justice requires a process of transitional justice, Rishmawi said.
“Transitional justice relies on four equally important [interlinked] pillars,” she said, “prosecution, truth seeking, reparations and institutional reform.”
According to Rishmawi, “The notion [of transitional justice] also addresses the establishment of effective governance based on the democratic principles that every citizen has the right directly, or through freely chosen representatives, to have a say in the direction of his/her country.”
The UN Human Rights Office is the lead agency on transitional justice within the United Nations community and is working in collaboration with others, in more than 25 countries globally, in policy development, standard setting and training, capacity building, and coordination.
Transitional justice may include individual prosecutions, reparations, truth-seeking, institutional reform, vetting and dismissals, or a combination of those, all associated with a society’s attempts to come to terms with a legacy of large-scale past abuses, in order to ensure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation.
Transitional justice processes are on-going in several countries in the Middle East North Africa region, assisting in dealing with serious past abuses including extra-judicial killings, widespread torture, enforced disappearance, and arbitrary detention.
UN Special Rapporteur Pablo de Greiff, in his address to the regional consultation stressed that, “transitional justice is not a distinct form of justice, but a strategy for achieving justice in the aftermath of massive violations.“
De Greiff took up his appointment as the Special Rapporteur on the promotion
of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence by the Human
Rights Council in March 2012.
“The four measures covered by the mandate - truth-seeking, justice, reparation
and guarantees of non-recurrence – offer a way forward,“ he said, “and can assist
in providing recognition to victims, fostering trust and reconciliation, and
strengthening the rule of law.“
Noting that the field of transitional justice has assumed much greater significance in recent years, De Grief said that the question now is “not to ask whether to deal with the past, but rather to ask how.“
“A growing number of countries, he said, have successfully moved from periods of repression and abuse to a brighter future incorporating respect for and implementation of human rights and rule of law standards, as well as development”
Participants at the regional consultation discussed a number of issues requiring particular focus in the development of transitional justice programs: national consultation and participation through the initial planning phases and beyond: special measures to allow meaningful participation by women; and inclusion of economic, social and cultural rights as well as civil and political rights in transitional justice processes to ensure the root causes of repression are addressed.
The consultation also considered the reform of national security institutions to prevent the recurrence of violations. “There is little doubt,” Rishmawi said, “that the main structures to be reformed are the security institutions, formal and informal,… to ensure that they are properly accountable and that they do not behave as if they are above the law.”
She emphasized that a cornerstone of the UN approach to transitional justice, is the issue of amnesties: “Amnesties are unacceptable if they prevent the prosecution of individuals who are criminally responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other gross violations of human rights,” she said.
The consultation was a joint initiative of the UN Human Rights Office, the United Nations Development Programme and the UN Special Rapporteur on truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Pablo de Greiff, with the participation of UN Women.