Gender, Justice, and Truth Commissions

Author: The World Bank
Co-sponsored by the PREM Gender and Development Group (PRMGE), the Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction Team (SDV), Legal and Judicial Reform Practice Group (LEGJR), and LAC Public Sector Group (LCSPS),World Bank
Date: June 2006

Truth commissions (TCs) are formed to investigate human rights violations that occur during armed conflict or under repressive regimes. When their work ends, TCs report their findings, along with recommendations for reparations and prevention of future abuses.

By taking a gender-sensitive approach to its work, a commission can differentiate between the causes and consequences  of human rights violations for men and women and design a gender-sensitive program of reparations. A gender-sensitive approach also serves to reveal that women’s experience of conflict, violence, and repression has typically been ignored in favor of male views and needs. Topics often dealt with by gender-sensitive exercises in truth and reconciliation include the recomposition of families from which the father/husband has disappeared, and the reestablishment of men’s and women’s roles when the conflict ends. A gender perspective in a TC’s report can help bring about changes in existing laws and patterns of behavior that have contributed to inequality and discrimination. However, incorporating a gender approach to a TC’s work is relatively new. There is scant literature on the matter and few experiences around the world.

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