Blog: The rights of women in transitional justice

The United Nations defines transitional justice as "the full range of processes and mechanisms associated with a society's attempts to come to terms with a legacy of large-scale past abuses, in order to ensure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation". [1] United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 requires that states "ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict," including transitional justice processes and mechanisms. However, 20 years since the Resolution was passed, scholars continue to argue that conflict prevention, management and resolution processes are gendered - biased to men's advantage - and this results in women's continued exclusion from these processes. [2] Transitional justice literature frequently addresses the problems that occur in transitional justice processes. However, while much scholarship is dedicated to documenting and trying to solve these problems, less attention has been paid to how and why these problems continue to arise.