18-09-2015
Karachi
Civil Judges trained to expedite conviction rate under pro-women laws (18-19.9.2015)
A two days training with Sindh Judiciary was held on 18-19 September, 2015, at Sindh Judicial Academy, Karachi to speed up the rate of conviction under pro-women laws such as the Sindh Domestic Violence Act, 2013, and Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013 and Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Act (AWPA), 2011. The theme of the training was ‘Training on Gender Sensitization and Pro-women Laws.’
It was attended by a total of 31 participants including 9 females and 22 males. Majority of the participants were mainly newly inducted as civil judges-cum-magistrates while few had 2-3 years of experience as civil judges. The first day of training was scheduled to sensitize the participants on gender and sex, and human rights. In the first two sessions of Ms Mahnaz Rehman, Regional Director Aurat Foundation, Karachi office, discussed the concepts of sex and gender after the ice-breaking activity. She gave details briefing on gender and how males and females are perceived in different societies differently. She handled the questions of participants extremely well and was able to answer their questions raised on religious on understanding of gender and sex. She was well prepared and provided logical and solid evidences to eliminate any kind of doubt in the minds of participants. Ms Mahnaz also gave manuals of training for judiciary, developed by Aurat Foundation from a gender lens, to Mr. Syed Tariq Asaf Hussain, Senior Faculty Member, Sindh Judicial Academy. Mr Tariq committed to work on every possibility to include these manuals in the curriculum of Sindh Judicial Academy.
The last session of day one and two sessions on day two were conducted by Ms Maliha Zia Lari, senior advocate and a human rights activist, on human rights, violence against women and pro-women laws. She gave a brief presentation on human rights, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), International Conventions signed by Pakistan and the sections/chapters of Constitution of Pakistan concerning with rights of citizens. She divided the participants into six groups, each group containing five participants, and supervised many group activities to understand human rights, violence against women and laws innovatively. Ms Maliha Zia also discussed all the sections in Sindh DV Act, Child Marriages Restraint Act and AWPA 2011. She provided detailed answers to the questions raised by the participants and also gave examples of previous decisions of Supreme Court of Pakistan and Sindh High Court.
Mr Zafar Ahmed Sherwani, Registrar of Sindh High Court was invited for the closing ceremony, who shared his experiences with the participants and also insisted on how important to be gender sensitive and be aware of internal biases. He later distributed certificates of training among the participants.
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