[Svrilist] Work on Gender and Reparations

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Sierra Leone: ICTJ Previews Groundbreaking Work on Gender and Reparations

International Center for Transitional Justice <http://ictj.org/> (New York)

PRESS RELEASE
April 11, 2006

New York

The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) today released 
six groundbreaking case study summaries on Gender and Reparations, in 
advance of the publication of a comprehensive book on the topic in late 
2006. Following several years of intensive research on reparations, 
these case studies are the first of their kind that aim to close a 
significant gap in the literature on reparations by focusing attention 
on the voices and needs of women victims.

The ICTJ hopes that the insights offered by these case studies -- which 
provide a gendered analysis of reparations discussions in Guatemala, 
Peru, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Timor-Leste -- will impact 
the way reparations programs are crafted and carried out throughout the 
world.

"What we've found is that in spite of some important signs of progress, 
women are still often marginalized in reparations programs because the 
programs fail to take their specific needs into account," said Ruth 
Rubio-Marin, ICTJ project manager and editor of Engendering Reparations 
-- the book that will feature the case studies. "This is becoming an 
increasingly salient point as more countries with a legacy of human 
rights abuses are turning to truth commissions and reparations as a way 
of recognizing and compensating victims."

Despite a notable trend towards incorporating gender concerns into the 
field of international justice, this research presents the first-ever 
attempt to articulate a gendered analysis of reparations. By drawing on 
six unique country experiences, the summaries raise a broad range of 
questions and provide concrete suggestions for designing reparations 
measures and policy choices that are flexible and informed by previous 
failures as well as best practices.

Rubio-Marin emphasizes that this kind of research is crucial to making 
reparations measures more effective for a huge population of victims who 
remain on the margins of well-intentioned but lacking programs. "If we 
don't ask questions about the role that gender plays in experiences of 
violence and programs for redress, we not only undermine the fundamental 
goals of justice that should inspire reparations programs, but we also 
miss a crucial opportunity to prevent the ongoing suffering of women 
victims."

The summaries are available on ICTJ's website 
http://www.ictj.org/en/research/projects/gender/index.html.
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