How can cultural norms affect women's access to justice for gender-based violence? Women's rights abuses and impunity in Guatemala

虽然关于社会性别角色的一些土著文化规范和做法可以赋予土著妇女追求其权利和平等的权力，但绝大多数仍然以占主导地位的父权制利益为基础并受其影响。有害的性别陈规定型观念、传统和歧视性假设往往成为损害妇女权利政策的既定工具，模糊了什么行为可被视为暴力侵害妇女行为的界限，并破坏了受害者在司法程序中的信誉。因此，妇女诉诸司法的努力往往不受惩罚，许多受害者进一步受到司法系统的再次受害或起诉。国际社会日益意识到，文化规范被用作对妇女的暴力行为合法化的借口。例如，《消除对妇女一切形式歧视公约》第3条和第5(a)条特别要求改变陈规定型的文化模式，例如指责受害者激怒犯罪者（“激情犯罪”），歧视被认为在婚外性行为活跃的妇女，或将妇女的利益置于家庭声誉之下。在危地马拉处理对妇女的暴力行为的地方办法中，也明显采用了进步的办法。危地马拉政府是首批实施一系列立法和替代司法机制以促进妇女权利和打击基于性别的暴力的国家之一。其中包括2008年《禁止杀害妇女和其他形式暴力侵害妇女行为法》，以及专门的妇女咨询办公室（SEPREM）。根据2008年的《杀害妇女法》，危地马拉还引入了革命性的24小时妇女法庭。妇女法庭在危地马拉农村地区开设了几个办事处，处理涉及对妇女的暴力行为的各种罪行，包括性暴力和家庭暴力。法院在向受害者提供司法、检察官和专门受过处理敏感案件培训的医生的援助的同时，还旨在鼓励妇女捍卫自己的权利，并使其他土著妇女有能力反对危地马拉对基于性别的暴力行为不受惩罚的现象。然而，人权法的实施与当地普遍存在的陈规定型态度以及大男子主义的文化规范之间的关系继续阻碍了在该国有效处理和预防基于性别的暴力的努力。问题包括继续实行既定的歧视性政策，而不是以人权条约为基础的法律，恐吓受害者、证人和法庭工作人员，削减经费和努力破坏妇女法庭的特别程序。结果，许多受害者即使在为他们特别设计的设施中也得不到正义。虽然刑事司法与文化规范之间的关系是学术界的一个既定主题，但关于妇女权利从属于促进男子的法律的社会文化方法，以及这对受害者诉诸司法的后果以及他们再次受害的可能性的研究还不够充分。此外，这些文献主要审查一般国内法院的情况，往往忽略了诸如专门妇女法院等其他司法机制的存在。这进一步表明，关于土著社区文化规范在这些机制的进程中所起作用的文献存在差距。因此，拟议的项目将分析土著文化规范对警务和司法机构的影响，使用女性主义的犯罪和司法理论方法，并应用定性实证研究方法。通过探索国际和区域人权法与国内刑事程序的交叉点，它将对目前关于文化在处理基于性别的暴力的司法机制中的作用的知识作出原创性贡献。

While some indigenous cultural norms and practices concerning gender roles in society can empower indigenous women in pursuing their rights and equality, the utmost majority is still based on and shaped by dominant patriarchal interests. Harmful gender stereotypes, traditions and discriminatory assumptions often serve as well-established tools for compromising women's rights policies, blurring the lines of what conduct can be considered violence against women, and undermining the victims' credibility in judicial processes. As such, women's efforts to access justice are often met with impunity with many victims being further exposed to re-victimization or prosecution by the justice system. The international community is increasingly aware that cultural norms are used as excuses to legitimate violence against women. Articles 3 and 5(a) of the CEDAW for instance specifically call for modification of stereotypical cultural patterns, such as blaming victims for provoking the perpetrator ("crimes of passion"), discriminating against women considered sexually active outside of marriage, or subordinating women's interests to family reputation. The progressive approach is also apparent in local approaches to violence against women in Guatemala. The Guatemalan government was amongst the first to implement a range of legislation and alternative justice mechanisms to promote women's rights and combat gender-based violence. These include the 2008 Law against Femicide and other Forms of Violence against Women, and the specialised women's advisory office, SEPREM. Based on the 2008 Femicide Law, Guatemala also introduced revolutionary 24-hour women's courts. With several offices opened across the rural regions of Guatemala, women's courts deal with various offences involving violence against women, including instances of sexual and domestic violence. While providing victims with the assistance of judiciary, prosecutors and doctors specifically trained to handle sensitive cases, the courts also aim to encourage women to defend their rights and to empower other indigenous women to stand against the impunity for gender-based violence in Guatemala. However, the continued relationship between the exercise of human rights law and the pervasive nature of local stereotypical attitudes, as well as machista cultural norms, keeps hampering efforts to effectively address and prevent gender-based violence in the country. Problems include continued application of the established discriminatory policies rather than laws based on human rights treaties, intimidation of victims, witnesses and court personnel, funding cuts and efforts to undermine the special procedures of women's courts. As a consequence, many victims are denied justice even in facilities specially designed for them. While the relationship between criminal justice and cultural norms is an established theme in scholarship, there is not enough adequate research on the sociocultural approaches to women's rights as being subordinate to laws that advance men, and on the consequences of this for victims' access to justice alongside the possibility of their re-victimization. What is more, the literature predominantly examines the situation in general domestic courts and often neglects the existence of alternative justice mechanisms such as specialised women's courts. This further signifies gap in literature around the role of indigenous communities' cultural norms in the proceedings of these mechanisms. The proposed project will therefore analyse the effects of indigenous cultural norms on policing and judicial institutions using feminist theoretical approaches to crime and justice, and application of qualitative empirical research methodology. By exploring the intersections of international and regional human rights law with domestic criminal procedures, it will make an original contribution to current knowledge on the role of culture in justice mechanisms addressing gender-based violence.