Strengthening Judicial Capacity to Improve Women’s Access to Justice

Regional Conference organised by the Council of Europe in partnership with the National Institute of Justice of the Republic of Moldova
24-25 October 2016

The conference aimed at:

• Discussing barriers, remedies and good practices for women’s access to justice, including the challenges of multiple discrimination;
• Exchanging good practices in the training of legal professionals to promote equal access to justice for women and strategize about steps in this field;
• Disseminating tools for strengthening the capacity of legal professionals to ensure fair and equal treatment of women by the justice system, in particular the training manual on Ensuring Access to Justice for Women;
• Promoting existing standards, including the Istanbul Convention, to ensure access to justice for women victims of violence;
• Facilitating partnerships and networks among training institutions for legal professionals in the countries of the project.

Documents

Programme (English, Romanian, Russian)

Concept paper (English and Russian)

Speakers’ biographies (English)

List of participants (English)

Report of the conference (English)

Country Studies on Barriers, Remedies and Good Practices for Women’s Access to Justice: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine (available in English only)

Presentations and Speeches:

Session 1 – Setting the scene: improving the gender sensitiveness of justice systems

Key obstacles to women’s access to justice in Europe: Presentation (in English) from Sylwia Spurek, Legal expert, Deputy Commissioner for Human Rights of Poland responsible for equal treatment issues

Gender issues in the judiciary: Presentation (in French) from Gábor Széplaki-Nagy, Prosecutor, Head of Division, Office of the Prosecutor General of Hungary and Gender Equality Rapporteur of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) of the Council of Europe

Session 2 – Barriers, remedies and good practices for women’s access to justice: country examples

Presentation of main findings of the regional report on Barriers, Remedies and Good Practices for Women’s Access to Justice in five Eastern Partnership Countries:

Presentation from Doina Ioana Străisteanu, National expert, member of the Council on the Prevention and Elimination of Discrimination and Ensuring Equality of the Republic of Moldova

Presentation (in English) from Baia Pataraia, National expert for Georgia

Institute of Justice of Kazakhstan: Presentation from Makhsat Bereketov, Vice Rector of the Justice Academy under the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Presentation from the National Institute of Magistracy of Romania: Presentation from Cristiana Craciunescu, Judge, Trainer of the National Institute for Magistracy of Romania

Special courts and special prosecutor’s offices examining cases of violence against women: Presentation (in English) from Carmen de la Fuente Méndez, Chief of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Cartagena, Spain

Session 3 – International standards and international good practices for improving women’s access to justice

The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention): Presentation (in English) from Biljana Brankovic, member of the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO)

Addressing judicial gender stereotyping: Presentation from Veronica Birga, Chief of the Women’s Human Rights and Gender Section, Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights

The Council of Europe Gender Equality Strategy: Current progress and hopes for the future: Presentation (in English) from Dragan Knezevic, member of the Gender Equality Commission of the Council of Europe, Serbia

Toolkit for Women’s Access to Justice: Presentation (in English) from Beatrice Duncan, Justice and Constitutional Advisor, UN Women

Session 4: Strengthening capacities in the legal professions to improve women’s access to justice

Gender equality and women’s rights in judicial training: Presentation (in French) from Florence Aubry Girardin, Dr. iur, Judge of the Supreme Court, Switzerland

Gender equality and women’s rights in prosecutorial training: Presentation from Viktoria Mozgova, National Academy of Prosecution of Ukraine

Gender equality and women’s rights in training for lawyers:

Presentation (in English) from Irakli Kandashvili, Board Member of the Georgian Bar Association, Chairman of the Educational Council

Presentation (in English) from Karolina Ristova-Aasterud, Faculty of Law “Lustinianus Primus“, Skopje, “The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia“

Session 5: Training manual on Ensuring Access to Justice for Women

General part of the training manual: Presentation (in English) from Elisabeth Duban, International legal consultant

National chapters of the training manual:

Presentation (in English) from Gohar Hakobyan, National expert for Armenia

Presentation and speech (in English) from Maia Bakradze, National expert from Georgia

Presentation from Olga Dorul, National expert for the Republic from Moldova

Presentation (in Russian) from Oksana Pol’na and Olena Uvarova, National experts from Ukraine

Session 6: Facilitating women’s equal access to justice: the role of civil society

Access to Justice for Women Confronted with Multiple and Intersectional Discrimination: The Case of Legal Aid Centres and Roma Communities in Bulgaria and Romania: Presentation (in English) from Maria Marinova-Alkalay, Human Rights and Non-Discrimination Expert

Access to justice for women victims of gender-based violence: Presentation (in English) from Angelina Zaporojan-Pirgari, Director of the Women’s Law Centre, the Republic of Moldova