Ms. Anne Marie Goetz, the Chief Adviser on Governance, Peace and Security at the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Wednesday called for greater access to justice for women in both national and international judicial systems.
Goetz also stressed the need for the newly-created UN entity for women empowerment (UN Women) to play an important role in promoting justice for women, especially in post-conflict situations.
'Justice for women is still an afterthought,” Goetz said at a news conference at the UN headquarters to highlight a report by the Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice, an international NGO on gender issues at the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC).
She noted that UN Women should also be an important actor within the UN system on women access to justice, saying that, 'it is critical for accountability and for the implementation of national and international commitments on women rights.'
According to her, 'UN women will be looking into transitional justice mechanisms such as truth and reconciliation commissions (TRCs) in countries where they are set up.'
The adviser said a recent analysis of 20 TRCs across the world found that only in two of them did women make up a third of the commissioners, adding that, 'women witnesses also remained a minority.'
Meanwhile, the report card by the Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice on ICC stated that issues before the Court that affect women have often not been successful.
It said that, 'a significant number of cases on gender-based violence were dismissed for lack of sufficient evidence and also because investigations were not thorough enough.'
