Access to Justice for Female Victims of Crime in Zimbabwe Challenges and Options

The monograph utilised a thematic content analysis, critically examined how significant barriers affect Mashonaland Central girls and women living with disabilities as victims of crime from accessing justice. Zimbabwe is an optimal case to apply this study, due to its contradictory legislation and evidence of high rate of human rights violations. Mashonaland Central Province is an ideal case study due to the extant records that indicate that it has the highest incidences of violence against women. This study is therefore contextualised within a Victimological epoch with the aim to fill in the research gap in the canon of scholarship within the purview of acknowledging the process of accessing justice as an important step for protecting and promoting human right. By analysing interviews conducted with three different women aged 1865 and three girls living with disability who were under the age of 18, through the theoretical frameworks of basic human rights theory and victim dynamics, the monograph contributes to the existing body of knowledge, with suggestions of how these barriers which are inclusive of societal and cultural structures, tend to affect the participants‘ everyday lives and, in a most pertinent manner, towards their right to access justice. The monograph is also governed by the perspectives of key actors in the judicial process including, but not limited to, the Victim Friendly Unit. The theoretical framework is also operationalised into themes and criteria that are then applied to analyse the conducted interviews. The emerging findings illuminate that there is a discrepancy between government policy surrounding girls and women living with disabilities and the practical experiences of the participants. The participants experienced a lack of accessibility to basic rights, such as health care, the law, and to sex education – which are all rights ensured by government policy. Identified consequences included: discouragement in seeking justice due to fears of cultural and social stigma, discouragement in reporting crimes, and receiving adequate support, and information from second-hand sources. This study therefore concludes that lack of access to justice is a violation of security of person, human dignity and rights to health and life to women and girls living with disability.