CEDAW/C/GC/33
accessibility, good quality, provision of remedies for victims and accountability of
justice systems.
39.
The Committee recommends that States parties:
(a) Provide adequate budgetary and technical assistance and allocate
highly qualified human resources to all parts of justice systems, including
specialized judicial, quasi-judicial and administrative bodies, alternative
dispute resolution mechanisms, national human rights institutions and
ombudsperson offices;
(b) Seek support from external sources, such as the specialized agencies
of the United Nations system, the international community and civil society,
when national resources are limited, while ensuring that, in the medium and
long term, adequate State resources are allocated to justice systems to ensure
their sustainability.
III. Recommendations for specific areas of law
40. Given the diversity of institutions and judicial arrangements around the world,
some elements placed under one field of law in one country may be placed
elsewhere in another. For example, the definition of discrimination may or may not
be included in the Constitution; protection orders may appear under family law
and/or under criminal law; and asylum and refugee issues may be dealt with by
administrative courts or by quasi-judicial bodies. States parties are asked to consider
the paragraphs below in that light.
A.
Constitutional law
41. The Committee has observed that, in practice, States parties that have adopted
constitutional guarantees relating to substantive equality between men and women
and incorporated international human rights law, including the Convention, into
their national legal orders are better equipped to secure gender equality in access to
justice. Under articles 2 (a) and 15 of the Convention, States parties are to embody
the principle of the equality of men and women in their national constitutions or
other appropriate legislation, including through the establishment of competent
national tribunals and other public institutions, and to take measures to ensure the
realization of that principle in all areas of public and private life as well as in all
fields of law.
42.
The Committee recommends that States parties:
(a) Provide explicit constitutional protection for formal and substantive
equality and for non-discrimination in the public and private spheres,
including with regard to all matters of personal status, family, marriage and
inheritance law, and across all areas of law;
(b) When provisions of international law do not directly apply, fully
incorporate international human rights law into their constitutional and
legislative frameworks in order to effectively guarantee women’s access to
justice;
(c) Create the structures necessary to ensure the availability and
accessibility of judicial review and monitoring mechanisms to oversee the
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