Globally, 1 in 3 women have experienced physical, sexual, psychological and other forms of violence.
In Asia and the Pacific region, the prevalence of violence against women and girls is disproportionately high, with some of the highest rates of violence.
Survivors face harsh realities when seeking protection under the formal justice system including harmful gender bias and stereotyping, lack of understanding of women and girls' legal rights and inadequate institutional mechanisms to deal effectively with these specialized cases.
Our Impact
ADB's Law and Policy Reform program recognizes that gender equality and women's empowerment are critical for achieving economic growth, reducing poverty, and supporting socially inclusive development. To help achieve these goals, we assist to enhance legal and policy frameworks and knowledge, skills, and institutional capacity of judiciaries, legal professionals, and survivor advocates in handling gender-based violence cases to deliver fair, predictable, and equal access to justice for women and girls. We do this by:
Tailored, Culturally Relevant Evidence-Based Trainings on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Cases
- Delivering customized capacity building programs for judges, magistrates, and prosecutors on gender sensitization and violence against women and girls' procedures, taking into account international good practices, stakeholders' consultations, social and cultural norms most relevant to GBV and focused group discussion to hear about challenges
- Bridging the gap between the formal and informal justice sectors by working with community and religious leaders
- Delivering trainings on harassment and bullying in the workplace
Specialized Mechanisms to Address GBV Cases
- Advising on design, establishment and operationalization of GBV courts or benches, as well as assisting with drafting related guidelines to be followed in GBV cases
- Assisting with drafting special court procedures to provide for more effective and faster adjudication of GBV cases
- Advising on improvements to court structural set-up including strategic placement of dividers between survivors and defendants and safe place waiting rooms for children
- Development of judicial certification programs to prepare groups of specialized judges to handle GBV cases
- Advising on establishing or updating gender policies for judiciaries and courts
Knowledge Transfer through a Country-Driven Approach
- Developing tailored knowledge tools such as bench books, handbooks, protocols and/or guidelines on handling VAWG cases
- Developing information videos and other materials on sensitively interviewing vulnerable and child witnesses
- Producing champion videos of justice actors to amplify good practices and inspirational stories
Knowledge Sharing and Dialogue on GBV Cases
- Positive media campaign to empower women, girls, and men and raise legal literacy on GBV cases
- Convened the first-of-its-kind Asia-Pacific Conference on the Promotion of Gender-Responsive Judicial Systems which brought together justice sector actors and other stakeholders to discuss approaches to strengthening the formal justice systems’ responses to violence against women and girls
"This particular program on Gender Responsive Judicial Systems is probably one of the most important avenues that the Asian Development Bank and partners have pursued in their work with judiciaries in their region."
Honorable Justice Antonio Herman Benjamin, National High Court of Brazil (STJ) and President of the Global Judicial Institute on the Environment
"I extend my respect to the entire team from ADB for providing support and technical assistance to the entire process…training in this area is extremely important...let us continue in the future with the support of our partners so we can better prepare ourselves as judges to work effectively and to provide better justice, especially to women and children."
Honorable Judge Deolindo dos Santos, President, Timor-Leste Court of Appeal
Success Stories
ADB Supports Training on Harassment and Bullying in the Workplace for Fiji Women Lawyers Association (FWLA)
Robyn Layton, Adjunct Professor, Justice & Society, University of South Australia and Judicial Education and Development Consultant for the ADB Law and Policy Reform Program, conducted a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) presentation to the Fiji Women Lawyers Association (FWLA) on Harass
ADB Conducts Training on Gender-Based Violence Cases for Timor-Leste Judges
In partnership with the Superior Council of Judicial Magistrates of Timor-Leste, the ADB Law and Policy Reform Program team conducted a comprehensive training for Timor-Leste judges on gender sensitization, violence against women and girls (VAWG) laws and procedures, and international best practices.
ADB Hosts Asia-Pacific Conference on Gender-Responsive Judicial Systems
ADB hosts the Asia-Pacific Conference on the Promotion of Gender-Responsive Judicial Systems, a hybrid event that took place in Suva, Fiji. Over 200 key judiciary actors and specialists from over 40 countries convened to strengthen judicial responses to violence against women and girls.
In Action
Strengthening the Formal Justice System’s Response to Violence Against Women & Girls in Timor-Leste
ADB Law and Policy Reform Gender Specialists share recent achievements in Timor-Leste including building the capacity of judges and prosecutors, creating linkages among the informal and formal justice systems, and utilizing innovative awareness-raising tools.
Asia-Pacific Conference on the Promotion of Gender-Responsive Judicial Systems
Photos from the Asia-Pacific Conference on the Promotion of Gender-Responsive Judicial Systems, which convened justice sector actors and key stakeholders to strengthen the formal justice systems’ responses to violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the region.
Knowledge Resources
Gender-Inclusive Legislative Framework and Laws to Strengthen Women’s Resilience to Climate Change and Disasters
Globally, women are disproportionately impacted by climate change and disasters due to gender inequalities and limited opportunities to participate in decision-making processes. The report provides a conceptual framework and good practice guide to improve gender equality in this space based on international norms and examples of national laws.
Court Companion on Gender-Based Violence Cases
The Court Companion on Gender-Based Violence Cases navigates international law and Pakistan's domestic legal framework for an analysis of applicable legal norms to make justice more accessible to victims of gender-based violence.
Pakistan Gender-Based Violence Court: Handbook and Training Manual for Prosecutors
This training manual contains the presentations corresponding to each module of the Gender-Based Violence Court: Handbook and Training Manual for Prosecutors.
Events
Trainings on Gender-Based Violence Cases for Timor-Leste Judges
In partnership with the Superior Council of Judicial Magistrates, ADB conducts training for Court of Appeal and district court judges on gender sensitization and violence against women and girls laws and procedures, including international best practices.
Asia-Pacific Conference on the Promotion of Gender-Responsive Judicial Systems
The conference convened justice sector actors and other stakeholders to discuss approaches to strengthening the formal justice systems’ responses to violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the Asia and the Pacific region.
Gender based Violence and COVID-19 Working Towards Gender Responsive Judicial Systems
ADB hosts discussion focused on the targeted initiatives for responding to increased gender-based violence in the region. The panelists discussed working with the judiciary on reducing gender-based violence and promoting gender equality.