Today 28th February 2023, Trincomalee District Women Network (TDWN) met the Attorney General and the Senior Legal Consultant of the Ministry of Justice and handed over an advocacy paper on sexual and gender-based violations. In the advocacy paper, TDWN has placed 12 demands including Establishing special mobile courts or special circuit courts to hear SGBV cases. They also requested Attorney General’s Department to expedite the SGBV cases.
its recommendations:
5. KEY POLICY RECOMMENDATION
Recommending Ministry of Justice and Attorney General’s department for an
expedited process of charging the perpetrators and conducting trials against
them in order to prevent the withdrawal of victim-survivors from cases.
6. OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Strengthen public institutions to deliver effective services to the public that
address sexual and gender-based violence considering the sensitivity (police
stations, mediation boards, government departments, courts, and hospitals);
2. Establish a common mechanism to raise awareness on Gender-based violence,
support services, legal provisions and remedies, and community services in
different levels such as community leaders, government officers, youths, and
men.
3. Create community resource centers at the community level which provide
relevant information on support services on Sexual and Gender-Based
violence, protection, and prevention where that functions in a sustainable
manner.
4. Strengthen the existing referral mechanism that supports women and girls for
their safety, well-being, and access to justice;
5. Equip women and child desks in each police station to take actions timely and
effectively;
6. Ensure the officers at the women and child desk are fluent in the local
language in order to address the complaints in an effective manner;
7. Establish special mobile courts or special circuit courts to hear SGBV cases
with confidentiality and dignity.
8. Introduce a monitoring system to monitor and oversee the services and roles
of the Legal Aid Commission and Human Rights Commission on Sexual and
Gender Based Cases. agenda on these cases.
9. Strengthen and equip the law-maintaining authority divisions such as police
stations and Attorney General’s Department to expedite the actions/further
actions on SGBV-related complaints;
10.Strengthen the law and ensure the legal actions on cybercrimes in order to
safeguard women, especially girl children;
11.Build a community support system incorporating youth members to show
solidarity and support to the victim-survivors in their own communities;
12.Strengthen and support women’s organizations especially to provide and
ensure services are accessible to the victim-survivors in their hour of need
such as shelter, medical treatment, livelihood opportunities and counselling
service;
Full Advocacy paper here : Advocacy Paper TDWN-final
