National mechanism for advancing women and access to justice

The State party should ensure that the restructuring of the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Tribunal and the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud does not weaken their respective mandates for the promotion of gender equality and protection against discrimination, in particular during a transitional period.

The State party should strengthen the resources of the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud, who will be stripped of the mandate of dealing with individual cases, so as to enable the Ombud to assist women in bringing cases, including complex cases such as those based on multiple forms of discrimination, before the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Tribunal (as a form of free legal aid), and extend the authority of the Tribunal to award compensation in cases other than employment discrimination, including cases of sexual harassment.

The State party should renounce the envisaged budget cuts for non-governmental organizations providing legal aid to vulnerable groups of women and allocate sufficient human, technical and financial resources for providing free legal aid to women complainants.