The Council of Europe and its member states have made specific commitments to improve women’s access to justice and prevent and combat violence against women. The role of justice system professionals in ensuring and strengthening women’s access to justice is essential in achieving substantive equality and guaranteeing equal rights to all in the society.
During the live streamed event of 8 June 2021, legal training institutes for judges and prosecutors from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, came together with legal practitioners, non-governmental organisations and international organisations for the regional launch of the Council of Europe Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) course on Access to Justice for Women.
The launch event, with more than 130 participants, featured a keynote speech by Dr Shazia Choudhry, Professor of Law at Queen Mary University of London, on why women’s access to justice is a relevant and timely topic in nowadays societies with an emphasis on the role legal professionals play on ensuring not only that procedural aspects of the justice act are respected and observed but that substantively, rights are protected without discrimination and at the highest level of quality standards for justice system and its components.
Six national tutored courses on Access to Justice for Women will be implemented in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, reaching over 100 judges and prosecutors who will be better equipped to deliver justice to everyone in their societies in line with Council of Europe gender equality standards.
This regional launch is organised in the framework of the project “Women’s Access to Justice : delivering on the Istanbul Convention and other European gender equality standards”, funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in their Partnership for Good Governance II.
