IFES Practitioner Brief on Alternative Dispute Resolution in Elections they can favor patriarchal values, and they have often prioritized the goal of achieving resolution of the conflict without necessarily taking account of specific women’s issues—in particular, gender-based or sexual violence. 82 More research is needed on how well ADR in electoral disputes works for women and other marginalized groups, especially for dealing with cases of threats, abuse, harassment, and violence. Research on ADR outside the electoral context shows it can be helpful to women, provided that: • Women are represented on the ADR body and can bring women’s perspectives, voices, and experiences to their work and, by example, show that this is an inclusive process. • The ADR mechanism is designed carefully to empower women and protect women’s rights and agency. • ADR is voluntary, not mandatory, and the use of ADR is no bar to pursuing formal justice, including the ability to appeal the decision of the ADR body. • The ADR body is trained specifically to deal with such cases, including being aware of societal power imbalances, and of the risks to those with less power. • ADR is not used for serious criminal offenses or to allow the perpetrators of such crimes against women to avoid real penalties. 83 These lessons and conditions also apply to the rights of ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities. The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination mandates that states parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, color, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of rights including as the first one the right to equal treatment before the tribunals and all other organs administering justice. 84 In Indonesia, the Bawaslu (supervisory electoral body) conducts mediation at the local level, and mediators are usually from or close to the area of the pre-election dispute. The mediators are usually from the same ethnicity as the parties in dispute, which has helped in the positive resolution of these disputes according to former commissioners. 85 In Myanmar in 2020, every EMC was required to include at least one woman. As a result, the representation of women increased significantly, with women making up 18 to 20 percent of EMC membership at different levels. This 82 For example, the traditional community-based Gacaca courts used in Rwanda to try crimes committed during the genocide were ultimately used for crimes of sexual violence, despite expressly not being originally intended for that purpose, and researchers have found they were not sensitive to women’s issues and not appropriate for sexual violence. See Costello, E.M. (2016). Justice for whom? The gacaca courts and restorative justice for survivors of sexual violence in Rwanda (Bachelor’s Thesis, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA). https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/120576/emcostel.pdf;jsessionid=435696821010EA52DF3A46A02BC191E9?seq uence=1; Amick, E. (2011). Trying international crimes on local lawns: The adjudication of genocide sexual violence crimes in Rwanda’s gacaca courts. Columbia Journal of Gender & Law, 20(2). http://cjgl.cdrs.columbia.edu/article/trying-international-crimes-on-local-lawnsthe-adjudication-of-genocide-sexual-violence-crimes-in-rwandas-gacaca-courts/; Justice compromised: The legacy of Rwanda’s community-based gacaca courts. (2011). Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/report/2011/05/31/justice-compromised/legacyrwandas-community-based-gacaca-courts 83 Heilman, B., Paul-Gera, N., Musuya, T., & Siebert, S. (2016). Whose justice, whose alternative? - Locating women’s voice and agency in alternative dispute resolution responses to intimate partner violence. Beyond Borders, Center for Domestic Violence Prevention, and International Center for Research on Women. https://www.icrw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ICRW-Mediation-Paper-FINAL.PDF; Injustice and impunity: Mediation of criminal offences of violence against women. (2018). United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Countries/AF/UNAMA_OHCHR_EVAW_Report2018_InjusticeImpunity29May2018.p df; Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, General recommendation No. 35 on gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19, UN Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/35, at 45 (July 14, 2077). 84 United Nations International Convention for Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, December 21, 1965, 660 U.N.T.S. 195 (Multilateral) 85 Dr. R. D. Pettalolo, personal communication, August 10, 2022. 37