CEDAW/C/GC/33
at all levels, and give consideration to the development of Internet
infrastructure, including videoconferencing, to facilitate the holding of court
hearings and the sharing, collection and support of data and information
among stakeholders;
(e) Ensure that the physical environment and location of judicial and
quasi-judicial institutions and other services are welcoming, secure and
accessible to all women, with consideration given to the creation of gender units
as components of justice institutions and special attention given to covering the
costs of transportation to judicial and quasi-judicial institutions and other
services for women without sufficient means;
(f) Establish justice access centres, such as “one-stop centres”, which
include a range of legal and social services, in order to reduce the number of
steps that a woman has to take to gain access to justice. Such centres could
provide legal advice and aid, begin the legal proceedings and coordinate
support services for women in areas such as violence against women, family
matters, health, social security, employment, property and immigration. Su ch
centres must be accessible to all women, including those living in poverty
and/or in rural and remote areas;
(g) Pay special attention to access to justice systems for women with
disabilities.
18. With regard to the good quality of justice systems, the Committee
recommends that States parties:
(a) Ensure that justice systems are of good quality and adhere to
international standards of competence, efficiency, independence and
impartiality, as well as to international jurisprudence;
(b)
Adopt indicators to measure women’s access to justice; 6
(c) Ensure an innovative and transformative justice approach and
framework, including, when necessary, investing in broader institutional
reforms;
(d) Provide, in a timely fashion, appropriate and effective remedies that
are enforced and that lead to sustainable gender-sensitive dispute resolution for
all women;
(e) Implement mechanisms to ensure that evidentiary rules,
investigations and other legal and quasi-judicial procedures are impartial and
not influenced by gender stereotypes or prejudice;
(f) When necessary to protect women’s privacy, safety and other human
rights, ensure that, in a manner consistent with due process and fair
proceedings, legal proceedings can be held privately in whole or in part or that
testimony can be given remotely or using communications equipment, such that
only the parties concerned are able to gain access to their content. The use of
pseudonyms or other measures to protect the identities of such women during
all stages of the judicial process should be permitted. States parties should
guarantee the possibility of taking measures to protect the privacy and image of
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See, for example, the United Nations indicators on violence against women (see
E/CN.3/2009/13) and the progress indicators for measuring the implementation of the
Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against
Women (Convention of Belém do Pará), adopted on 21 May 2013.
15-13094