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UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.
Under its Strategic Note 2016-2020 which has been extended pending finalization of a new one for the period 2021 – 2025. Uganda Country Office focuses on delivering programs under four thematic areas:
- Governance, including: Women’s leadership and political participation; Inter-Governmental Support; National Planning and Accountability;
- Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE);
- Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG);
- Women, Peace, Security and Humanitarian Actions (WPS-HA);
UN Women is seeking the services of a national consultant to review and develop a revised Gender Policy and Strategy for the Judiciary 2021 – 2026.
CONTEXT AND RATIONALE
Uganda has a conducive policy and legislative environment that promotes gender equality and women’s rights. The Uganda Constitution has a clear statement on equality and has specific provisions that focus on women’s rights that among others are against discrimination and provide for the use of affirmative action in order to attain equity. Constitutional provisions have been translated into national legislation like the Domestic Violence Act (2010), the Female Genital Mutilation Act (2010), and the Local Government’s Act (1997), which provides for at least 30% representation of women at all elected levels.
Uganda also has a National Gender Policy (2017) whose purpose is “to establish a clear framework for identification, implementation and coordination of interventions designed to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment in Uganda.” The policy is accompanied by a strategy. The National Gender Policy highlights that gender mainstreaming is not just about achieving gender equality, but ultimately about social justice and sustainable development.
At regional level, Uganda ratified the African Union (AU) Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, commonly referred to as the Maputo protocol. At the international level, the Uganda Government ratified International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International Covenant on Cultural, Social and Economic Rights (ICSER) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The Government has also signed on to the Action plan for the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolutions 1325, 1820 and the Goma Declaration.
The Justice Law and Order Sector (JLOS), like all other Government sectors has a duty to ensure that the sector identifies and addresses any gender inequalities in line with the Constitution, the National Gender Policy and Government’s regional and international commitments to securing women’s rights and addressing discrimination. The Sector has a Gender and Equity Strategy, while three institutions under the sector – Judiciary, Uganda Police Force (UPF), and Uganda Prisons Services (UPS) – have gender policies while the (Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has a Gender, Children and Sexual Offences unit.
In 2012 the Judiciary launched its Gender Policy and Strategy with an overall objective of ensuring that there is gender sensitivity and responsiveness in the delivery of justice in Uganda.
The policy aims to provide a framework for gender mainstreaming within the Judiciary by addressing gender concerns within the Judiciary as an institution and addressing key gender obstacles to court users. More specifically, this policy focuses on two key areas: (i) Access and delivery of justice to females and males and (ii) Organizational development and management (in terms of representation, and how the Judiciary can be more gender-responsive, gender-aware and gender-sensitive in its day -to- day working and address sexual harassment).
JUSTIFICATION
After 10 years of implementation, there is need to review the Policy and respond to new challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s need to assess progress in terms of achievements, challenges and lessons learnt in addressing elements of discrimination or inequality within the institution as well as ensuring that both treatment of court users and content of judgements are gender sensitive. Significant progress has been made in the number of female judicial officers joining the Judiciary, with their current composition standing at 172 (45.4%) and their male counterparts 207 (54.6%). Such shifts however need to be interrogated further to establish whether they have been accompanied by measures to address to increase recruitment, promotion, and retainment of females in the judiciary.