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

26 PRACTITIONERS GUIDE No. 12
adopt special measures for the prevention and protection of
these women from violence. 40
All stages of the legal process need to respond to the needs of
women across diverse identities, such that those working in the
justice system need to understand how their services appear to
women who may not trust the State. Some women may need
particularly high levels of service because of social or economic
marginalization. This may apply to those with financial
constraints and complex legal situations, for example women
whose migration permits are dependent on abusive spouses or
employers. Some women with children will be particularly
anxious about coming into contact with the authorities, in case
the State takes their children into care. Other women are
particularly marginalized because they are homeless. Women
who have previously come into contact with the criminal justice
system as offenders, for example because of sex work, must
receive an exemplary service from the courts relating to
violence committed against them to ensure that they are not
disadvantaged. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights
cited many authorities in international and regional human
rights laws and standards which recognize that sexual
orientation is a prohibited form of discrimination, 41 and
undertook a profound examination of the ways that
discrimination against a lesbian mother was manifested in legal
proceedings regarding custody of her daughters and a
disciplinary procedure in the course of her employment as a
judge.
40
Updated Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination
of Violence against Women in the Field of Crime Prevention and
Criminal Justice, adopted under General Assembly resolution 65/228
(2010), paragraph 10.
41
Atala Riffo and Daughters v Chile, Inter-American Court of Human
Rights, judgment of 24 February 2012, paragraphs 83-93.