Situation analysis of access to justice for victims and survivors of violence against women and girls in East and Southern Africa

This paper presents the findings of the online study for the multi-country study on access to justice for women and girls and access to justice for victims and survivors of violence against women and girls (VAWG), explicitly specifying the actual situation in ten countries under the study. The countries studied include Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The online research focused on access to justice for women and girls, including the forms of discrimination faced by women and girls. The study identifies and recommends priority areas for programming to promote access to justice for women, including increasing the number of women in the judiciary in both customary and formal systems. The study targeted vital institutions dealing with and addressing the issues of access to justice regionally or nationally. The study also targeted the staff of judicial offices, such as judges, magistrates, lawyers and prosecutors, and police officers. At the local government level, the study focused on administration officers, including chiefs and local elders. Traditional and religious leaders were also targeted for the study. To enhance cross-referencing and corroboration of the case studies, survivors and victims of gender-based violence were also interviewed in the data collection processes. This was done with consideration for survivor-centred and ethical data collection practices.