Join us on 27 October, 2016 from 10:00am – 12:00pm EST (Eastern Standard Time)
Dear all,
In April 2016, RESURJ invited a group of feminist advocates for sexual, reproductive and gender justice from across the globe to a meeting in New York to identify some shortcomings and challenges of penal policies in responding to sexual and reproductive rights violations. After two days fruitful discussions, case study presentations and debates, the participants put together a statement (now available in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese) that summarizes the findings of the two days and aims to contribute to the conversation about the limitations of criminalization.
States across different regions of the world often respond to issues of sexual and reproductive rights within the framework of the criminal justice system. This approach of criminalization as a solution is not only employed by states: the dominant approach within donor agencies and feminist movements has also been to support advocacy for redressing violations of rights using criminalization. Criminalization as a solution has been invested in for decades.
However, and despite all the effort exerted in adopting laws that criminalize sexual and reproductive rights violations, the structural problems that lead to these rights violations often times remain intact. From our experience in advocating for sexual and reproductive justice, criminal law has not adequately addressed impunity. Criminal law has also been largely unsuccessful in sufficiently addressing/reducing sexual and reproductive rights violations.
Join us in this interactive dialogue where we highlight cases where penal policies have fallen short of adequately addressing and resolving sexual and reproductive rights violations and explore the way forward in advocating for more comprehensive policies to address SRR violations.
Some of the questions that will guide the discussion include:
1. Why do we need to talk about the limitations of criminalization in addressing sexual and reproductive rights violations? Is it a problem with implementation of the law or miscarriages of justice? What are some of the other limitations that we have encountered through our work?
2. What kinds of actions/ solutions need to be explored/accelerated to resolve this issue? Are there relevant current/ongoing initiatives towards the same? What role (if any) can the global and/or regional landscape play in addressing this problem?
3. How can we go about advocating for a more holistic/comprehensive approach that ensures justice is upheld?
The Speakers at the webinar will be:
· Maliha Zia, Team Lead Capacity Building, Legal Aid Society
· Dalia Abdel-Hameed, Gender and Women’s Rights Officer, Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.
· Jaime Todd-Gher, Legal Advisor in the Law and Policy Programme at Amnesty International
· Sinara Gumieri, Researcher and Legal Advisor at Anis – Institute of Bioethics, Human Rights and Gender/RESURJ
Join us on 27 October, 2016 from 10:00am – 12:00pm EST (Eastern Standard Time). For conversion to other time zones, please visit Time and Date.
**Please note this webinar will be held in English.