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

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WOMEN’S ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE 253
awareness among media professionals and also National
Human Rights Institutions.
Many women have used the international human rights
framework to seek “transformative reparation” – changes in
law and practice, so that what has happened to her will not
happen to others. Therefore as well as individual awards of
reparation, including compensation, restitution of losses and
physical and mental rehabilitation, she may seek measures of
satisfaction (for example, apology) as well as guarantees of
non-repetition – for example, changes to laws and practices,
especially regarding impunity for perpetrators and the
possibility of civil remedies against States that fail to discharge
their duty to protect individuals known to be at risk of violence.
Further information on the international mechanisms available
and how to use these is set out in Annexes I and II of this
Guide.
Enforcing judgements
A court pronouncing a judgement that vindicates rights may
seem like the end of the process, but for individual applicants
this is usually rather more like a penultimate stage in the
journey. Unless State authorities are highly diligent in ensuring
that the court’s directions are enforced, then more action may
need to be taken to ensure that the state implements the
judgement.
In respect of international judgements, the international human
rights procedures are usually the concern of the ministry of
foreign affairs. When the decision is from a treaty body, such
as the CEDAW Committee or Human Rights Committee, other
government ministries and agencies may not take it seriously,
viewing it as just a “recommendation” and not binding. So
further advocacy may be necessary to ensure that government
agencies, if domestic litigation is pursued, take it seriously.
Practitioners must be prepared to argue that in accepting the
competency of the treaty bodies to consider individual
communications, the State was bound to take account of the
judgement in good faith.