Rights of Women & Girls: Nairobi Declaration
RJI would like to bring to your attention the following declaration regarding the rights of women and girls in response to violence and sexual violence against them. https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/NAIROBI_DECLARATIONeng.pdf
The Nairobi Declaration of 2007 on Women and Girls’ Right to Remedy and Reparation was a product of meetings held in March 2007 to address targeted violence towards women and girls. In this declaration you will find restorative justice language stating the rights of victims of such abuse and the need to provide remedy and reparation: words often used in the field of restorative justice. Contributing to the declaration and present at this gathering in 2007 were women’s advocates and activists along with victims of abuse and violence from regions in conflict in Africa, Asia, Europe, Central, North and South America.
Sometimes we do not need to start from the beginning to build on foundations that exist regarding the treatment of human beings, in this case women and girls, to move beyond where we are today. But it is important to revisit such a declaration as this one from the Nairobi meetings. RJI finds it important to hear from the victims of violence, to allow their stories to be told so that truth is heard. From the truth, however, comes the need to hold offenders accountable for their actions. The Nairobi Declaration applies as much today as it did in 2007.