Moot Court at Protea Hotel (Parktonian)

The last day of our Litigation Institutes is usually dedicated to our Moot Court. The ‘Violence against Women’ and ‘Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights’ Litigation Institute was no different. On the 14th of October, our participants put into practice the knowledge that they had gained at the institute. Each team was required to present an argument, in response to the Moot Court question

The Women’s Human Rights Network (The Network) has been established to address the issue of lack of time and capacity for many legal aid service organisations who spend time doing a number of activities thus, allowing them insufficient time to focus on strategic litigation. The Network is currently in the pilot phase of the Network and has partnered with three human rights organisations based in East Africa, FIDA- Uganda, WLAC-Tanzania, and KELIN – Kenya. We recently met with our partner organisations in Mombasa to finalise the various elements our network.

The Forum is organised by the Litigants Group, a group of about 65 lawyers and representatives of non-governmental organisations with past and/or ongoing cases before the Commission. The Litigants Group started to meet in 2010 and has since engaged in research, discussion and advocacy to work with the Commission and its Secretariat to strengthen and develop the protective mandate. The Group also gives litigants the chance to share experiences, discuss potential cases and raise particular issues of concern. The Forum forms part of the Litigants Group’s advocacy efforts and is designed to provide a basis for continued discussion between the various stakeholders who engage with the protective mandate.

Our long-term goal of the Women’s Land and Property Rights programme is to promote the greater legal protection of women’s land and property rights in Africa by contributing to the development of progressive standards and jurisprudence. One of the ways in which we seek to attain this goal is through consistently engaging local lawyers and NGOs within our women’s human rights network in capacity strengthening activities around strategic litigation of women’s land and property rights. The Women’s Land and Property Rights Institute is one such offering.

Moot Court