Judicial officers accused of intimidating witnesses, female advocates

Oct 24, 2016

There is need to build capacity for judicial officers on how to handle issues related to women

Judicial officers mostly magistrates have been accused of intimidating and being rude towards women as they try to access justice.

Faddy Gladys Canagura of Kitgum Women Peace Initiative (KIWEA), an organization that deals with girls and women that have been victims of domestic violence and armed conflict in Kitgum said whenever women appear in court as witnesses or victims of crimes, some judicial officers are very rude, talk in an intimidating way which scares women from fully expressing themselves.

"While I have represented some of these women in courts of law, others represent themselves, but it is not easy. There is a lot of intimidation and rudeness by the judicial officers, they ask several questions but one is not given time to respond, it is as if one has committed a crime," she said.

She said this kind of intimidation mainly affects the women because they are illiterate, do not know their rights, and the moment they are intimidated, cannot express themselves, shut up and have now become hesitant to seek for justice.

"That mode of speaking to us in an intimidating way sends them into panic, shuts women from speaking out and is physiologically torturing. How shall we get rid of social injustices like domestic violence with this kind of environment," she wondered.

A female city lawyer who preferred anonymity said the problem of intimidation is not only being faced by people in rural areas especially women but also in Kampala courts.

She revealed that in Kampala, some male magistrates are in the habit of intimidating female advocates especially when they know she is pursuing a case that involves large sums of money.

In relation to the cases that involve big stakes, she noted that corruption is eating away some magistrates. When they realize an advocate is handling such cases, she said, they want a piece of the cake, defend the imposter, instead of the person that has a genuine cause, and sometimes, the innocent victims have lost cases.

"Female advocates are not given attention in some courts, when a male advocate stands up and shouts while urging out a point, the magistrate says, calm down, but when a female advocate does the same, some magistrates will order her to sit down, this is unfair treatment of women," she said.

She noted that there is need to build capacity for judicial officers on how to handle issues related to women.

They were speaking at a dialogue on gender based violence and challenges women face in accessing justice held at Hotel Africana recently. This is one of the several activities to be organized by Uganda Women's Network (UWONET) during the 3rdNational Women's Week.

Christine Birabwa Nsubuga the national coordinator at Justice Centres in Uganda noted that challenges like Police not being sufficiently funded to investigate crimes for instance domestic violence, limited number of probation officers who are also not well funded, lack of proper implementation of policies and lack of current data on domestic violence cases, are hindering justice.

She said to address challenges affecting women; it requires a multi-sectoral approach.

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