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Survivors of GBV are at high risk of backlash and violence from perpetrators, communities and families for reporting and seeking accountability for GBV abuses. For example, in Rwanda, women who testified in the Gacaca Courts were often subjected to harassment and threats, before, during and after they testified in the courts. Programmes can support survivors to access justice services safely by providing accompaniment for survivors accessing legal and justice services, conducting follow-up visits for survivors in their homes or safe houses, and funding women and girls’ safe spaces. Programmes…

Programmes should work to reduce the financial costs associated with accessing justice, including travel costs, fees for medical examinations, hiring lawyers, engaging with police, attending court, and loss of income while engaged in formal justice processes. They could also offer online services to reduce the cost of travel to and from legal services. Within informal justice systems there may be expectations for families to pay back a woman’s dowry when women file domestic abuse complaints. These costs can make accessing legal and justice services prohibitive for survivors.

Programmes…

We can support survivors to understand and claim their rights by conducting awareness raising campaigns. These campaigns should:

Take a gender transformative approach, avoiding stereotypes about survivors as “victims”, and emphasising their agency.
Ensure awareness campaign materials are inclusive of those with limited literacy, or sensory impairments.
Protect those organising and engaged with these campaigns from backlash.

Patriarchal social norms, practices and attitudes act as a barrier to survivors accessing legal and justice services. For example, families and communities may pressure VAWG survivors to stay silent or to use informal justice systems and to accept decisions that are not in their best interests. In cases of mediation, such decisions could include the expectation for survivors to apologise to the perpetrator and return to living with them, putting them at risk of further violence. Facilitating community discussions around the importance of survivor-centred justice mechanisms is key to creating…

Access to justice programmes should include VAWG survivors in decision-making from the design stage. This can be achieved by engaging with local women’s rights organisations led by or representing survivors. For many survivors, justice means more than punishing perpetrators. It is multi-faceted and subjective. For some, it may be linked to truth, recognition and dignity, for others it may be linked to collective healing, reparations, and accountability. Survivors are best placed to identify their priorities regarding justice and to understand whether and how different systems can support or…

Programmes should support the police to develop strong synergies with the Justice Sector to ensure that the Justice Sector has all the information needed to bring perpetrators to justice during prosecution. Programmes can do this by supporting more efficient and safe data sharing processes, by improving coordination and collaboration across the sectors, and by providing training to both the Police and Justice actors about what is needed to strengthen VAWG cases and bring perpetrators to justice.

The police have an important role to play in collecting, handling and storing data in VAWG cases. This evidence is needed to develop strong legal cases against perpetrators and in some cases, survivors of VAWG are required to provide evidence to access social support. Programmes should work with police forces and WROs representing survivors of VAWG to understand and address the barriers to safely collecting, handling and storing data. Programmes should provide training for police on how to safely collect, handle and store data. They could also consider strengthening operational processes to…

Survivors who report crimes of VAWG are at higher risk of violence and backlash from perpetrators and communities. Police should recognise these risks and support survivors to find a safe place to stay once they have reported. In instances of intimate partner violence or domestic violence, where the survivor lives in the same house as the perpetrator, it may be unsafe for a survivor to return home. This is particularly the case when the survivor is also financially dependent on the perpetrator. While supporting survivors to find a safe place to stay, police should ensure that all information…

The police should work with other services providers to establish clear referral mechanisms to link survivors and witnesses to other VAWG response services in a timely and appropriate way. This process is known as a referral, with referral mechanisms providing a structured framework for guiding survivors of VAWG to the appropriate care. Referral processes should incorporate standards to ensure the smooth and safe navigation of the different essential services available to victims and survivors.

The services featured in referral mechanisms may vary based on the context and available…

Some police forces decide to establish specialist units to support survivors of VAWG, and these are usually run by female police officers. When adequately resourced and trained, specialist units can help reduce re-traumatisation, improve ethical evidence collection that respects the dignity and safety of survivors, and foster greater trust with communities by demonstrating the commitment of police forces to addressing VAWG.

However, specialist units may also be used to justify a lack of training on addressing VAWG and taking a survivor-centred approach among the broader police force. If the…