International Cooperation for Access to Justice, Remedies and Assistance for Survivors of Sexual Violence

A/RES/76/304View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 133 International cooperation on access to justice for survivors of sexual violence, published in 2022.

What subjects does this mandate have?

7 subjects

Crime Prevention Crime Victims Criminal Justice Gender-Based Violence International Cooperation Reproductive Health Women's Rights

What’s in this document?

30 operative paragraphs

Condemns all forms of sexual and gender-based violence, and urges Member States to provide victims and survivors of sexual violence with access to the mechanisms of justice and, as provided for by national legislation, to just and effective remedies, reparations and assistance for the harm that they have suffered and inform them of their rights in seeking redress through such mechanisms, as well as to consider measures to enable secure reporting and alleviate burdens while in pursuit of justice, remedies, reparations and assistance;

Urges States to take effective action, through their national legal systems and in line with international law, to provide access to justice, remedies and assistance for victims and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, including by:

Providing relevant, comprehensive, gender-responsive legal protection, in full respect of human rights and centred on such victims and survivors, to support and assist all victims and survivors of such violence, including victim and witness protection from reprisals for bringing complaints or giving evidence, paying particular attention to women and girls facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination;

Ensuring for all victims and survivors timely and unimpeded access to justice and to effective legal assistance so that they can make informed decisions regarding, inter alia, legal proceedings, providing procedural accommodation for those with disabilities, so that all cases of violence are brought to justice, including the cases related to victims and survivors, and also ensuring that all victims and survivors have access to just and effective remedies for the harm that they have suffered, including through the adoption of national legislation where necessary;

Improving legal infrastructure and mainstreaming age- and gender-responsive and disability-inclusive training into justice systems to ensure equality before the law and equal protection of all victims and survivors with disabilities by the law;

Establishing comprehensive, timely, coordinated, interdisciplinary, accessible and sustained multisectoral services, programmes and responses centred on victims and survivors that respect all human rights and take into account gender perspectives for all victims and survivors of such violence, that are adequately resourced, that are, when possible, in a language that they understand and in which they can communicate and that include effective and coordinated action by, as appropriate, relevant stakeholders, such as the police and the justice sector, as well as providers of legal aid services, health services, including sexual and reproductive health-care services, shelters, medical and psychological assistance, counselling services and protection, and, in cases of child victims and survivors, ensuring that such services, programmes and responses take into account the best interests of the child;

Responding to all forms of violence, through multisectoral and coordinated approaches to investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of such violence and end impunity, and to provide protection and equal access to appropriate remedies and redress and to comprehensive social, health and legal services for all victims and survivors to support their full recovery and reintegration into society, including by providing access to psychosocial support and rehabilitation as well as affordable housing and employment;

Establishing and/or strengthening, including by investing in capacity-building, court, judicial system, law enforcement, health and social workers’ and counsellors’ and other practitioners’ response protocols and procedures to ensure that all appropriate actions are coordinated and taken to protect and respond to the needs of all victims and survivors of such violence, to identify acts of violence and to prevent their recurrence or further acts of violence and physical and psychological harm, ensuring that services are gender-responsive and centred on the needs of victims and survivors, including by providing access to appropriate health-care providers, for both physical and psychological support, police officers and counsellors if requested, and ensuring and maintaining the privacy of victims and survivors and the confidentiality of their reporting;

Developing targeted and effective awareness to prevent impunity regarding all forms of such violence and avoid marginalization and stigmatization of survivors, children born of sexual violence and their families, and providing victims and survivors with information on access to justice, remedies, reparations and assistance, including through building relevant institutions and capacities as well as promoting partnerships with civil society organizations;

Enhancing the resilience of individuals and communities to provide a safe environment for the victims and survivors of such violence and, in particular, those in vulnerable situations, such as in conflict and post-conflict situations, in humanitarian settings, as well as in post-disaster, post-pandemic and post-epidemic situations, including in the process of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic;

Addressing the structural and underlying causes of such violence through enhanced prevention measures, capacity-building of relevant authorities, research and strengthened coordination, monitoring and evaluation conducted with victims and survivors by, inter alia, encouraging awareness-raising activities, including through designing and implementing appropriate domestic policies that are aimed at transforming discriminatory social attitudes and social and cultural patterns of conduct that condone such violence with a view to preventing and eliminating, in all public and private spheres, including online spaces, discrimination, gender stereotypes, negative social norms, attitudes and behaviours, and unequal power relations, as well as publicizing the societal and economic costs of violence, and working with local communities;

Implementing response plans, policies and initiatives, with civil society organizations as relevant, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent all forms of violence, including sexual and gender-based violence, and facilitate reporting thereon, and to ensure that all persons can lead lives free from violence, coercion, stigma and discrimination, including through the use of digital technologies, media, helplines or the mobilization of grocery stores, pharmacies, hotels and other service providers to help victims and survivors to find safe spaces and seek support;

Ensuring the full, equal and meaningful participation of victims and survivors, including children as appropriate, taking into account their diverse situations and conditions, in the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies, programmes and other initiatives in the justice sector and aimed at preventing and responding to such violence, including in decision-making processes;

Ensuring full, equal and meaningful participation and leadership of all women and youth in decision-making in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government and the public sector in the development, implementation and evaluation of all policies, regulations and legislation designed to ensure access to justice, remedies and reparations for victims and survivors of such violence;

Acknowledging the need for public-private partnerships to prevent and detect trafficking in persons, recognizing the important role played by financial institutions;

Enhancing international cooperation in the field of criminal justice, including by affording one another the widest measure of assistance in the investigation and prosecution of crimes of sexual violence through, inter alia, mutual legal assistance, in line with Member States’ obligation under international law;

Providing adequate resources for access to justice, remedies and assistance for victims and survivors of such violence;

Calls upon the United Nations system and other international and regional organizations, within their respective mandates, and encourages civil society organizations to support the efforts of the Member States:

To promote access to justice, remedies, reparations and assistance for victims and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in humanitarian settings caused by ongoing conflict and post-conflict situations, as well as during and in the aftermath of disaster, pandemic and epidemic situations, including the process of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, in line with applicable international law, focusing on the most vulnerable, including refugees, internally displaced persons and those affected by conflicts;

To build institutions and capacities to provide access to justice, remedies, reparations and assistance for all victims and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, including in the law enforcement sector to collect, preserve and use forensic and digital evidence, in collaboration with medical personnel;

To promote gender equality, tackle hate speech, misogyny and victim blaming, both online and offline, including through education and the implementation of accurate, evidence-based prevention programmes at all levels of society, both in and out of school, to protect the dignity and human rights of victims and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence so that they are able to access assistance without hesitation or threats;

To strengthen policies that offer access to justice, remedies and assistance to male victims and survivors and that challenge cultural assumptions about male invulnerability to sexual and gender-based violence in order to ensure the protection of all men and boys who are victims and survivors of such violence;

Also calls upon the United Nations system and other international and regional organizations, within their respective mandates, and encourages civil society organizations:

To enhance international and regional cooperation with a view to supporting the development of strategies for combating sexual and gender-based violence and exchanging experiences and best practices, as well as financing programmes relating to the rights of victims and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence;

To raise awareness of the rights of victims and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence;

To promote an integrated and multi-stakeholder approach with civil society organizations, the private sector and all relevant stakeholders in addressing the rights and needs of survivors of sexual violence, including with the lessons learned from successful initiatives;

Stresses that adequate resources should be assigned to the United Nations system for the promotion of gender equality, the empowerment of women and the human rights of women and girls and to efforts throughout the United Nations system to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence, calls upon the United Nations system to make the necessary support and resources available, and takes note with appreciation in this regard of the contribution of Member States;

Urges States to ensure the promotion and protection of the human rights of all women and their sexual and reproductive health, and reproductive rights in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences, including through the development and enforcement of policies and legal frameworks and the strengthening of health systems that make universally accessible and available quality, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health-care services, commodities, information and education, including safe and effective methods of modern contraception, emergency contraception, prevention programmes for adolescent pregnancy, maternal health care such as skilled birth attendance and emergency obstetric care, which will reduce obstetric fistula and other complications of pregnancy and delivery, safe abortion where such services are permitted by national law, and prevention and treatment of reproductive tract infections, sexually transmitted infections, HIV and reproductive cancers, recognizing that human rights include the right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free from coercion, discrimination and violence;

Requests the Secretary-General to report on the implementation of the present resolution by Member States and the United Nations system to the General Assembly at its seventy-ninth session within existing resources;

Decides to continue its consideration of access to justice, remedies and assistance for victims and survivors of sexual violence at its seventy-ninth session under the item entitled “International cooperation on access to justice for survivors of sexual violence”.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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