From 29th November to 4th December 2010, legislators, lawyers, judges, police and civil society organisations from across Southern Africa, East Africa and Europe came together at Skillshare International's Gender Justice Week.
Cherie Booth QC joined Widney Brown (Senior Director of International Law and Policy at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International), Unity Dow (a former judge, human rights activist, and writer from Botswana) and Hon. Nonhlanhla Dlamini (activist and Swaziland MP) at a public debate, chaired by Amanda Khozi Mukwashi (Head of Programmes at Skillshare International), about reframing women's rights as human rights.
The week was hosted by leading law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in partnership with Skillshare International. Matrix Chambers and Clifford Chance law firms also participated in the week, which aimed to build the capacity of delegates to push for effective legal framework changes, particularly around domestic violence. Delegates shared their country experiences and recognised that the culture of domestic violence was surprisingly similar across the globe. They identified an opportunity to collectively challenge state toleration of violence as a human rights violation.
Delegates now hope to create a regional forum to undertake an economic audit that will reveal the true cost to their governments of domestic violence. In the UK, a similar audit discovered that domestic violence costs the corporate sector £2.7 billion per year in lost employee days.
Click here to see our Gender Justice Week gallery...