Lack of data

Data regarding the informal justice system is particularly important in view of the known risks it presents to victim safety and offender accountability. Informal justice mechanisms may not keep records of cases, parties, decisions, remedies, enforcement, and etc. This lack of data can make it difficult to definitively establish how prevalent problems of women’s human rights violations may be, or even whether a problem exists at all. Often, there is little data kept by any source about how the system operated in the past, how it operates currently, and how it relates to the formal system. This lack of information makes it challenging to educate funders and partners about the problems in the informal system and makes programme evaluation more difficult for measuring progress. This lack of data highlights the need for advocates to create their own monitoring and assessment systems early on so as to provide an evidence-base for their programmes.