Jul 31, 2015 | News
The ICJ held a colloquium on this issue on 30-31 July. Judges, magistrates, lawyers, members of academia, and civil society leaders from SADC, ECOWAS and the East African Community attended the event.
The Acting Chief Justice of the Kingdom of Swaziland, MCB Maphalala and the Secretary General of ICJ, Wilder Tayler, officially opened the colloquium.
The participants discussed the concept of gender-based violence; the efforts to combat impunity in sexual offences and gender based violence at the national, regional and international level and made recommendations to eliminate the scourge.
One of the key objectives of the workshop was to contribute to the process of enacting sexual offences and domestic violence legislation in Swaziland.
The Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Bill of Swaziland is before the house of assembly, which has asked stakeholders to submit their views, on what should be included in the law.
The judges, lawyers and civil society leaders had robust and honest discussions touching on effective innovative strategies to combat sexual and gender based violence.
Some of the recommendations included the training of judicial officers to be gender sensitive, changing societal attitudes and prejudices, raising awareness amongst parliamentarians, creative interpretation and application of regional and international standards when adjudicating cases of sexual offences and gender based violence as well as observance of fair trial standards at the national, regional and international level.
The colloquium was made possible with funding from IrishAid.
Jun 5, 2015 | News
Today, the ICJ convened its training on “Women lawyers making a difference through the Legal Profession” in Maseru. Thirty-five women participated in the event.
In many jurisdictions, men invariably dominate the legal profession and there is a necessity to interrogate the reasons for this.
The advancement of women has not been significant despite the fact that there is equality in numbers in enrolment in law schools.
There have been cited challenges and obstacles that have been raised by women lawyers for this lack of advancement, and these needed to be fully explored in order to adopt concrete recommendations to inform an adequate and effective response to the apparent inequalities.
In order to address this issue within the legal profession in Lesotho, the ICJ collaborated with the Judicial Service Commission and the Lesotho Law Society.
The training brought together 35 women including Chief Justice Majara, Judges, Magistrates, Lawyers and Human Rights Activists from Non-Governmental Organisations.
The main objective of the training was to provide a platform for the participants to engage in robust discussions on the systemic obstacles that affect the ascendancy of women to leadership positions and provide them with an opportunity to introspect and come up with plausible innovative solutions and identify opportunities for change.
Further, the training would address the gender gap in the legal profession and also interrogate possible capacity building initiatives for the participants, which will enable them to effectively advance women’s rights through various advocacy techniques.
In addition, the training also sought to provide an opportunity for the Judicial Service Commission and the Lesotho Law Society for dialogue on improving the situation of women in the legal profession, as well as contributing to the promotion and protection of women’s rights and access to justice.
Apr 14, 2015
Today the ICJ published a briefing paper addressing harmful gender stereotypes and assumptions in law and practice and highlighting efforts in a number of countries to reform such law and practice.
The briefing paper is intended to assist legal practitioners and human rights defenders working to ensure effective criminal justice response to sexual violence against women.
“Around the world harmful stereotypes have the effect of denying many victims of sexual violence effective access to justice and redress for violations. This briefing paper demonstrates the onerous and unfair burdens placed upon victims arising from their gender when they seek to access justice,” said Ian Seiderman, ICJ Legal and Policy Director.
The paper highlights the importance of upholding a suspect’s right to a fair trial, including the presumption of evidence and rights to examine witnesses and challenge evidence while at the same time ensuring victims and witnesses also maintain equality before the law.
The publication addresses common assumptions that women are inherently untruthful; that credibility is premised on chastity; that women will fight back and therefore should demonstrate evidence of physical force or a struggle; that women’s passive sexuality opens up room for debate in defining consent; that women should obey their husbands; and that sexual violence is a matter of dishonor to the victims and their families.
In identifying these underlying harmful gender stereotypes and assumptions the paper also identifies a number of reform measures and examples of good legislative practice that can help states to enhance protection against sexual violence of women in accordance with their international obligations.
Download the report here:
Universal-GenderStereotypes-Publications-Thematic report-2015-ENG (full text in PDF)
Apr 10, 2015
Today, the ICJ submitted a briefing to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in view of the Committee’s preparation of a List of Issues for the examination of Brunei Darussalam’s Second and Third Periodic Reports under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
In its submission, the ICJ draws the attention of the Committee to concerns related to:
i.) the minimum age of criminal responsibility;
ii.) minimum age for marriage and/or forced marriage;
iii.) whipping as a judicially imposed punishment on children; and
iv.) undue limitations on the right to freedom of religion.
The ICJ’s submission concludes with a list of recommended questions for inclusion in the List of Issues for the examination of Brunei Darussalam.
Brunei-UNC right of the Child-Advocacy-legal submission-2015-ENG (full text in PDF)
Oct 15, 2014 | News
Judges and representatives from judicial institutes from across Southeast Asia are attending a regional workshop to discuss how they can help counter gender-based violence and gender stereotypes.
The workshop, organized by the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, in collaboration with the Office of the Thai Judiciary and the ICJ is held in Bangkok on 15 and 16 October 2014.
This Regional Workshop for Judicial Training Institutions on Good Practices in Promoting Women’s Human Rights Compliant Justice Delivery will focus on using the CEDAW Convention and on eradicating gender stereotypes, especially in cases related to violence against women.
It also aims to improve the progress of the implementation of the CEDAW Convention and strengthen the regional network of judicial training institutions in eight Southeast Asian countries, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.
Speakers at the opening session include Hon. Justice Pattarasak Vannasaeng, Secretary-General of the Office of the Thai Judiciary; H.E. Mr. Philip Calvert, Ambassador of Canada for Thailand; Ms. Roberta Clarke, Regional Director of the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific; and Sam Zarifi, ICJ’s Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific.
Thailand-Women Judicial training-News-web story-2014-ENG (full text in PDF)
