© Centre for Legal and Judicial Training
Maputo (Mozambique), 12 June 2024 – “The justice system is where one expects there to be no injustice,” stressed Elisa Boerekamp, Director of the Centre for Legal and Judicial Training Centre of Mozambique (CFJJ).
Under this principle, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and CFJJ, together with other international partners, hosted the first-ever symposium on mainstreaming gender in the justice system in Mozambique.
From 10-12 June 2024, over 150 representatives from diverse sectors – including judges, prosecutors, police officers, criminal investigators, lawyers, prison officials, public defenders, activists, researchers, and academics – gathered in Maputo for this capacity-building event.
"Adjudicating with a gender perspective means understanding and considering the inequalities and discrimination that affect women, ensuring that justice is truly fair and accessible to all, without exception,” said H.E. Minister of Justice of Mozambique, Helena Kida, who opened the event.
“On several occasions, cases of domestic violence and inheritance disputes have been adjudicated in ways that not only perpetuate discrimination against women, but also jeopardize their physical and moral integrity. This tells us that we have not yet achieved equality,” warned Kida, calling for joint efforts to eliminate inequalities in treatment and to ensure access to legal services.
Panellists, among which international experts from UNODC, presented on a wide range of issues. These included the impact of stereotypes in judicial proceedings, the intersection of gender and human trafficking, challenges in addressing domestic violence and sexual harassment, and the gendered dimensions of corruption and organized crime, among many others.
A prosecutor working in Pemba, in northern Mozambique, presented a dilemma: “Let’s look at women involved in terrorism acts in Cabo Delgado.Some might say, ‘They committed the crime’, but others argue that they can, in fact, be victims, because many times these women join terrorist groups not of their own free will, but because they were kidnapped. If they are held criminally responsible, are we revictimizing these victims?” The symposium provided a crucial platform to discuss overcoming such legal and judicial paradoxes.
The event also served as a platform to raise awareness about the specific vulnerabilities and needs of female inmates and the importance of rehabilitation and resocialization programs, featuring a performance by a musical group from the National Prison Service of Mozambique, who also actively contributing to the discussions – an important resocialization initiative in itself. Representatives of the LGBTQIA+ community also attended, performing a cultural show at the symposium's launch.
The symposium concluded on a high note with the adoption of a proposal urging standardized judicial procedures for cases involving women and girls, to be submitted for approval by the Supreme Court.
Additionally, the Centre extended a public invitation to both speakers and attendees to submit essays for an upcoming book on the topic, consolidated insights and perspectives shared throughout the event.
CFJJ hopes that this symposium will be the first of many, serving as a permanent platform for monitoring progress and trends and to continuously improve practices and methodologies.
“The quality of the discussions and the level of engagement by stakeholders over the past three days have been truly encouraging. This demonstrates that mainstreaming gender in Mozambique’s justice system is not only possible but also attainable,” congratulated Antonio de Vivo, Head of the UNODC Office in Mozambique, at the event’s close.
“As UNODC, we remain committed to supporting our partners in achieving this important goal.”
This activity was made possible thanks to the generous funding of the Kingdom of Norway.
