6. Access to justice and accountability to prevent and respond to gender-based violence
This chapter focuses on victim/survivor-centred access to justice and accountability, as key elements in preventing and responding to gender-based violence (GBV), under the Access to Justice and Accountability Pillar of the OECD GBV Framework. It examines key aspects of access to justice, including paid leave, accessible information, prosecution and punishment mechanisms, and highlights good practices across all aspects. It also examines COVID-19’s impact on access to justice and explores the role of data on victims/survivors and perpetrators in preventing femicide/feminicide. The chapter concludes with recommendations to improve access to justice and accountability. The findings are based on 26 countries’ responses to the 2022 OECD Survey on Strengthening Governance and Survivor/Victim-centric Approaches to End GBV (2022 OECD GBV Survey).
In this report, “gender” and “gender-based violence” are interpretated by countries taking into account international obligations, as well as national legislation.
Ensuring access to justice for victims/survivors is an essential part of holistic GBV frameworks and can guarantee the protection and support to prevent recurrence of violence, heal from experiences and enforce accountability for their perpetrators. However, due to a persistent justice gap, women, especially those from vulnerable backgrounds, are disproportionately left behind by justice systems, leaving them without protection.
Identifying GBV-related legal and justice needs is critical to tailor GBV responses to enable effective protection of victims/survivors and ensure access to justice. Justice systems also need to understand and account for the particular legal needs of victims/survivors, including compounding needs for justice arising from complex and parallel criminal and civil proceedings. Yet only a few countries reported systematic efforts in this regard.
Expensive, complex legal processes often discourage victims/survivors from pursuing their cases, and these barriers are compounded for women and girls with intersectional identities. Gender bias in legal systems and social stigma constitute further hurdles for victims/survivors.
Progress has been made in reducing and eliminating financial, structural and social barriers to justice, including paid leaves and legal aid, but some measures are underused: only 35% of respondent countries (8 out of 23) reported enacting measures that granted victims/survivors access to additional paid leave.
Several countries have stepped up efforts to make information about their rights and legal processes available, including distributing information about laws and rights in person (e.g. in counselling and information centres), or through free phonelines/helplines and technological means (e.g. online). Yet further efforts are needed to go beyond self-guided help, in a way that reaches all types of GBV victims/survivors – including immigrant and ethnic populations and especially those with no access to technological means (e.g. users unfamiliar with digital technology, persons with mental health concerns, persons of low income, persons living in remote areas, refugees, vulnerable families, homeless, disabled persons and frail persons).
Despite progress, the full potential of innovative resolution practices has yet to be achieved. More countries need to introduce models that rely on problem-solving justice, for example, domestic violence courts that can address root causes of GBV, protect victims/survivors more efficiently and reduce the burdens of pursuing multiple cases in parallel. Measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic to help facilitate access to justice for GBV victims/survivors, including virtual court proceedings and simplified police, prosecutor offices, and/or court procedures for receiving and solving complaints, demonstrate agility and innovative potential in improving justice pathways for victims/survivors, which need to be capitalised on.
Efficient law enforcement is essential to protect victims/survivors and to ensure accountability of perpetrators, yet only 45% of respondents (10 out of 22) have undertaken evaluations on law enforcement’s performance in protecting and supporting victims/survivors in the last five years.
While evidence has been collected on measures that can reduce the rates of intentional killings of women and girls (referred to as femicide/feminicide), countries are not implementing them enough to combat the most extreme manifestation of GBV. Only 35% of respondents (8 out of 23) reported conducting or funding projects or programmes that document and analyse femicides/feminicides.
This chapter focuses on access to justice and accountability for GBV. It covers core elements of the Access to Justice and Accountability Pillar (Box 6.1) of the OECD GBV Governance Framework. Drawing on the 2022 OECD GBV Survey, it reviews OECD member countries’ efforts to enhance access to legal, justice and social services and respond to the legal needs of victims/survivors. It also examines good practices illustrating co-ordinated responses through multiple sectors, including during emergencies.
The OECD GBV Governance Framework had developed the following key elements for holistic, victim/survivor-centric justice systems, which ensure access to justice, tailor services to victims/survivors’ legal needs and emphasise perpetrators’ accountability:
GBV responses understand and account for the intersectional legal needs of victims/survivors and take measures to reduce financial, structural and social barriers to justice.
Holding GBV perpetrators accountable is a key element of access to justice. This encompasses ensuring the efficiency of law enforcement, enforcing protection orders and working with perpetrators to address root causes.
This Pillar also includes creating justice responses other than, or in addition to, prosecution (such as innovative resolution practices), if the victims/survivors have consented to them.
Governments undertake efforts that analyse and collect data on femicides/feminicides to prevent further instances from occurring.
Source: OECD (2021[1]), Eliminating Gender-based Violence: Governance and Survivor/Victim-centred Approaches, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/42121347-en.
Access to justice is critically important in GBV cases, as it can provide victims/survivors with the protection, support and accountability they need to recover and heal from their experiences. It can provide protection from future harm by holding perpetrators accountable for their actions, and it can also help victims/survivors obtain redress, and help raise awareness of GBV and its impact. It can also empower victims/survivors by giving them a voice in the justice system and helping them regain a sense of control over their lives, and finally, preventing impunity for perpetrators of GBV by holding them accountable for their actions. A lack of access to justice in turn can impact the social, emotional and financial outcomes of victims/survivors and their families. At the same time, the majority of victims/survivors do not report their experiences and pursue their cases, in addition to persistent justice gaps for women, especially with intersecting identities and/or from vulnerable backgrounds, leaving many victims/survivors without adequate protection and responses. As noted in the 2021 Report, victims/survivors may face repercussions such as losing custody of a child and being more likely to remain in situations of violence (OECD, 2021[1]). A lack of access can therefore be a source of disempowerment for victims/survivors who already face gender inequalities and discrimination (OECD, 2021[1]).
6.2.1. Removing financial, structural and social barriers to justice
Employing clear strategies to facilitate access to justice for GBV victims/survivors involves identifying and removing the legal and institutional barriers to justice that they face. Indeed, evidence suggests that the majority of women victims/survivors do not report their experiences to the authorities. According to an estimation from UN Women, less than 40% of women who experience violence report their experience, and if they do, most seek help from family or friends and less than 10% of women report their experiences to the police (UN Women, 2020[2]). In addition, even if victims/survivors report their cases to the police, they are often revictimised after engaging with law enforcement and/or retraumatised by proceedings (OECD, 2020[3]), which leaves them with a lack of trust in these institutions. This points to the severe reality that the legal needs of the vast majority of victims/survivors are unmet and that they continue not to be protected by justice systems.
Barriers to justice can persist for both women and men, but women victims/survivors also face structural gender inequalities that compound their obstacles. The gender justice gap persists globally: according to the World Justice Project, only 35% of women worldwide believe that they have equal access to the justice system, compared to 44% of men (World Justice Project, 2019[4]) Victims/survivors may be financially and socially vulnerable, and they may also face stigma and social pressure not to pursue their cases and may not trust legal systems.
This is especially true for women and girls facing multiple oppressions, such as women and girls with disabilities, trans women and girls, lesbian and bisexual women and girls, migrant women and girls, Indigenous women and girls, women and girls who are visible minorities, senior women, women and girls living in remote and rural areas, and women and girls living in poverty. Such barriers include:
Financial barriers (e.g. the direct cost of services, fines, transportation, childcare and an inability to take time off work).
Structural barriers (e.g. legalese, lack of awareness, complex or convoluted judicial procedures, inadequate legal protection and a lack of translated materials or interpretation services).
Social barriers (e.g. gender-based and other identity-based stereotypes, stigma and shame, bias and discrimination in the justice system and other institutions, distrust of judicial and law enforcement actors, fear of reprisal and a lack of education or literacy) (OECD, 2021[1]).
Addressing these barriers requires a multifaceted approach that involves education, advocacy, policy reform and the provision of adequate resources and support services. This includes ensuring that laws and policies are in place to protect victims/survivors, raising awareness about GBV and the importance of seeking help, providing access to legal aid and other support services, and working to change cultural and social attitudes that perpetuate violence against women. In addition, addressing many barriers to access to justice requires improving victim/survivor-centred justice pathways to ensure that victims/survivors can access justice and protection in a timely, effective manner. This calls for enhancing support services such as counselling, medical care, and legal aid, strengthening collaboration and co-ordination among different actors in the justice system, including police, prosecutors, judges and service providers, and engaging communities.
Removing gender bias from the justice system is crucial to ensure that individuals are equally treated under the law. This calls for promoting gender-sensitive training for judges, lawyers and legal professionals, to help identify and address gender bias in decision making, increasing the representation of women in the legal profession to create a more diverse legal system, raising awareness of the public, as well as systematically assessing justice system policies and practices to eliminate conscious or unconscious bias.
Integrated justice pathways to reduce legal burdens and combat barriers
Integrated justice pathways have the potential to create victim/survivor-centric justice systems that can simplify procedures and reduce the burdens on victims/survivors. This method creates a more holistic approach, where legal and justice services are part of a coherent system, with seamless referrals and transfers of legal problems across a service continuum, based on collaboration between legal, justice and other human service providers (OECD, 2021[5]). Countries are coming to recognise the importance of co-ordinated and integrated services in assisting victims/survivors and their role in eliminating barriers to justice. In Poland, the Justice Fund provides significant legal, psychological and financial support, as well as temporary accommodation, shelter and education. The fund aims to further reduce victims/survivors’ financial constraints by offering to cover costs of childcare, electricity, gas, water and rent. Integrated justice pathways can also help reduce revictimisation rates. Slovenia, for example, has made efforts to improve the exchange of data and files in criminal cases concerning violence among different stakeholders, with the goal of diminishing secondary victimisation (OECD, 2019[6]). See Section 6.3.2 for further discussion of integrated justice.
Providing legal aid and making legal information accessible for victims/survivors
Strengthening legal literacy is a major challenge for all jurisdictions, given the complexity of laws and legal systems and, notwithstanding national education systems, limited practical opportunities to ensure the community receives adequate education and information to understand the law. The provision of legal information is one important means of addressing this challenge (OECD, 2021[5]).
One strategy to facilitate access to justice for victims/survivors of GBV is to make information on laws and rights accessible to them. A victim/survivor-centred approach to addressing GBV requires that these stakeholders be sufficiently informed about legal aid and other legal assistance mechanisms for both civil and criminal law needs. Such mechanisms should be responsive to their needs and, in the case of girls, explained by their level of maturity and understanding. Girls face particular barriers when accessing justice, including the complexity of the justice system and the difficulty for children of navigating such processes (OECD, 2021[1]).
Legal processes can also be expensive. The cost of legal representation in both criminal and civil processes constitutes a major financial barrier for victims/survivors, who may already be in vulnerable financial situations after their abuse. This can be compounded for those of socially, and economically vulnerable backgrounds. Free or cost-effective counselling and legal advice could be an important tool to combat this obstacle to justice. Legal aid can be employed for victims/survivors to help pay for legal advice and representation in court, an essential step towards accessing justice and accountability. It should not only cover the assistance in criminal cases, but also in civil matters, including divorce proceedings and children’s custody cases. It can also be a valuable tool to combat structural barriers that include the complexity of processes and low levels of legal literacy. Research shows that in at least 45 countries that have instituted this measure for victims/survivors, legal aid contributes to women’s empowerment and gender equality. Private companies (including law firms) in several countries have also taken the initiative to help victims/survivors directly, through pro bono services or legal clinics. A promising example emerged in the Netherlands, which has set up an accessible platform for legal aid for victims/survivors (Box 6.2).
In the Netherlands, an online dispute resolution platform, Rechtwijzer, was set up to offer a comprehensive guide to possible legal options free of charge. This site refers to other services as well, including the Juridisch Loket (or Legal Services Counters), which offer 60 minutes of free, in-person and/or remote (via phone or internet) legal counselling.
Source: UN Women et al. (2019[7]), Justice for Women: High-level Group Report, https://www.justice.sdg16.plus/_files/ugd/6c192f_b931d73c685f47808922b29c241394f6.pdf.
The responses to the 2022 OECD GBV Survey revealed that member countries currently use several types of measures and formats to provide legal services and information about laws and rights to GBV victims/survivors. These formats include delivering information in person (e.g. in counselling and information centres), through free phonelines/helplines and by technological means (e.g. online). Some countries (notably Costa Rica and Estonia) reported delivering some of these measures simultaneously by directing their delivery through a designated federal entity. Greece also disseminates information using various formats and distributes them through an institutional national network (Box 6.3).
In Greece, the General Secretariat for Demography, Family Policy and Gender Equality (GSDFPGE) is the competent governmental authority for gender equality. It is also the competent entity for preventing and combating violence against women, designated to monitor the implementation of the Istanbul Convention of the Council of Europe. Women victims of all forms of violence (including immigrants and refugees) can receive information from the GSDFPGE National Network of Structures about their rights, support services and the legal remedies available to them. The Network of Structures includes:
The 19 shelters across Greece (for the accommodation of women victims and their children).
The national SOS 15900 helpline. It operates 24/7, 365 days a year, free of charge, and provides counselling services in both Greek and English. The helpline also employs two interpreters to support Farsi and Arabic-speaking women.
The 44 Counselling Centres throughout the country. Workers provide interpretation in multiple languages to the Counselling Centres and support women by accompanying them to services. In 2021, under the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, interpretation services were provided mainly via telephone/Skype calls.
https://isotita.gr/w; the official website of the GSDFPGE, available in English and Greek where the reader can keep up to date on the available services under the institution, its activities, actions and latest (legal) news.
https://womensos.gr/; the GSDFPGE’s social networking website, which is only partially accessible in EN and GR, AR, and Farsi. The site provides information on the forms of violence against women, how to recognise violence and where to seek support.
https://metoogreece.gr/; the first governmental platform to collect information on issues of sexual harassment, abuse and violence. The website includes all the helplines for immediate help and support and information on different forms of gender-based violence.
TV and radio spots. These have been created to inform and raise public awareness about violence against women, co-financed by Greece and the European Union and broadcast both on television and radio and on the GSDFPGE official website. In 2021, the GSDFPGE launched the “Words Likes Knives” campaign, to raise awareness and sensitise the public on violence against women.
Two counselling guides, one on GBV and one on labour counselling.
Source: OECD (2022), Survey on Strengthening Governance and Survivor/Victim-centric Approaches to End Gender-based Violence.
Given that self-guided help is not appropriate or accessible for everyone, certain OECD countries reported instituting additional measures to support access to legal information. Hungary, for example, has Court Witness Advisers – officials of the court responsible for providing witnesses summoned to a court hearing with information and counselling. A similar mechanism exists in the United Kingdom, where the Ministry of Justice funds the Court Based Witness Service (CBWS). The CBWS provides support and information to witnesses (and families and friends, when their presence is material to the ability of the witness to present evidence) attending any criminal court in England and Wales, to help them give their best evidence. Outreach support is additionally offered for vulnerable and intimidated witnesses.
On first contact with GBV victims/survivors in the Slovak Republic, the Police Force provides them with the information in both oral and written form. This information includes:
procedures related to the filing of a criminal complaint and the rights and obligations of a victim
contact information for entities providing assistance to victims
the conditions for providing protection in the event of a threat of danger to life or health, or significant damage to property
procedures for seeking redress in the event of a violation of one’s rights in criminal proceedings by law enforcement authorities
procedures related to claiming compensation for damage in criminal proceedings
possibilities and conditions for concluding a reconciliation
possibility and conditions of compensation for the costs of criminal proceedings for a victim.
When carrying out the duty to provide information in specific cases, police officers also take into account the individual needs of the victim, depending on their age, state of health, mental state or, for example, the nature of the specific crime.
Source: OECD (2022), Survey on Strengthening Governance and Survivor/Victim-centric Approaches to End Gender-based Violence.
Yet gaps remain in offering information in a wide range of formats and measures that go beyond self-guided help, in a way that reaches all types of GBV victims/survivors – including immigrant and ethnic populations and in particular, those without access to technological means (e.g. users unfamiliar with digital technology, persons with mental health concerns, persons of low income, persons living in remote areas, refugees, vulnerable families, homeless, disabled persons and frail persons).
The impact of paid leave on access to justice
Victims/survivors should be protected against work-related discrimination and termination resulting from their experiences of GBV (OECD, 2021[1]). Some countries report introducing a range of measures that facilitate access to justice and ensure that taking legal action has no impact on victims/survivors’ employment and income. Thus, in the 2022 OECD GBV Survey, only 35% of respondent countries (8 out of 23) reported enacting measures that granted victims/survivors access to additional paid leave, with 15 countries reporting that this type of measure had not been enacted. Although not all countries specified the duration of the paid leave available, respondents’ answers varied from a few days (e.g. in Australia and Portugal), to months (e.g. in Spain). Only the Netherlands reported granting GBV victims/survivors the right to paid leave for as long as necessary. Most countries reported that the type of employees covered by these measures were primarily those working full- and part-time in the public and private sector, with only Portugal reporting any coverage of self-employed and non-employed victims.
Some of the barriers reported included identifying and understanding barriers from the survivor’s/victim’s perspective, including their particular financial barriers. A common challenge among OECD member countries is to establish clear strategies to facilitate access to justice on paid leave. Existing strategies appear to be inflexible and limited to certain employees and circumstances. Such approaches could preclude an adequate response to many victims’/survivors’ needs, as they can be simultaneously involved in divorce proceedings and/or child custody proceedings in a civil court while seeking protective orders against the perpetrator.
6.2.2. Understanding the legal needs of victims/survivors
High levels of nonreporting of cases of GBV (see Section 3.2.4 in Chapter 3) and low conviction rates indicate that justice systems often fail to adequately respond to victims/survivors’ justice needs, and protect them from further instances of violence and enforce accountability of the perpetrators. As a first step, the identification and measurement of legal and justice needs of victims/survivors should be at the centre of design and delivery of legal and justice services, to enable effective punishment and reparation for acts of violence, as well as to prevent impunity.
Women in general have particular legal needs, and their experience of the justice system differs from men’s. Women suffer more challenges over concerns involving family, children, education and social welfare (UN Women et al., 2019[7]) and report different levels of satisfaction based on the types of legal assistance they seek (OECD, 2020[3]). Women with other intersecting vulnerabilities also have particular legal needs, including women living with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, who may have reduced legal capacity and face discrimination and further obstacles (UN Women/Women Enabled International, 2022[8]).
In general, the legal needs of victims/survivors are unique and complex. Several intersecting needs1 are often intertwined with complex emotions related to their abuse and/or perpetrator (OECD, 2020[3]). In Australia, it was found that respondents who reported experiencing intimate partner and family violence, had on average, about 20 legal problems (e.g. a wide range of family, civil and criminal law problems) in a 12-months period (Law and Justice Foundation, 2012[9]). A fundamental challenge victims/survivors face is having to address simultaneously various legal problems arising from the abuse. The legal problems of victims/survivors are compounded by problems in health, housing, finance and employment, not to mention other potential legal needs, such as: divorce proceedings, division of assets, protection orders and parental care. The Australian research showed that people who reported intimate partner violence were 16 times more likely to experience a family law problem and 3 to 6 times more likely to experience other problems – in both criminal and civil domains – including consumer, credit/debt, employment, health-related, housing and rights (Law and Justice Foundation, 2012[9]). Given the complexity of legal and justice systems across many OECD and partner countries, all these parallel processes might need to be addressed separately, with multiple lawyers, over the span of several months and even years (OECD, 2020[3]). A victim/survivor-centred and integrated approach can help victims/survivors address these complex needs and may require holistic reforms of the justice system (see Box 6.5 below).
Ireland has adopted a strategy, “Supporting a Victim’s Journey”, which includes 50 reforms for developing a victim-centric justice system, in particular for victims/survivors of sexual violence, recognising that procedures and practices may re-traumatise victims/survivors. The strategy has helped develop a plan to map the victims’/survivors’ journey in the justice system, to help them along each step of the justice supply chain. One of the key elements is specialised training for all actors in justice who interact with victims/survivors of sexual violence, as well as offering legal aid to victims/survivors, to support them in legal processes.
The government of Ireland has a dedicated budget for this reform: EUR 2.3 million has been approved to enact the reforms outlined in the strategy.
Source: (OECD, 2021[10]; Government of Ireland, 2021[11]).
Understanding the legal requirements of victims/survivors needs to rely on robust data, supported by various methods of data collection, including comprehensive needs assessments (e.g. gathering information on the type of GBV experienced by the victim/survivor, the legal remedies available, and justice barriers), intake interviews with victims/survivors to identify their needs, referrals from other support services, such as healthcare providers, shelters, social services, from legal aid organisations or victim advocacy organisations and other social services. These can also include administrative data from service providers, legal needs surveys and targeted studies.
While collecting administrative data is essential, due to nonreporting (see Section 3.2.4 in Chapter 3), this source of data should be completed by surveys on GBV prevalence and on the legal needs of victims/survivors, which can capture subjective, user-centred experiences of legal problems (OECD, 2020[3]). Legal needs surveys can also be a valuable tool for understanding the needs of women with intersecting vulnerabilities, such as women living with disabilities. One example is the forthcoming UN Women Legal Needs survey for women with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities (UN Women/Women Enabled International, 2022[8]). Targeted studies can also reveal valuable insights from victims/survivors from groups underrepresented in legal needs surveys. Their rates of reporting may be even lower than average, and they may include homeless people, prisoners, the elderly and people in remote and/or Indigenous communities (OECD, 2020[3]).
According to responses from the 2022 GBV OECD survey, countries report having used various tools to identify and measure legal needs and experiences of GBV victims/survivors (Figure 6.1). Of respondent countries, 62% (15 out of 24) reported using administrative data from service providers and using targeted studies. Most of these countries combined the use of targeted studies and administrative data. Yet major gaps remain in conducting legal need surveys to understand the needs of victims/survivors, with only four countries reporting having conducted this type of survey. Adopting such instruments can help create a broader understanding of the population´s interconnected legal needs and experiences relating to GBV. According to the responses to the 2022 OECD GBV Survey, key challenges countries face in accounting for the needs and experiences of victims/survivors fall into three broad categories:
1. institutional and data limitations, such as determining appropriate data sources and needs; lack of capacity among service providers to document their own administrative data consistently; lack of data from historically marginalised populations; and lack of training/awareness of officials responsible for collecting information
2. interinstitutional challenges, such as differential reporting standards and practices by institutions; and lack of inter-institutional co-ordination among institutions interacting with GBV victims/survivors regarding data collection and analysis
3. limitations related to engaging victims/survivors, often in view of a lack of information and trust on the part of victims/survivors.
One example emerged in Hungary, which reported conducting an individual needs assessment used by state victim support workers to assess the individual needs of the victim, including their legal needs. The needs assessment identifies whether the victim is familiar with criminal procedure and whether they are assisted during the criminal proceedings. This practice can be a step in the direction towards a better understanding of when and how GBV victims turn to formal or non-formal justice options.
Note: Number of respondents to this question is 24. Countries responding "Other" introduced measures such as targeted law enforcement reviews, research programs in collaboration with academia and individual needs assessment.
Source: OECD (2022), Survey on Strengthening Governance and Survivor/Victim-centric Approaches to End Gender-based Violence.
Resolution practices include restorative justice initiatives, problem-solving justice and therapeutic justice. Most OECD countries have established problem-solving courts or have streamlined problem-solving principles in certain fields of their criminal justice (OECD, 2016[12]). Such initiatives include addressing the underlying factors of criminality, the structural problems of the justice system including jail and prison overcrowding, and the social needs and issues of communities. Such practices focus on diverse resolution methods with a holistic and restorative approach. Most of the research on problem-solving justice for GBV focuses on cases of domestic violence, and promising evidence has shown that it has the potential to reduce the number of cases that are dismissed, but also the number of reoffenders. At the same time, it can increase victims/survivors’ satisfaction with the process (Center for Justice Innovation, 2019[13]).
Problem-solving methods and courts differ in practice across types of courts and countries, but some of the key principles of problem-solving justice include:
1. Creative (in-court and out-of-court) partnerships: establishing problem-solving courts (in cases of GBV, most commonly, specialised domestic violence courts), which can also work closely with perpetrators, and include service and treatment providers.
2. A team approach: the role of the judge, of the prosecutor and of the defence lawyer evolves and adjusts to the specificities of the problem-solving approach and aims at the rehabilitation of the perpetrator, to reduce the chances of reoffences. The team (which also includes social workers and service providers) collaborates in judicial decisions.
3. Judicial interaction: the judge in a problem-solving court (e.g. domestic violence court) actively tries to build a relationship with the perpetrator and motivates them to make progress with treatment programmes.
4. Judicial monitoring: perpetrators are required to account for their behaviour on a regular basis during status hearings, and their progress is monitored.
5. Informed decision-making: in problem-solving courts (including domestic violence courts), judges often have knowledge of the perpetrator and the individual case before them (through service providers and social workers). Judges also receive education on possible underlying causes of criminal behaviour and domestic violence dynamics.
6. Tailored approach: problem-solving courts (including domestic courts) reject the “one-size-fits-all” approach to criminal cases, where judges may merely act as “case processors”. Instead, decisions in a problem-solving court try to meet the specific needs of each case and address the underlying causes of the criminal behaviour.
7. Accountability: accountability is an essential element of problem-solving justice, where judges may supervise how perpetrators are completing their treatment programme and/or community service through regular reporting, even after a verdict.
8. Focus on results: problem-solving justice measures its results by assessing the effects of case processing on victims (safety), perpetrators (recidivism) and communities. It also aims to generate positive outcomes for the justice system by saving costs, reducing prison and jail overcrowding and increasing public trust and confidence (OECD, 2016[12]).
6.3.1. Restorative justice and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms
As noted, courts may also permit the use of restorative justice in some instances to address cases of GBV. However, these measures should be offered only under particular circumstances (OECD, 2021[1]). The Istanbul Convention requires signatory states to prohibit mandatory alternative conflict resolution, including mediation and conciliation (Article 48). The explanatory report on the Convention states that victims of domestic violence could never enter this process on an equal level with the perpetrator, that the perpetrator would always be more powerful and dominant, and that the state would be responsible for avoiding the revictimisation by domestic violence. Nevertheless, most European countries do include (voluntary) forms of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and restorative justice interventions in cases of domestic violence (Drost et al., 2015[14]).
In the 2022 OECD GBV survey, country responses indicate that most of the prerequisites for alternative measures involve safeguards for the victim’s safety; for example, in Mexico, authorities must advise the victim of all available options and routes before going into mediation. In Sweden, mediation (which is not applied within the traditional criminal system, but by the state or a municipality on a voluntary basis) is not an alternative but rather a complement. It is primarily used for young offenders and on a voluntary basis, and only if there is appropriate consent. In Luxembourg, mediation is not available in offences perpetrated by someone who cohabits with the victim. In Hungary, mediators are trained to recognise the signs of GBV or domestic violence in a case, and mediation is not recommended in cases where there are clear power imbalances between the parties and there is a danger of revictimisation.
In most countries, the outcome of mediation is an agreement reached by the parties (i.e. victim and offender). However, some countries go beyond this and include restorative mechanisms. In Greece, for example, a successful mediation requires that the offender pledge never to commit any crime of domestic violence in the future, attend a special counselling facility/therapeutic programme for the treatment of domestic violence, restore the consequences caused by the act as far as possible and pay reasonable financial compensation to the victims. If any of the conditions are violated within a three-year period, the case is reversed, regarding pecuniary claims. In Canada, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) administers the post-sentence Restorative Opportunities (RO) programme, which offers people who have been harmed by a crime (including GBV cases), either directly or indirectly, a chance to communicate with the offender who caused the harm. The programme (in which participation is voluntary for everyone concerned) explores opportunities to use various victim-offender mediation models that best suit the needs of the participants, as defined by the participants, with the help of a professional mediator.
Hungary reported having trained mediators to facilitate peace-making circles, but reported that in practice, it is rarely used. The Netherlands reported implementing family group conferencing, where social care and healthcare professionals work together with the criminal law system on a domestic violence report/case. None of the countries reported having community restorative boards.
6.3.2. Partnerships and interagency collaboration for adopting problem-solving methods
Domestic violence courts
As noted, OECD member countries have increasingly been using problem-solving methods and innovative restorative measures. A closely studied approach to problem-solving methods adopted by several OECD countries focuses on domestic violence and IPV cases. Domestic violence courts focus on the protection of the victim/survivor and prioritise this over the treatment and recovery of the perpetrator (OECD, 2016[12]). These measures include a range of services, including counselling, shelter and advocacy, and perpetrators are often required to participate in intervention programmes, for which they are requested to report to judges of the domestic violence court.
In addition, these domestic violence courts can provide an even more holistic approach if they are integrated: in such cases, the domestic violence court judge handles cases related to domestic violence, as well as the accompanying civil matters, including custody, visitation, civil protection orders and matrimonial matters, which also improves the access to support services. These integrated solutions are more holistic and multidisciplinary, with better access to and co-ordination of support services. They can provide more effective monitoring to increase the accountability and compliance of perpetrators and judges can make more informed decisions based on more information about the family (OECD, 2016[12]). A promising example emerged from the state of New York (United States), where both domestic violence courts and integrated domestic violence courts are available (see Box 6.6 below).
The state of New York has introduced both domestic violence courts and integrated domestic violence courts, to deliver swift, consistent responses to domestic violence, to prioritise the victims’/survivors’ safety and the accountability of perpetrators.
The domestic violence courts have a dedicated judge, who besides presiding over the cases, monitors perpetrators and their compliance with protection orders. These courts also have a resource co-ordinator, who informs the judge on the individual characteristics of each case, holds agencies accountable for reporting, screens and refers perpetrators to court-mandated programmes and co-ordinates with the police, defence counsel and prosecutors for effective information-sharing. In addition, an on-site victim advocate is also available as the primary contact for victims/survivors, who creates safety plans, co-ordinates housing counselling and other social services, and provides victims/survivors with information on the criminal proceedings. Finally, personnel working in research and evaluation of domestic violence court provide regular feedback, examine the success of the intervention programmes and analyse a perpetrator’s compliance with court mandates.
In addition to all these components, judges in integrated domestic violence courts handle criminal domestic violence cases (and related family issues, such as custody, visitation, etc.), civil protection orders and matrimonial actions. The objective is to eliminate contradictory orders, reduce the burden on victims and hold perpetrators to higher levels of accountability. This solution gives victims/survivors a greater voice, as they are better able to address critical family issues that impede their ability to prosecute their abusers.
Source: (OECD, 2019[6]; State of New York, n.d.[15]).
Partnerships and Family Justice Centres
Interagency collaboration and judicial authority are key determinants of a successful problem-solving justice initiative, leading to positive outcomes in the justice system. More specifically, creative partnerships, a team approach and judicial interaction generate an informed decision-making process on the circumstances of the case, leading to positive victim-focused outcomes (OECD, 2016[12]).
A notable example of such partnerships are the Family Justice Centres, which provide co-located, one-stop, multidisciplinary services to victims/survivors of family violence. This integrated service (also see Chapter 5) provides holistic support to victims and can help hold perpetrators accountable. Family Justice Centres can provide comprehensive medical and legal services, counselling to victims/survivors, link them to the court system and facilitate their access not only to legal services but other services as well, including public benefits assistance, advocacy and safety planning. The first Family Justice Centre was established in the United States in 2002, and several other OECD countries, including Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland and Sweden have adopted this initiative (EUCPN, 2022[16]). Examples of Family Justice Centres and partnerships are illustrated in Box 6.7.
Belgium
In Belgium, the development of a multidisciplinary approach is a major focus of the GBV framework. The French-speaking federated entities plan to support the development of pilot projects allowing for multidisciplinary and co-ordinated care between professionals in contact with violence against women (including traditional harmful practices). The Brussels-Capital Region also aims to develop an intersectoral approach to intimate partner violence, to improve collaboration between the public prosecutor's office, the police, the justice houses, the support services and the local actors in complex situations of intimate partner violence. In Flanders, the Family Justice Centre is a network organisation where social services, police and the justice system work together intensively at one location to stop violence within families (intrafamilial violence and child abuse). Three Family Justice Centres are operational in Flanders, partly driven by the local authorities.
Canada
In Canada, the Department of Justice provides funding to Indigenous-led, community-based justice programmes in cost-shared partnership with provinces and territories. These programmes deliver programming along the justice continuum (e.g. prevention, post-charge diversion and reintegration). Community programmes use restorative justice and other traditional Indigenous practices in their work with victims, accused/offenders and other community members. An evaluation of this programme is conducted every five years.
Italy
Family Justice Centres are specifically defined in federal legislation and refer to the placement of multidisciplinary services under one roof. Several facilities across Italy have adopted this structure, including the centre of Soccorso Violenza Sessuale e Domestica del Policlinico (SVSeD), which is also part of the European Family Justice Alliance. Its objectives are to prevent domestic violence, educate through training and awareness-raising and to ensure the welfare of victims/survivors and their children through integrated services.
The SVSeD is equipped with a multidisciplinary team of medical professionals and social workers, who offer health, medico-legal assistance, psychological and social support. Victims/survivors are also provided free legal advice and assistance by civil and criminal lawyers. SVSeD also carries out research on domestic violence and conducts training courses for operators in the social, health, judicial and law enforcement sectors.
Source: OECD (2022), Survey on Strengthening Governance and Survivor/Victim-centric Approaches to End Gender-based Violence; (Fondazione G.B. Guzzetti, 2021[17]).
Problem-solving justice solutions to GBV have encountered various challenges in OECD countries. Scope remains to implement innovative restorative justice mechanisms, such as partnerships, family groups conferencing, peace-making circles and community restorative boards. In general, criminal justice systems are overburdened and suffer from insufficient financial and human resources (UNODC, 2021[18]). In this context, a fundamental challenge of introducing restorative justice mechanisms is a lack of dedicated funding, as well as a lack of gender-sensitive and specialised training.
6.4.1. Protecting victims/survivors and effective law enforcement responses
Effective accountability, as one of the problem-solving methods, is particularly important in GBV cases because of the need to hold perpetrators accountable, ensure recognition for victims and deter future crimes. Accountability on GBV involves two main approaches: i) criminalising multiple forms of GBV – encompassing not only enacting GBV laws but also monitoring their functioning in the judicial system, and ii) holding perpetrators of GBV to account. This involves prosecution and alternative dispute resolution practices, such as arbitration, conciliation, mediation and online dispute resolution. However, alternative practices should not be mandatory and should be employed only in situations where victims/survivors have consented to them (OECD, 2021[1]).
Law enforcement is inherently tied to the effectiveness of GBV laws. According to the 2022 OECD GBV Survey, only 10 out of 22 respondent member countries have conducted or commissioned evaluations on law enforcement’s performance in protecting and supporting victims/survivors in the last five years. Six countries reported they have not. Only one country reported conducting other types of evaluations, and three reported developing other types of assessments. It is noteworthy that two out of these three countries reported designing these assessments with a special focus on improving support and protection towards victims. A promising example emerged in the United Kingdom, where it is reported that His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has an assessment framework for police forces to monitor how effective and impactful the force’s service is for victims of crime.
In addition, law enforcement is the entry point to justice systems for victims/survivors. It is thus vital that the police encourage trust and that officers are sufficiently trained to interact with victims/survivors in ways that do not retraumatise them. Law enforcement actors also need to be able to do an initial risk assessment of the reported cases and identify warning signs and take the necessary steps to protect victims/survivors. More general gender-equality trainings are also called for to reduce gender-based biases towards victims/survivors (EIGE, 2019[19]). A promising practice emerged in Australia (see Box 6.8). Police training has been shown to have a positive effect on the number of arrests, especially in recognising “controlling and/or coercive behaviour” (Brennan et al., 2021[20]). To maximise the benefits of training in law enforcement, training should be regularly evaluated.
Australia
In Australia, the Department of Home Affairs received USD 4.1 million to deliver a national training package to enhance women‘s and children’s safety by building the capacity of law enforcement to identify and support victim-survivors of all forms of intimate partner, family and sexual violence. The five streams of the package are specifically focused on coercive control, sexual assault, child safety, attitudes and behaviour, and technology-facilitated abuse.
Source: OECD (2022), Survey on Strengthening Governance and Survivor/Victim-centric Approaches to End Gender-based Violence.
Given that victim/survivor protection is a key element in systems for GBV law enforcement, protective mechanisms (i.e. ancillary orders, including protective or removal orders) are a key element in laws addressing GBV. Such mechanisms should be applied with the needs and interests of the victim/survivor in mind (OECD, 2021[1]). The responses to the OECD Survey revealed a broad consensus to adopt various types of protective measures – namely restraining protection orders, emergency barring orders, electronic monitoring devices and no-contact orders. Another commonality is that the breach of a barring order is considered a criminal offence in most countries.
Some countries limit the adoption of electronic devices only to certain types of cases, typically when they are not severe or when they are combined with other protective measures. In Canada, electronic devices are not permitted for offenders serving conditional sentences, offenders who have been approved for parole and offenders who have temporary absence permits. In Costa Rica, this type of measure is implemented when the case is not a sexual offence, the aggressor is a primary offender, the penalty does not exceed six years in prison, no firearm has been used, and if it is clear that the perpetrator does not constitute a danger. Promising practices on protection measures emerged from Mexico, Norway and Slovak Republic (see Box 6.9).
Mexico
In Mexico, the General Law of Women's Access to a Life Free of Violence provides that protection orders are acts of urgent application based on the best interests of the victim. These are fundamentally precautionary, and they must be granted by judges or requested by an interested party, by the administrative authorities, the Public Ministry or by the competent jurisdictional bodies, at the time they become aware of the act of violence that allegedly constitutes a crime or infraction.
Norway
In Norway, the procedure for requesting an interim restraining order involves combining a police report with an interview with a domestic violence or abuse victim. The victim may also request such an order from the police.
Slovak Republic
Good practice involves minimising repercussions caused by these orders, particularly impacting victims/survivors and their children. In the Slovak Republic, the Police Force for the protection of persons at risk of domestic violence is entitled to expel a violent person from a jointly owned residence. In these processes, the police inform the relevant “intervention centre” operating in the region about the expulsion from the shared residence. The police officer also informs the threatened person about intervention centres and other available specialised organisations to help victims of domestic violence. If there is a child in the household where domestic violence occurs or the child is a person at risk, the police also inform the competent authority for the social and legal protection of children and social guardianship.
Source: OECD (2022), Survey on Strengthening Governance and Survivor/Victim-centric Approaches to End Gender-based Violence.
Some OECD member countries have conducted evaluations on law enforcement’s performance in protecting and supporting victims/survivors, but most have not. OECD member countries have encountered common challenges in adding efforts to minimise the repercussions caused by protective mechanisms (i.e. orders), particularly those aimed at separation, on victims/survivors and their children.
6.4.2. Working with perpetrators to ensure their accountability
Accountability should be accompanied by measures that aim to address the root causes of GBV. Focus is needed on prevention programming that may prevent the occurrence of GBV (also see Section 3.2.5 in Chapter 3), but problem-solving methods may have potential not only to hold perpetrators accountable, but provide them support in avoiding further offences (also see Section 4.2.2 in Chapter 4). Similarly to approaches taken by problem-solving justice, working with perpetrators can include the following elements (OECD, 2016[12]):
Collaboration: Actors in various jurisdictions, including the government and its agencies, the private sector and community-based organisations, should form partnerships to set up interventions. With adequate information-sharing and training, partnerships between the justice system and actors in other sectors can “keep the perpetrator in view”, with regular follow-ups and contacts with the perpetrator (ANROWS, 2020[21]).
A focus on the accountability of the perpetrator: While perpetrators need to be held accountable and receive appropriate punishment, a purely punitive approach is not effective in preventing further offences. A range of evidence-based responses need to be employed, including justice-related and programmatic interventions.
Addressing underlying issues of criminal behaviour: While GBV can be a result of broader societal problems, problem-solving justice could aim to solve individual reasons that led to the offence, including psychological reasons.
Including the community and the victim/survivor: Both the community and the victims/survivors should be consulted in developing problem-solving justice solutions.
Introducing measures that prevent perpetrators from reoffending is an ambitious task that aims to provide responses to structural problems and cannot always propose a solution to all factors that contribute to the offence. Professionals find it challenging to work with perpetrators, who are often unable to recognise their violent behaviour and its consequences and are not willing to challenge harmful masculinities (Procentese et al., 2020[22]).
Legal measures, including protection orders, may not be taken seriously by perpetrators, who may regard them as a “piece of paper” and refuse to recognise them as having authority. This can especially be the case if the perpetrator believes the crimes are not prosecuted on behalf of the state, but on behalf of the victim/survivor, and that they have been persecuted by “the system”. Male perpetrators may believe that justice systems are biased towards women and that judges jump to conclusions after listening to “one side of the story” (ANROWS, 2020[21]). Such perceptions encourage lower levels of compliance and accountability.
6.4.3. Studying femicides/feminicides to improve accountability and as a preventative measure
Despite the adoption of increasingly comprehensive legal and policy frameworks, supported by innovative solutions, including integrated service delivery, all countries continue to struggle with eliminating the most extreme type of GBV: femicides/feminicides. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), femicide is generally understood to involve intentional murder of women because they are women, but broader definitions include any killings of women or girls (WHO, 2012[23]). The term feminicides implies a failure on the part of governments and society to prevent the intentional murder of women. As noted in Chapter 1, the rates of the intentional killings of women and girls continue to be high: worldwide, 45 000 women and girls were killed in 2021 by intimate partners or other family members, (UNODC/UN Women, 2022[24]) who constitute the majority of perpetrators of this crime. Data is lacking on femicides/feminicides, and on conviction rates, since conviction statistics are rarely disaggregated by type of homicide (UNODC, 2019[25]). Research in the United Kingdom, however, found that in 2020, 60% of perpetrators were convicted of murder and 19% were convicted of manslaughter. The research also found that 53% of perpetrators were known to have a previous history of GBV (Femicide Census, 2020[26]).
Femicide/feminicide is preventable. Several risk factors may be present for an extended period of time, especially in intimate-partner relationships, which can be identified by service providers through risk assessment and management mechanisms and prevent lethal cases through timely intervention (also see Section 3.2.5 in Chapter 3). In addition to adequate risk assessment and management, increased access to justice can also provide timely protection for victims/survivors of GBV at risk of femicides/feminicides.
GBV frameworks should include actions to track femicides/feminicides to better understand how and why women face gender-related risks of death. Fatality review teams should be established to build a summary of each case, and statistical data should be gathered about both the perpetrator and the victim/survivor to better recognise warning signs and patterns (OECD, 2021[1]).
Understanding and preventing femicide/feminicide depends largely upon the existence of data deriving from detailed and reliable records that identify characteristics of the victim, the perpetrator, the relationship between them, their environment, and motivations and patterns of behaviour. This information can be gathered through official documentation (e.g. police reports, court records, other public services and publicly available medical reports), newspaper articles and statements from or interviews with people who have had relevant contacts with the victim/survivor (OECD, 2021[1]).
Existing administrative sources are often incomplete, updated infrequently and lack the contextual information to determine whether a particular homicide should be classified as a femicide. Reporting feminicide can also be stigmatising and dangerous in many contexts, as cultures of impunity often prevent proper investigations when feminicides are reported (HRDAG, 2021[27]). These challenges call for frameworks that harmonise and strengthen data collection efforts: the Statistical Framework developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and UN Women would, for example, be a valuable tool to improve data collection on femicides/feminicides (see Box 6.10).
A comprehensive statistical framework to provide guidelines for measuring gender-related killings (femicides/feminicides) was jointly produced by UNODC with UN Women and implemented by the Global Centre of Excellence on Gender Statistics (CEGS – UN Women), the UNODC-INEGI Centre of Excellence in Statistical Information on Government, Crime, Victimisation and Justice and the UNODC Research and Trend Analysis Branch.
The framework provides a statistical definition of femicides/feminicides with a list of characteristics that distinguish cases of (femicides/feminicides) from killing of women and girls and intentional homicides of women and girls.
Building on the statistical definition, the framework identifies three data blocks that should be considered for collecting statistics on femicides/feminicides with core variables for each block. These are i) killing of women and girls by an intimate partner; ii) killings of women and girls by other family members; iii) killings of women and girls by other perpetrators.
The framework posits overwhelming evidence that killings by intimate partners and family members are related to gender roles and recommends examining the relationship between the perpetrators and victims as a core variable. Less evidence is available on the reasons for killings by other perpetrators, so the framework proposes a set of eight criteria that qualify the killing as gender-related:
the homicide victim had a previous record of physical, sexual or psychological violence/harassment perpetrated by the author of the killing; the homicide victim was a victim of forms of illegal exploitation, for example, in relation to trafficking in persons, forced labour or slavery
the homicide victim was abducted or illegally deprived of her liberty
sexual violence against the victim was committed before and/or after the killing
the killing was accompanied by mutilation of the body of the victim
the killing of the woman or girl constituted a gender-based hate crime, i.e. she was targeted because of a specific bias against women on the part of the perpetrator(s).
Source: UNODC/Un Women (2022[28]), Statistical Framework for measuring the gender-related killings of women and girls (also referred to as “femicide/feminicide”), https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/Statistical_framework_femicide_2022.pdf.
The responses to the 2022 GBV OECD Survey indicated that member countries gathered information on femicides/feminicides mostly through official documentation. Most of the countries reported gathering information from police records and crime reports.
Certain countries reported collecting data on feminicide from administrative sources. An example of this emerged from Spain, where data collection on feminicide is a joint institutional effort. The Government Delegation Against Gender-Based Violence is responsible for collecting data from other institutions appointed by the Statistics National Institute as an official source of valuable data. It manages six state-wide statistical operations on GBV: GBV killings, data from the 016 call centre, data from the Atenpro phone service for victims, data from the electronic devices system, and data from the Autonomous Communities. Another example involves Costa Rica’s National Sub-commission on the Prevention of Femicide, made up of representatives from the Gender Prosecutor's Office, the Technical Secretariat for Gender of the Judiciary, the Observatory on Gender Violence, the Judicial Investigation Agency, the Sub-Process for Statistics of the Judiciary and the National Institute for Women (INAMU). The sub-commission is responsible for recording, monitoring, analysing and classifying violent deaths of women.
Other countries reported complementing official statistics with additional data from other sources. See for example, Canada in the below box (Box 6.11).
Canada
In Canada, the Homicide Survey data captures information on the sex of the victim and accused, motivation for the homicide, location, criminal history, etc. This information is published annually and helps to highlight which populations are at greatest risk of becoming the victim of a gender-motivated homicide. Furthermore, the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability (CFOJA) uses this Statistics Canada data in combination with information from media reports to generate an annual report on femicide/feminicide in Canada. These reports document numbers of killings, situational factors, geographic patterns, age of victims, victim-accused relationships, and the sex and age of the accused persons. These data and reports help the CFOJA with its overall goals of documenting social and state responses to femicide/feminicide in Canada.
Source: OECD (2022), Survey on Strengthening Governance and Survivor/Victim-centric Approaches to End Gender-based Violence.
Data-disaggregation practices are useful to identify those crimes that could have happened based on gender considerations, and from there, move closer to a definition of feminicide that responds to the violence experienced by the population. Rather than pre-specifying a particular definition of feminicide, the disaggregation approach would allow researchers to identify cases consistent with their working definitions of feminicide (HRDAG, 2021[27]).
Answers to the OECD Survey reveal that many countries reported not having created or defined the notion of “feminicide” in their legal systems. Moreover, only 35% of respondent countries (8 out of 23 countries) reported conducting or funding projects or programmes that document and analyse femicides/feminicides.
It is noteworthy that most of the countries that reported having conducted initiatives to analyse feminicides do so within the context of domestic violence cases. Since 2016, Portugal has set up a Domestic Violence Homicide Review Team (EARHVD), which is responsible for analysing retrospectively homicides that occurred in the context of intimate partner violence and where a final court decision was rendered (which may fall within the more typical international understanding of femicide/feminicide).
Quite apart from the fact that most countries have neither defined nor incorporated the notion of feminicide in their legislation, most member countries do not collect and disaggregate data on femicide or possible feminicide. Other omissions could be rectified: estimating undocumented feminicide cases; understanding patterns in the data on feminicides; and collecting information from multiple sources that allows for robust quantitative analyses. Another common gap is evident in the implementation of strategies with clear objectives that go beyond the domain of intimate partner violence, to help analyse information on feminicides and possible feminicides.
In emergency situations, where major events disrupt the normal functioning of public institutions, victims/survivors must continue to have access to judicial systems and relevant legal services (OECD, 2021[5]). This includes increasing collaboration between organisations within and outside the justice system and making information available to GBV victims/survivors (OECD, 2021[1]).
Responses to the 2022 OECD GBV Survey indicated that all member countries had implemented some form of measures during the COVID-19 pandemic to facilitate access to justice for GBV victims/survivors. Those most commonly reported were information and community technology-based services (e.g. helplines, mobile applications, etc.); as well as virtual court proceedings and simplified procedures established by police, prosecutors’ offices and/or courts, for receiving and resolving complaints. Only four countries reported that they had set up accelerated police station or prosecutor office procedures for receiving and resolving complaints and integrated services in hospitals or legal aid offices (e.g. making it possible to file a complaint in the same building where the victim is provided with first aid; one-stop services for victims, and offering temporary childcare while they attended legal procedures, etc.).
Streamlined procedures for filing complaints
In Estonia during the COVID-19 pandemic, victims were not required to submit separate applications to initiate a legal complaint. A simple call to the Emergency Centre sufficed. Many offence reports could be submitted online on the police website. Prosecutors could also issue urgent restraining orders.
Declaring justice services essential services
In Mexico, all ministerial, administrative and judicial services continued to function during the pandemic because they were declared essential services. Shelters and care centres for women who were victims of violence (and their children) were also considered essential.
One-stop services and triage for integrated and rapid intervention
In Iceland, victims of violence can receive legal advice at Family Justice Centres and file legal complaints in the same building. They are thought of as one-stop services.
In the Netherlands, a one-stop location for victims was set up for victims of sexual violence, connecting the help centre to the hospital.
Italy adopted National Guidelines for Health Authorities and Hospital Authorities, called “Pathway for women who suffer violence”. The objective is to ensure adequate, integrated intervention in treating the physical and psychological consequences of male violence on women’s health.
Information campaigns on justice services
In Australia, “The Help is Here” campaign offered information on support services available to anyone affected by domestic and family violence, to help them access the support they need, when they need it.
Strengthening collaboration outside the justice system
In Greece, the GSDFPGE, in collaboration with the Hellenic Society of Forensic Medicine and the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, offered free housing and meals all over Greece to women and their dependent children living in poverty, including migrants and individuals in vulnerable situations. Free medical tests were provided by the Hellenic Society of Forensic Medicine when needed to female victims of violence. The initiative, which was only implemented during lockdown periods, also provided free medical tests for the children of GBV victims/survivors.
Implementing preventive measures
In Lithuania, the police monitored domestic violence incidents daily, assessing the impact of the pandemic on such cases. Police institutions compiled lists of violent persons and organised preventive measures against them (once a month for each abuser). The Lithuanian police also implemented measures to increase the safety of rural residents.
Allocating additional resources
The United Kingdom provided additional funding (around GBP 32 million in 20/21) for victim support services to help meet the increasing demand for support for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence. Victims were also supported if their case was delayed as a result of the pandemic.
Source: OECD (2022), Survey on Strengthening Governance and Survivor/Victim-centric Approaches to End Gender-based Violence.
Understanding the legal needs of victims/survivors: Countries should implement various instruments to understand the legal needs of victims/survivors, including legal needs surveys, targeted studies and service provider administrative data.
Legal assistance: A victim/survivor-centred approach to addressing GBV requires that these stakeholders be adequately informed about legal aid and other legal assistance mechanisms available to them for both civil and criminal law needs. States should ensure that the mechanisms are responsive to their needs and, in the case of girls, take into account their level of maturity and understanding.
Continuum of justice responses: States should incorporate multiple mechanisms into their GBV responses, including prosecution and alternative dispute resolution practices such as arbitration, conciliation, mediation and online dispute resolution; however, the use of alternative practices should not be mandatory and should be employed only in situations where victims/survivors have consented to them.
Integrated justice pathways: Countries should introduce integrated justice responses, including partnerships and interagency collaboration and implement problem-solving justice principles that can reduce the legal burden on victims/survivors and focus on accountability and addressing root causes, by working with perpetrators.
Protection: Protective mechanisms (i.e. ancillary orders, including protective or removal orders) should be applied bearing in mind the needs and interests of the victim/survivor.
Tracking and preventing femicides/feminicides: GBV frameworks should include actions to track femicides/feminicides in order to better understand how and why women face gender-related risks of death. Fatality review teams should be established to build a summary of each case, and statistical data should be gathered both about the perpetrator and about the victim/survivor, in order to recognise warning signs and patterns.
Access to justice in emergencies: In emergency situations that disrupt the normal functioning of public institutions, victims/survivors must continue to have access to judicial systems and relevant legal services. This includes increasing collaboration between organisations within and outside the justice system and making information available to enhance GBV victims/survivors.
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[8] UN Women/Women Enabled International (2022), Access to Justice for Women with Intellectual and Psychosocial Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific, UN Women/Women Enabled International, https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2022-11/A2J_WWD_BRIEF.pdf.
[18] UNODC (2021), Integrated approaches to challenges facing the criminal justice system, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, https://www.unodc.org/lpo-brazil/pt/crime/challenges-facing-the-criminal-justice-system.html.
[25] UNODC (2019), Global Study on Homicide: Gender-related killing of women and girls, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/gsh/Booklet_5.pdf.
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[23] WHO (2012), Understanding and addressing violence against women: Femicide, World Health Organization, Geneva, https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/77421/WHO_RHR_12.38_eng.pdf.
[4] World Justice Project (2019), The Constraints Women Face in Accessing Justice, https://worldjusticeproject.org/sites/default/files/documents/Constraints%20Women%20Face%20in%20Accessing%20Justice.pdf.
Note
← 1. The legal needs of victims/survivors of GBV varies based on such factors as their gender, age, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and socio-economic status. Intersectional needs of GBV victims/survivors include a need for accessible facilities for victims/survivors with disabilities, needs related to their cultural and linguistic identity, especially for victims/survivors from different cultural or ethnic backgrounds, need for support for LGBTQ+ victims/survivors, and the need for immigration services for victims/survivors who are immigrants.