Conclusion

This concluding chapter discusses the theoretical and empirical contributions of the book. It explains that while international pressure is important for the creation of specialized mechanisms, strong domestic pressure and favourable political and institutional conditions are key to how these mechanisms are institutionalized, and thus, to how the international women’s justice norm is implemented. The chapter connects this finding to the international relations, gender and politics, and African studies literatures and shows how the insights generated advance scholarship in these areas. It also discusses the policy implications of the findings and argues that specialized mechanisms can serve to increase girls’ and women’s access to justice in Africa, but only if embedded within a holistic framework.

Establishment of the Specialized Units in Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire

Chapter 7 studies the implementation of the international women’s justice norm at the national level. It shows how pressure from the United Nations shaped the creation of the specialized units in Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire and thus the implementation of the international women’s justice norm. It draws on a range of interviews, including with personnel of the United Nations peacekeeping missions in Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire and the with women’s rights advocates, to demonstrate how this international pressure interacted with domestic pressure and conditions to produce varied implementation outcomes. While high international pressure was sufficient for the creation of the speicalized units, high domestic pressure and favorable political and institutional conditions were needed for rapid institutioanlization.

The Response to Violence against Women in Liberia

Chapter 4 covers how the government and women’s organizations in Liberia responded to violence against women. It explains that prior to the conflict, violence against women was largely absent from the agenda of governments and women’s organizations, despite their involvement in international advocacy around this issue. Both domestic and international pressure on governments was low during this period and specialized mechanisms to address VAW were non-existent in the criminal justice sector. The chapter describes how the 14-year conflict changed this and generated strong international and domestic pressures on post-conflict governments to strengthen the criminal justice sector response to violence against women, particularly sexual violence, and to establish specialized criminal justice sector mechanisms.

The Domestic Implementation of International Women’s Rights Norms

The study’s theoretical framework is explicated in this chapter. The chapter draws on the international relations, gender and politics, public administration, and African studies literatures to develop a framework that explains implementation at the national and street levels. It shows that an interplay of external and domestic factors shape implementation but specifies that domestic actors and conditions become more essential at the institutionalization stage. While high international pressure is sufficient for the creation of specialized mechanisms, domestic pressure and conditions become more important at the institutionalization state. Thus, low domestic pressure and unfavorable political and institutional conditions hinder implementation, even when combined with high international pressure.

Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of the book. It begins with a brief discussion of the problem of violence against women and of the implementation deficit within the criminal justice sector in most African countries. It then introduces the international women’s justice norm and provides an outline of the central argument, explaining how international and domestic factors interact to influence the implementation of this norm. Next, it lays out the central argument before situating the discussion in the literature on the implementation of international norms. This section is followed by a discussion of the methodology and scope and a definition of key terms used in the book. The chapter concludes with an outline of the book.

The Response to Violence against Women in Côte d’Ivoire

This chapter covers the state’s, the women’s movement’s, and international actors’ responses to rape and domestic violence before, during, and after the Ivoirian conflict. It explains that unlike Liberia, there was some government and civil society attention to violence against women before the outbreak of armed conflict in 2002. Pressure from the UN and other international actors also contributed to the introduction of initiatives within the security sector to address violence against women during the conflict, including a specialized mechanism within the police force. The chapter explains how the UN’s attention to sexual violence during the Ivoirian conflict increased after the second civil war and generated pressure on the government to create the gender desks.

Violence against Women in Côte d’Ivoire

This chapter mirrors the Liberian case in Chapter 3 by tracing the problem of violence against women in Côte d’Ivoire and the effect of the country’s 11-year conflict on this violence. As in Liberia, patriarchal gender norms were at the root of this violence and contributed to Ivoirian’s reluctance to turn to the state for help. It is, however, explains that while the Liberian conflict led to widespread sexual violence, the dynamics of the Ivoirian conflict resulted in sexual violence that was less widespread and was more concentrated in certain regions of the country. Nonetheless, this violence led to shifting attitudes, such that the reporting of domestic violence and rape increased after the conflict.

Violence against Women and Law Enforcement in Africa

Chapter 1 builds on several themes in the Introduction by providing an overview of violence against women in Africa and a background on the creation of specialized criminal justice sector mechanisms. It identifies commonalities in the types of violence experienced in most countries and in the causes of this violence, as well as in what states have done in response. It highlights the role of patriarchal gender norms in causing this violence and in shaping the criminal justice sector’s response. The chapter also identifies the international women’s justice norm and shows how it has constituted and has been constituted by various international instruments. It discusses the emergence of specialized criminal justice mechanisms and draws on secondary sources to develop a typology of these mechanisms and to document their spread across the continent.

Street-Level Implementation in Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire

This chapter draws on interviews with police officers in Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire and gendarmes in Côte d’Ivoire to show how international and domestic factors changed how the rape and domestic violence laws were enforced. It demonstrates how the greater degree of institutionalization of the specialized unit led to a deeper salience of the international women’s justice norm in Liberia. However, in both countries, there were substantial deficiencies in how laws were enforced and how the norm was implemented. This chapter explains how a lack of resources for policing, combined with the social and economic pressures that survivors face, hindered law enforcement and norm implementation.

Violence against Women in Liberia

Chapter 3 traces the problem of violence against women in Liberia and explains how the conflict exacerbated the problem and rendered women vulnerable in its aftermath. It examines three time periods (pre-conflict, conflict, and post-conflict) and explains that patriarchal gender norms were always at the core of this violence and contributed to Liberians’ reluctance to report rape and domestic violence to the police and to support the prosecution of offenders. However, widespread sexual violence during the conflict and post-conflict campaigns by the state and non-state actors led to shifting attitudes and to increased reporting of these crimes. Nonetheless, it shows how even after the conflict, Liberians relied more on informal justice mechanisms to address violence against women.