WUNRN
Women’s Link Worldwide Announces the Winners of the 6th Edition of the Gender Justice Uncovered Awards, which Unveil Court Rulings that Did Most to Advance or Set Back Gender Equality.
Madrid, June 25, 2014 – In order to raise awareness and advocate for social oversight for court decisions issued by judges around the world, Women’s Link Worldwide accepts nominations every year, from around the world, for the best and worst court decisions on gender equality. The worst three rulings win the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Bludgeon Awards, while the best three win a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Gavel.
Thanks to the participation of numerous civil society organizations, activists and interested citizens, the sixth edition of the Awards had 65 decisions nominated from 31 countries, including Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, India, Iran, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Moldova, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, the United States, Zimbabwe, and many more.
This year, the jury responsible for picking the winning decisions for the Gavel and Bludgeon categories is comprised of: Kerry Kennedy (USA), human rights and women’s rights activist and President of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights; Yvonne Mokgoro (South Africa), appointed as Justice to the Constitutional Court of South Africa by Nelson Mandela at the high court’s inception in 1994; and Héctor Abad Faciolince (Colombia), renown writer and journalist for one of Colombia’s widest circulating newspapers.
Bludgeon Award-Winning Decisions (decisions that set back gender equality)
The Bronze Bludgeon was awarded to judge of the Indigenous Court of Peace and Reconciliation of Chiapas (Mexico) whofined and jailed a 14-year-old indigenous Tzotzil girl who decided to leave her husband, many years her senior, and go back to her family. This decision showed total disregard for the minor’s rights to liberty and equality.
The
Silver Bludgeon went to the Court of Riad in Saudi
Arabia for sentencing a woman to 150 lashes and eight months in prison for
driving a car and then resisting arrest. Saudi Arabia is the only country in
the world today that still has this clearly discriminatory and sexist law on
the books.
The
Golden Bludgeon was conferred to a Village Council in India
that sentenced a 20-year-old woman to be gang-raped for having a relationship
with a man from another community. No justice system in the world can justify
imposing rape as a punishment.
Gavel Award-Winning Decisions (decisions that did the most to advance gender equality)
The Bronze Gavel was awarded to the Criminal Court of Guatemala, First Division for including sex crimes and gender violence in its conviction of former president Efraín Ríos Montt for war crimes and genocide. This ruling is a landmark decision in the struggle against impunity for crimes committed against women and girls in the context of war and armed conflict.
The Silver Gavel went to the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, which ordered several government agencies to justify why rape victims were administered what is known as the “two-finger test,” an invasive and inconclusive procedure that only serves to humiliate and degrade rape victims. The government responded by naming a committee to create new guidelines, which would ban this practice if implemented.
The Golden Gavel was bestowed to the judge of the High Court of Meru (Kenya) who ordered the police to reopen investigation of over 160 reports of girls raped by their fathers, brothers, uncles, and teachers, that had previously been closed by the police, claiming that the sex acts were consensual. Rulings like this one send an important message because they address not only issues of tolerance of sexual violence and child abuse, but also impunity and negligence by state agents.
People’s Choice Award Winners
Not only can anybody nominate court decisions that promote or set back gender equality, they can also vote for their favorite decisions by visiting Women’s Link’s web site and voting for the People’s Choice Awards. This year, more than 28,000 public votes were cast. The decisions that got the most votes in each category (Gavel and Bludgeon) and were the winners were:
The People’s Choice Gavel Award went to the Labor Court of Almeria. Third Division (Spain), which declared that the daughter of a victim of gender violence was a “double orphan” after her mother was killed by the girl’s father, who was then imprisoned and lost custody of the minor. Thanks to this ruling that both of her parents were “absent,” the girl was able to collect a double pension. The case also led to an initiative before Congress to consider the children of victims of gender violence to be direct victims.
The People’s Choice Bludgeon Award went to Criminal Court Number 68 of Mexico City, which imprisoned Yakiri, a woman who killed one of her two rapists in self-defense. In his decision, the judge dismissed the victim’s testimony and placed the blame on her, justifying her attacker, sending a grim message about access to justice to society at large.
“Thanks to all the organizations and people who nominated cases to this year’s Gender Justice Uncovered Awards and posted their comments, voted, and replied. We encourage everyone to keep a sharp watch on court decisions based on gender stereotypes that perpetuate impunity, as well as those decisions that protect and ensure women’s dignity. The Awards are a mechanism to provide social oversight in which any decision can be recognized or censured,” noted Glenys de Jesús, Director of Women’s Link’s Gender Justice Observatory.