Justice in Transitional Societies: has gender become a central issue?
attempted. This can most notably be seen in the area of police reform.
Several UN bodies such as the United Nation Population Fund, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations
Children Fund have invested in ‘gender training’ for national police forces in an attempt to advance gender in transitional justice (UN Women
2014). In addition to this, institutional reform has seen the introduction
of dedicated police units specifically designed to address crimes against
women. For example, in Rwanda, a Gender-Based Violence Office was
established at the Rwandan National Police Force HQ in 2005 (Anderson
2014), whilst the UNDP has constructed a Women and Child Protection
Unit in Liberia (Aleem 2013: 67). The development of gender units within state security provision help support attitudinal change both in state
institutions and also in the general public, advancing gender as a central
issue in transitional justice.
Institutional reform regarding judicial systems has also been seen to promote gender in transitional societies. For example, in 2005 Spain set up
Courts on Violence against Women, which have the specific jurisdiction
to tackle domestic violence and other gender-based harms against women (Quast 2008: 11). In Ecuador and Peru, courts receive support from
NGOs which specialise in domestic violence (Quast 2008: 11). Other
initiatives such as establishing free legal services for vulnerable women
and improving access to justice in rural areas have been seen in Liberia
(Griffiths and Valasek 2013: 144).
The opportunity to facilitate institutional reform often comes in the form
of peace agreements which have tended to exclude women (Bell and
O’Rourke 2007: 24). There is a need for a greater presence of women at the negotiation stage of peace agreements. Dharmapuri (2011: 65)
highlights the effectiveness of women in the post-conflict resolution and
peacekeeping missions, stating that:
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