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UN Women Project

Closing the Justice Gap for Women with Intellectual and/or Psychosocial Disabilities in Asia Pacific

UN Women

Welcome to the website of the Closing the Justice Gap for Women with Intellectual and/or Psychosocial Disabilities in Asia Pacific research project. The key goal of this project was to gather evidence that illustrates the justice gap faced by women with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities in the Asia-Pacific region. The project took place from 2022-2023 and was funded by the UN Women Regional Office for Asia—Pacific.  The legal needs survey and associated knowledge products were generously supported by the Government of Sweden and the UN Women Centre of Excellence for Gender Equality in Seoul, Republic of Korea. The survey is now closed. The deadline for submissions was close of business on Friday 11th November 2022. 

Project Summary

Persons with disabilities, particularly those with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities, have historically been denied equal access to justice, based on questions of their capacity, resulting in discrimination and serious consequences for their life, rights and freedoms. Legal frameworks limit the right to act on and exercise legal capacity; they face stigma from justice actors; and they lack accessible information and judicial support systems, among other things. 
 
Women with disabilities face additional and significant barriers to accessing justice due to discrimination on the basis of both their gender and disability. They are disproportionately excluded from legal protection and are more likely to have their credit questioned owing to harmful gender norms and disability stereotypes. Such barriers not only limit the ability of women with disabilities to use the justice system, but also limit their ability to contribute to the administration of justice to society as a whole. A number of international human rights treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) affirm and underpin the right of women with disabilities to access justice. 
 
Despite the increasing focus on the rights of persons with disabilities and the advocacy work of disabled persons’ organisations, legal frameworks, justice pathways for access to justice for women with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities have not been sufficiently advanced to deliver on commitments under the CRPD and CEDAW. There remains a need to develop a deeper understanding of the legal needs of women with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities, to better inform prevention of legal problems, support of justice journeys and a responsive justice sector. For these reasons, the project sought to build new evidence and generate knowledge through research on the legal needs of women with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities in Asia and the Pacific. 

Project Outputs

During the project, the research team completed the following outputs: 

 A)    Undertook a legal needs survey in the Philippines, Nepal, Indonesia and Fiji, to identify the legal needs of women with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities, in collaboration with self-advocates and organisations of persons with disabilities in each target country 

 B)    Conducted research and consultations to identify gaps in institutional structures, support services, legislation, court rules and procedures that prevent justice mechanisms from fully implementing the rights of women with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities.

 C)    Informed by the legal needs survey results, as well as analysis of the justice frameworks and mechanisms within priority countries, provided research and recommendations to enhance access to justice for women with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities through the following knowledge products: 

  • Closing the Justice Gap for Women with Intellectual and/or Psychosocial Disabilities Research Report
  • Research Report Summary
  • Easy Read Report Summary
  • Country-Specific Policy Briefs for Fiji, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines
  • Know Your Rights Poster
  • Know Your Rights Video

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for the survey, respondents had to: 

  • Identify as a woman over the age of majority (18 years old)  
  • Be resident in relevant country (Indonesia, Nepal, Fiji, or the Philippines) 
  • Identify as having an intellectual disability and/or psychosocial disability OR have been identified by service professionals as having additional support needs
  • Please note: all survey responses were anonymous and the data was anonymized using unique identifiers for the purpose of survey analysis. 

To aid respondent’s participation, we provided the following documents:

  • Participant information sheet 
  • Consent form 
  • Supporters’ guide 
  • Guidance for completing the form online (English only)

These documents can be accessed in the following languages:

Contact Information

If you have questions about the findings of the project, please get in touch with the team:

Principal Investigators: Dr. Anna Arstein-Kerslake (anna.arsteinkerslake@universityofgalway.ie)  or Prof. Eilionóir Flynn (eilionoir.flynn@universityofgalway.ie)

More information is also available on the UN Women website: https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/focus-areas/governance/womens-access-to-justice/projects/closing-the-justice-gap 

Project Team

Prof. Eilionóir Flynn (Principal Investigator), Centre for Disability Law and Policy, University of Galway

Eilionóir Flynn is a Professor in Law and Director of the Centre for Disability Law and Policy, National University of Ireland Galway. Her research focuses on disability and social justice, with a particular emphasis on legal capacity, advocacy and access to justice. She is passionate about educating the next generation of disability rights scholars; and working in active partnership with disabled people’s organisations. Eilionóir regularly advises policy-makers at national and international levels, including providing support to the Secretariat of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and in particular the working group which developed General Comment 1.

Dr. Anna Arstein-Kerslake (Principal Investigator), Irish Centre for Human Rights, University of Galway

Dr Anna Arstein-Kerslake is a Professor in Human Rights and an international leader in the fields of disability rights, gender justice, and legal personhood. She has published widely in these areas, including her recent sole-authored books, Restoring Voice to People (Cambridge University Press 2017) and Legal Capacity and Gender (Springer 2020). She has led several large-scale research projects as well as law and policy reform initiatives. Dr Arstein-Kerslake has also participated widely in consultation with governments and other bodies, including: World Health Organisation (WHO), United Kingdom Ministry of Justice, Irish Ministry of Justice, Amnesty Ireland, Interights, and Mental Disability Advocacy Center, among others. Notably, she provided support to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on their General Comment on the right to equal recognition before the law.  

Emily Williams (Research Assistant), Irish Centre for Human Rights, University of Galway

Emily Williams holds a LLM in International Human Rights Law from the University of Galway and a BA in Human Rights and Criminology and Criminal Justice from St. Thomas University, Canada. Her research interests focus on how to effectively incorporate international human rights law into domestic public policy, following beginning her career at the Government of New Brunswick (Canada). In her spare time, she enjoys brisk walks around the neighbourhood, contemporary romance novels, and a good cup of tea. 

 April Parker (Research Assistant), Centre for Disability Law and Policy, University of Galway

As well as her work for UN Women, April  has supported the work of the ResPoNCE Project re: impact of Covid 19 on persons with disabilities in Europe and has consulted for the Global Coalition on Deinstitutionalisation. April holds an LLM in International and Comparative Disability Law & Policy from University of Galway. Her dissertation focused on the obligation of the Irish government to support parents with disabilities in child-rearing. In 2019, she interned in the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Disability. She read Philosophy and English literature at University College Cork. As a young disabled woman, with a passion for intersectional feminism she has been involved in advocacy and activism for over a decade. 

Archive

You can view available resources, learn about and past events and upcoming publications below. 

Legal Needs Survey: 

Recordings: