The Institute of Community Development Zimbabwe, an organization founded on the basis of promoting equality for women and young people with disabilities earlier this month took a giant leap of faith by hosting the first of its kind, Moot Court on Disability rights, held at the Great Zimbabwe University.
The moot court which saw four universities tussling it out for the top spot was meant to provide a platform for the justice system and the PWDs to engage on ideas and formulate ways to help the latter have equal access at the courts.
For a long time, women with disabilities have faced difficulties in accessing justice especially when their rights are trampled on.
Women with disabilities are denied access to justice in practice, as a result of the lack of accessibility and procedural accommodations in legal systems.
Legal advice is unaffordable to them. Judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and law enforcement officials are often not informed about the rights of women with disabilities and demonstrate various negative stereotypes concerning women with disabilities in their working practices.
Legal personnel often fail to grant credence to the testimonies given by women with disabilities and frequently do not open cases concerning violent acts against women with disabilities as they may require additional resources due to the need to ascertain the victim’s capacity to give consent and testify.
The few court judgments issued involving women with disabilities fail to respect their human rights.
According to reports by ICOD Zim, the challenges many women and girls with disabilities face throughout the justice process include reporting abuse to the police, obtaining appropriate medical care, having complaints investigated, navigating the court system, and getting adequate compensation.
Women and girls with disabilities are significantly disadvantaged with regard to access to justice. There is very little accessible information on what to do after experiencing crime/ or gender-based violence, not to mention police stations and courthouses are poorly equipped to handle persons with disabilities; the reason being, they have limited knowledge on dealing with disabled survivors, and many resorts to victim-blaming.
Furthermore, women and girls with disabilities face communication and structural barriers to receiving post-violence services.
“One of the biggest challenges especially for women with disabilities has been a failure to access justice. There are a lot of violations against WWD that go unpunished because most people don’t realize that they have done something wrong!
“There have been challenges to getting information on how WWD can get justice so we have done a multi-stakeholder approach where we bring in all concerned stakeholders including the communities, the social workers,” Talent Maphosa, Director of ICOD Zim, told 263Chat during the ground-breaking ceremony.
Maphosa is of the belief that to improve interaction with the police and the judicial process, women and girls with disabilities may need procedural and age-appropriate accommodations, and other support depending on their disabilities.
“This could include access to sign-language interpretation, the presence of someone to facilitate communication (a “special educator”), use of simple language, and the option to file reports in braille.”
On the day, more than 20 students took part in a moot competition in which they were debating on a given topic.
Great Zimbabwe University were the eventual winners.
Maphosa said her organization deliberately roped in students because they are still in their early career development hence becomes necessary to engage them.
“We can’t talk of access to justice when we haven’t included the lawyers themselves! So we’re saying let’s catch them young so that they appreciate PWDs.
“When they see a woman at the courts with a disability they are able to address her issues and allow her to have equal access to justice hence we decided that we need to engage these upcoming lawyers at a young age,” she said.
The 2030 Agenda, through Sustainable Development Goal No 5, seeks to put an end to all forms of discrimination against women and girls and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual exploitation;
According to reports, there are roughly 10 million persons with disabilities who experience forced violations worldwide but most of their cases remain unreported or unresolved.
When factoring in underreporting and displacement due to natural disasters, this number is likely much higher
The rights of women and young persons with disabilities are human rights that are protected in numerous international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, the Convention against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Each of these international human rights treaties imposes specific legal obligations on States that have ratified the treaty.
Article 12 of the CRPD expressly provides that States must realize this right for persons with disabilities and explains what it looks like to give effect to this right for persons with disabilities.
Therefore, States are required to: (1) reaffirm that women and young persons with disabilities “have the right to recognition everywhere as persons before the law”; (2) recognize that women and young persons with disabilities have the right to “enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all aspects of life”; (3) “take appropriate measures to provide access by [women and young persons] WOMEN AND YOUNG PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES 15 with disabilities to the support they may require in exercising their legal capacity,” such as supported decision-making models; (4) “ensure that all measures that relate to the exercise of legal capacity provide for appropriate and effective safeguards to prevent abuse, while respecting the rights of the woman or young person with a disability’s will and preference, without coercion or conflicts of interest; and (5) ensure the equal right of women and young persons with disabilities to own and control their property.
Understanding the right of women and young persons with disabilities to equal recognition before the law is necessary so service providers and support staff can ensure that they do not participate in violating women and young person’s rights.
Zimbabwe’s leadership has repeatedly expressed concern over sexual violence and has said it is committed to reforms.
Disability Rights activist, Yemurai Ngoma said there is a great lack of disability rights emanating from a lack of resources at the top level.
“We think there is a lack of capacity and a case of ignorance because issues of disability are never taken seriously! What the judicial system lacks is knowledge and the PWDs also lack enough information on how to access the courts.
“So we need to make awareness about disability rights and how the courts can help us because they work for us,” she noted.
Commenting on the Moot Court, Ngoma said this is a step in the right direction for PWDs and applauded ICOD Zim for the initiative.
“I believe this will go a long way because we invited people that need to realize that we have persons in our communities that need representation and if they have an appreciation they might implement policies that will enhance our cause or even formulate new policies for PWDs,” she said.
Ngoma further stated that efforts are needed to modify laws and implement regulations to fully implement a strong legal framework that protects women and girls with disabilities from violence and to provide adequate services to violence survivors.
When gender collides with a disability, both exacerbate vulnerability to violence, which may occur within personal relationships, homes, institutions, and the community.
Evidence shows that women and girls with disabilities face barriers to information and services.
Usually, these challenges are a result of a lack of information and the attitudes of society, including those of public administrators, health care, the justice system, and other service providers.
Also, there is limited access to preventive services that address violence against women, such as domestic violence and sexual abuse programs and facilities, legal services, and health care systems, particularly in terms of sexual and reproductive health.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the human rights violations faced by millions of women and girls with disabilities, as well as mothers and women carers of relatives with disabilities during the lockdown.
This reality has revealed the shortcomings of a society that still views certain resources and services that are essential for women and girls with disabilities in their daily lives as dispensable, leading to violations of their fundamental rights during these exceptional circumstances.
