|
|
UN Women Releases First Major Report
Wednesday, July 13, 2011 2:35 PM
UN Women has released its first major report, Progress of the World’s Women 2011-2012: In Pursuit of Justice, which focuses on laws and systems that reinforce inequality between men and women. The report states that women around the world face the most challenges seeking justice in the areas of women’s rights in the domestic sphere, such as marriage and sexuality, and economic rights. This discrimination can come from discriminatory laws, ineffective implementation of legislation, and from a lack of consideration of the barriers women face in accessing the justice system.
The report includes reform plans to help governments make progress in eliminating discrimination against women through legislation, the judicial system and other government entities. The report also addresses the challenges of achieving justice for women during and after conflicts, and argues for greater focus on gender equality as a foundation for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
The report concludes with ten recommendations for countries to improve justice systems for women. These recommendations include: supporting women’s legal organizations, reducing case attrition by creating “one-stop shops” that bring legal, healthcare and other support services under one roof, implementing gender-sensitive law reform, increasing the number of women legislators through quotas, and promoting the employment of women in law enforcement. Other steps for reform focus on ensuring that judges are properly trained, improving women’s access to justice and reparations programs during and after conflict, increasing funding for strengthening women’s access to justice, and focusing on advancing gender equality in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
|
|
|