Universal-Womens-accesss-to-justice-Publications-Practitioners-Guide-Series-2016-ENG

148 PRACTITIONERS GUIDE No. 12
Measures required to implement appropriate rightsbased
services and support for women seeking justice
“Dignity and control”: Survivors of gender-based
violence should be empowered
Women subjected to violence must be able to make informed
decisions about, and how to use, the legal initiatives that would
most help their situation and enable them to gain more control
over their lives. This process of empowerment incorporates
access to legal information, access to lawyers or paralegals and
legal aid. It also calls for legal autonomy through a framework
of law that permits women to act on their own behalf, rather
than being subordinate to male family members.
The UN General Assembly has said:
“Crime prevention and criminal justice responses to
violence against women must be focused on the needs
of victims and empower individual woman who are
victims of violence. They aim to ensure that prevention
and intervention efforts are made not only to stop and
appropriately sanction violence against women, but also
restore a sense of dignity and control to the victims of
such violence”. 388
This empowerment of women who have been subjected to
violence can be achieved through a multi-disciplinary and coordinated
“joined up approach”. States should develop
mechanisms that ensure a comprehensive and sustained
response to the problem of gender-based violence in order to
“increase the likelihood of successful apprehension, prosecution
and conviction of the offender, contribute to the safety and
well-being of the victim and prevent secondary
victimization”. 389
388
Updated Model Strategies and Practical Measures, above note 380,
paragraph 7.
389
Ibid, paragraph 16(b).