The Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) has been in the forefront in promoting women's access to justice for decades. A large number of Human Rights advocates for women and children are fully supportive of the program on access to justice. The call is becoming stronger each day, as miscarriage of justice in many cases of women and children continue to happen. The range of advocacies vary from Legislative and Policy advocacies to advocacies in countering the intertwining culture of patriarchy, corruption and impunity in the justice system, to the calls for increase in the judicial budget, judicial independence, and the creation of the regular Family Courts under RA 8369, among other things.
International bodies, being aware of the sad plight of many victims of violence against women and children (VAWC) all over the world, are doing their part in promoting women's access to justice. Aware that the Judiciary has a big role to play in this regard, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN Women), in collaboration with the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the Thailand Office of the Judiciary convened a "Judicial Colloquium on Gender Equality Jurisprudence and the Role of the Judiciary in Promoting Women's Access to Justice" last September 4 and 5, 2013, in Bangkok Thailand. I was invited to be a Resource Person on the Battered Woman Syndrome as a defense under RA 9262, during the fourth session of the colloquium.
Participants from all court levels including the Supreme Courts, legal practitioners, government institutions, judicial educators, national human rights institutions and representatives from civil society from 9 South East Asian (SEA) countries were in attendance. The 9 countries are:
1. Cambodia;
2. Indonesia ;
3. Laos PDR;
4. Malaysia;
5. Myanmar;
6. Philippines;
7. Thailand;
8. Timor Leste; and
9. Vietnam
The objectives of the Judicial Colloquium are as follows:
"1. To discuss developments in gender equality jurisprudence in relation to State obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, (UN CEDAW), including challenges and successful cases;
2. To discuss the role of the judiciary in promoting women's access to justice; and
3. To strengthen the understanding of CEDAW and its application in the context of culture and customary and traditional practices or religion among the judiciary in South East Asia".
During the 2 day colloquium in Bangkok, the Philippines was cited several times as a country that has been (partly) compliant with CEDAW; at least in so far as Philippine laws and policies are concerned. This is indeed true, as reflected in our policy trail from the 1987 Philippine Constitution to an array of statutes from RA 7192, the Women in Nation Building and Development Law passed in 1992, all the way to RA 9710 or the Magna Carta of Women that was passed in 2009.
Of course, our PCW continuously leads us in advocating for the amendment of several remaining discriminatory laws against women as it presented the Women's Priority Legislative Agenda (WPLA), before the 16th Congress which I discussed in my September 2013 article.
As we all know, there is so much weakness in the areas of application, enforcement, implementation, observance and compliance of our beautiful laws by the various institutions in our government due to the prevailing intertwining culture of patriarchy, corruption and impunity in the Philippine Justice System. As a matter of fact, the UN CEDAW expressed the problem in our Judiciary when it tackled the Rape case of Karen T. Vertido, presented by Atty. Evalyn Ursua during the 5th session of the colloquium with the topic "Gender stereotyping in rape trials". I am glad that the head of the Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA) Former Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice (AJ) Adolf Azcuna, SC AJ Teresita Leonardo de Castro who heads the Committee on Gender Responsiveness in the Judiciary (CGRJ) and SC AJ Marvic Leonen were in the colloquium. The Philippine representatives were quite dynamic in all the presentations and discussions including our very own Jeannie Manipon of UN Women.
There were eleven Concluding Recommendations made by all the participants as follows:
"1. Encourage the establishment of gender equality committees within judiciaries where appropriate to monitor and support the application of gender equality principles, gender-sensitive procedures and gender-responsive practices within the judiciary.
2. Encourage the formation of a regional network of judges to promote continuing dialogue, knowledge and information sharing regarding the application of CEDAW and other international human rights treaties in judicial systems.
3. South East Asian judges should apply CEDAW and/or CEDAW obligations and Principles to domestic judicial decision making to combat and redress gender discrimination. CEDAW and its principles may be used in the following ways:
a. as an interpretive guide
b. to resolve ambiguity
c. to fill gaps in domestic law
d. as a source of definition in particular of concepts of equality and discrimination.
4. Initial training and continuing education for judges, judicial officers from all levels of the courts, and others tasked with the administration of justice, legal practitioners, using appropriate methodologies based on collective experiences of judges and should be provided on CEDAW, its principles, and other relevant international human rights instruments and their application to all areas of law and procedure, and should be integrated into ongoing judicial education programs.
5. Judicial institutions should be encouraged to conduct gender training including focus on sexuality and sexual violence in close cooperation with civil society experts, including those working with survivors of gender-based violence and those affected by gender discrimination.
6. Judicial training programs should include progressive gender-responsive interpretations of customary and religious norms, where applicable, in close cooperation with civil society experts.
7. Dialogue should be promoted among judges, legal practitioners and legislators on the incorporation of CEDAW into national laws and their application to gender-based discrimination cases.
8. Encourage knowledge and information sharing, including through social media, on judicial decisions between judges among South East Asian countries on CEDAW and its implementation at the domestic level.
9. National and regional databases should be established on gender equality jurisprudence with translation into local languages as well as a common language where possible.
10. Amend and update or create relevant guidelines on judicial practices to protect the dignity and safety of complainants and witnesses including through non-intimidating and non-discriminatory courtroom management and use of appropriate technology to reduce secondary victimization especially in cases of sexual violence.
11. SEA judicial institutes should consult with each other on a periodic basis to exchange ideas for courses on gender training. National evidence-based research should be conducted to enhance a better understanding of judges to promote women's access to justice and gender equality".
The UN WOMEN and ICJ's project in promoting Women's Access to Justice is very vital as it can propel and expedite the national program of the Philippines on Access to Justice to be concretized through a gender sensitive and gender responsive administration of justice in cases of women and children.
Proverbs 1:7 states: " The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; but fools despise wisdom and instruction".
Dory Cruz Avisado
10-9-13
