3.2.5 Presentation on Draft Principles for Women and Transitional Justice Ms. Memory Kachambwa presented on the draft principles on women and transitional justice. She said the participation of women is many times underplayed, and there is a need to develop for legal reform to catalyse women participation in transitional justice processes. She said there is need to remove barriers to participation and ensure that gender becomes a cross-cutting theme across all the thematic areas. Plenary Discussion There was a unanimous decision to incorporate gender as a crosscutting issue in all thematic areas as a way of dealing with patriarchy in the present day society. The point of departure proposed had a dialogue with parliamentarians and constituencies. More so men needed specic interventions that help them go through healing to overcome issues around ego. Hence, there was a call to target both men and women and dismantle the architecture that says “you cannot talk about what happened to you as a man”. 3.2.6 Presentation of Draft Principles for Justice and Accountability Ms. Roselyn Hanzi made a brieng on the principles of justice and accountability. She outlined the key principles that must guide criminal prosecutions and civil litigation. She addressed the issue of amnesties and indicated this was a contentious issue to be discussed by delegates. She highlighted that under international law, it is not possible to grant amnesty on certain crimes and that doing so promotes impunity. Plenary Discussion The discussions highlighted the need to be proactive in a predatory state, think about timing issues when sanctioning perpetrators. There was also need to look into illegal amnesties pronounced in the past. Additional questions were also raised on how these principles could be translated into policy in a non-transitional state and it was also noted that bringing about justice and accountability is a matter of timing and strategy. 21