Georgetown : In order to meet the judicial needs of women there is a dire need for the justice chain to be gender responsive. This is according to Managing Director of the Guyana Legal Aid Service, Simone Morris-Ramlall. She during a Women and Gender and Equality Commission forum reiterated the recommendations of the United Nation’s Women which emphasises that “there should be clear mandates and procedures…clear mandates are essential to ensure that public services are responsive to women.” In this regard, she noted that national and legal frameworks should provide for the development of mandatory standardised protocols and regulations to enforce the law and mechanisms to ensure coordination between different parts of the system.
She explained that there should be integrated and specialised services where possible because of the institutional and social barriers that women face. Women, according to her, need specialised services tailored to meet their needs. She underlined that one promising approach is to integrate services, for instance, through one stop shops and maintaining the presence of women on the frontline of the justice system. According to Morris-Ramlall, while the presence of women in the police force and the judiciary is a matter of equality and fairness, it is also important to maintain public confidence in the justice system. “Women have demonstrated a greater willingness to report sexual assaults where they are represented by police,” the Legal Aid Managing Director noted, even as she pointed out that “when judges are made aware of the barriers that women face in accessing justice, attitudes can change.” This, she added, could by extension lend to the realisation of simple and effective solutions prioritising sensitive cases including those related to violence against women.
According to Commissioner, attached to the Women and Gender and Equality Commission, Bibi Haleima Khan, “we have been hearing the call for further assistance and of course we are somewhere there but we need to move on. We need to move ahead as a Commission but we are pleased to see collaboration between all stakeholders.” She pointed out that the onus is yet on Government, Non-Governmental and other organisations to help enhance public health, public safety, welfare as well as a decent environment. As such, she insisted that “what this Commission would like to see in the near future is policies and legislations to be put in place to avoid bottlenecks that we have presently.” This, she noted, should allow for a shorter route towards access to justice even as the addition of staff in government departments are given a priority to enhance this access to justice.
Minister of Human Services and Social Security Jennifer Webster has stressed that “the issues which affect our women as well as children is everyone’s business and we have a duty and a responsibility to protect them…especially those who are victims of abuse. Those who have suffered should not be denied access to justice and we have to support them in every possible way whether it be through counselling services or by ensuring that they are protected from further harm…”
As such the Minister noted that ongoing efforts are being made to educate stakeholders on the Domestic Violence Act and Regulations even as she noted that measures will be enacted shortly to reduce the time that such cases are heard by the judicial system.
The Minister expressed her belief that, among the entities working to address the situation of violence, there is need for the National Commission on the Family to play a more vibrant role in the society to help address the issue of violence. This, she said, is essential because a number of the social issues are related to the family and “indeed we have to start from the family.”
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