Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE United Nations global champion for gender equality, UN Women announced on Monday that over 3,000 women in Kagera region have benefited from para legal services.
It urged, however, paralegals in the region to strengthen community awareness and referrals of cases involving violence against women, marital conflict, and cases of inheritance and property rights.
UN Women Head of Access to Justice Programme in Tanzania, Racheal Boma said at a training paralegals have played an instrumental role in the realization of women and children’s rights, specifically in rural areas where women are less likely to afford hired legal services.
“Paralegals have been carrying out educational programmes on legal issues and procedures of concern to women; advising conflicting parties to seek amicable settlement, or referring them to the appropriate dispute settlement institutions,” said Boma, adding that the free service has greatly contributed to increased public awareness, and hence the reporting and prosecution of cases.
Through the support of the Governments of Sweden and the Netherlands, UN Women has been working since 2018 on a project to support the provision of legal aid for women and girls in Kagera region. The UN agency has working in collaboration with the Ministry of Constitution and Legal Affairs, the Regional Commissioner’s Office, Regional Legal Aid Coordination Committee, and Tanzania Network of Legal Aid Partners (TANLAP).
“Our aim is to ensure that women are able to fully access the justice they deserve, and to ensure that the justice system supports survivors of violence as initiatives to implement the National Plan of Action on Violence Against Women and Children,” said Boma.
Data from the 2015/16 Demographic Health Survey show that the Kagera region accounts for 67 per cent of national cases of gender-based violence. Women are also the primary seekers of legal aid services in the region according to the Kagera Regional State Attorney’s office.
“GBV cases, and specifically sexual violence are by and large the majority of cases that are reported to me by women, followed by land disputes and cases of child maintenance,” said Ms. Alice John, a paralegal who heads the Dispute Resolution and Human Rights Defense section of the Catholic church’s Bukoba constituency.
After working as a paralegal for 15 years, in 2018 she attended the first capacity strengthening workshop based on the national training manual for paralegals offered under the project. Having participated in the course once again this week, she says the added knowledge she has gained has been invaluable.
“In the past we would just do the best we could base on the information that was accessible to us at the time,” said Ms. John, “the training on the Legal Aid Act and its regulations has helped us to understand the boundaries of our work, and to develop a much better understanding of when and where we need to refer people, whether it is to the Police Gender and Children’s Desk, PCCB, social welfare or others,” said Ms. John.
