A/HRC/27/21 train and roster experts on sexual and gender crime and deploy them to international and national justice mechanisms. 35. There is increasing awareness of the need to address the obstacles faced by victims of gender-based and sexual violence in accessing criminal accountability processes. These include the often prohibitive cost of filing complaints, and the geographic inaccessibility of police stations, medical services needed to obtain forensic evidence, and courts, particularly for women victims living in remote areas without transportation and with childcare responsibilities. Victims also need free legal assistance to pursue cases, medical care and support to manage the health impact of gender-based and sexual violence, and education about the criminal justice system so that cases are not abandoned or withdrawn due to mistaken assumptions. Innovative strategies are being adopted to address some of those obstacles. Mobile courts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have allowed for criminal proceedings to be conducted in remote areas and specialist pro-bono legal clinics have been established for survivors of gender-based and sexual violence. Efforts have been made to integrate the provision of legal and medical services, creating “one-stop shops” for child and women survivors of such violence.39 36. More analysis is also needed of the potential and limitations of justice processes based on customary law. Customary justice mechanisms tend to be more accessible than formal courts, providing a means of filling the gap in judicial services to resolve minor disputes, enjoying community legitimacy and having the potential to provide culturally appropriate remedies. However, previous patterns of gender discrimination of such mechanisms make resolving gender-based and sexual violence cases through them extremely problematic. Efforts should be made to transform customary justice systems in gender-sensitive ways, and to ensure their compatibility with international human rights standards, while not allowing this to substitute for formal justice sector reform. For instance, in Uganda, the local council courts are now required to ensure that a minimum of one third of their judges are women. In South Africa, the Law Reform Commission has made recommendations for harmonization of customary law with that country’s Constitution. B. International criminal justice and its impact at the national level 37. Over the past two decades, international justice approaches to gender-based and sexual violence have undergone significant transformation. Ad hoc tribunals, the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the International Criminal Court have contributed substantially to developing the legal and normative framework for such crimes, including through innovative jurisprudence. It is now well recognized that sexual violence can constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity or an act of genocide.40 The establishment of the International Criminal Court has been particularly significant, with the Rome Statute recognizing the international crimes of sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization and other forms of sexual violence of comparable gravity.41 Specific forms of gender-based and sexual violence directed at children, 39 40 41 See, for example, A/HRC/25/35, on access to justice for children. See for example International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Prosecutor v. Akayesu, case No. ICTR96-4-T, 731, Trial Chamber judgement, 2 September 1998; International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, Prosecutor v. Kunarac et al., IT-96-23 & IT-96-23/1A, Appeals Chamber judgement, 12 June 2002; Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, arts. 7 and 8. Rome Statute, arts. 7 and 8. 11