Events
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Upcoming Events
28-30
June 2023
In-depth Seminar on Due Diligence State Responsibility to end VAW.
The seminar will focus on specific strategic litigation cases on state responsibility to act with due diligence to prevent and effectively respond to VAW. ISLA and its partners have several cases raising similar issues including failure of the state to investigate, prosecute and punish VAW especially sexual violence cases. At this seminar lawyers will present the cases they are working on. The discussions will focus on the arguments made in the pleadings, the evidence presented and additional materials or research required. ISLA staff and experts comment on the pleadings for the purposes of providing substantive content that speaks to the legal provisions relied upon, comparative law and remedies. The participants are FLN network lawyers with cases related to due diligence or other actors interested in strategic litigation with such cases who have pleadings that can be analysed and further developed for filing.
For further information/expressions of interest to attend, contact Emmah Wabuke at emmah@the-isla.org
3-14
July 2023
Feminist Litigation Network(FLN) Litigation Institute on Violence Against Women
The substantive theme of this institute is due diligence state responsibility to prevent and effectively respond to VAW. This institute will be part 2 of the due diligence theme, continuing from the first VAW litigation institute which introduced the principle of due diligence broadly. We will go deeper into practical ways of using strategic litigation in the context of the due diligence state obligation to enact laws to protect women from VAW, and specifically to address sexual violence and domestic violence. The feminist legal methods section of this institute will focus on raising consciousness about the impermanence of feminist victories, and how the feminist struggle is as much about securing legal victories as it is about refining strategies to defend the gains. The litigation institute will also include sessions on developing the FLN network, and a range of learning and development aspects including a moot court.
Participants are primarily FLN network lawyers. We will make available 2 or 3 slots for self-funded participants who experts, academics, researchers or lawyers working in the field that would like to join the institute.
For further information/expressions of interest to attend, contact Emmah Wabuke at emmah@the-isla.org
3-5
Sept 2023
Francophone West Africa Strategy Consultation
This consultation will focus on strategies for using strategic litigation to advance women’s rights in Francophone west Africa. It will include learning from experiences of doing strategic litigation in this context as well as a comparative analysis of how to develop feminist jurisprudence in the different legal contexts, i.e., common law vs civil law legal systems. This will be the third strategy consultation in Francophone west Africa, the previous two having focused on case sourcing, partnerships required to support strategic litigation and case development of strategic litigation cases specifically cases on women’s land and property rights. Participants will include ISLA staff and partners in Francophone west Africa who have worked on cases in this context, lawyers and experts with insights on the legal systems and legal culture of francophone west Africa.
For further information/expressions of interest to attend, contact Emmah Wabuke at emmah@the-isla.org
13-15
September 2023
Strategy Consultation on Obstetric Violence
The focus of this capacity strengthening is to discuss legal strategies on Obstetric Violence (OV) and how to anchor such litigation in human rights standards and feminist analysis. The conversations will focus on how to intersect SRHR and VAW human rights frameworks to strengthen legal standards for protecting women from OV. We will also consider what kinds of legal mobilisaton strategies and partnerships are needed to strengthen the impact of strategic litigation on OV, and design practical next steps on what the collaborative work that follows the strategy consultation should look like. The consultation will be organised in collaboration with KELIN and Dullar Omar Institute, who together with ISLA are members of the Bridging the Gap Coalition. This consultation will provide an opportunity for stakeholders such as academics, activists, legal practitioners, researchers and feminists in the SRHR and VAW sectors to share their knowledge on their experiences of working on obstetric violence, and how to strengthen legal strategies. Participants include the diverse actors mentioned above. Due to limited resources only a limited number of participants can be fully funded to attend, however, 2 or 3 slots are available for self-funded individuals in these categories to attend.
For further information/expressions of interest to attend, contact Emmah Wabuke at emmah@the-isla.org
20 Nov - 1 Dec
2023
Feminist Litigation Network Litigation Institute on Women’s Social Economic Rights
The theme of this institute will be economic justice, specifically protection of women’s rights in the world of work. We will unpack various manifestations of discrimination against women at work, especially in categories of work with limited legal protection or where women face intersecting discrimination. Sessions will include contextual analysis, analysis of human rights frameworks, comparative standards, and feminist legal questions on how to use strategic litigation as a method of challenging such discrimination expanding legal protection for women. Participants are primarily FLN network lawyers. We will make available 2 or 3 slots for self-funded participants who experts, academics, researchers or lawyers working in the field that would like to join the institute.
For further information/expressions of interest to attend, contact Emmah Wabuke at emmah@the-isla.org
Past Events
24
August
Re-writing African Judgements from Feminist Perspectives & LUC Platform Launch
We are launching the Let us Collaborate platform that seeks to simplify the process for women’s rights and sexual rights defenders in Africa to initiate, identify, engage, and partner in collaborative efforts on strategic litigation, research, advocacy and capacity strengthening initiatives. We will also have discussions on how better judgments can be provided or written differently from an African feministic standpoint. Discussants are members of the African Feminist Judgment Project.
About Us
Founded in 2014, the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA) is a Pan-African and feminist initiative with a timely remit: to strengthen strategic human rights litigation across the African continent. Essentially, we aim to change the way that strategic litigation is used so as to enable broader access to justice and to support those who seek to hold states accountable for violations of women’s human rights and sexual rights.
Contact Details
Contact Number:
+27 11 338 9028
Fax: +27 11 338 9029
Address: 208-211 Rahima Moosa Street, Marble Towers, 15th Floor Johannesburg, 2001 Gauteng, South Africa