Empowering Women to Access Justice and Claim Their Rights at the Local Level
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TUNISIA: EMPOWERING WOMEN TO ACCESS JUSTICE AND CLAIM THEIR RIGHTS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL IDLO QUARTERLY REPORT Country Tunisia Programme Duration 1 January 2019 – 31 December 2020 Donor Government of the Netherlands Programme Reference Number 4000002132 Programme Value EUR 700,000 Reporting Period 1 April – 30 June 2020 Submitted to the Department for Stabilization and Humanitarian Aid of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands 30 September 2020 IDLO | International Development Law Organization Creating a Culture of Justice www.idlo.int TABLE OF CONTENTS I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................................... 1 II. PROGRAMME GOAL ............................................................................................................................................................... 2 III. RESOURCES ............................................................................................................................................................................... 2 IV. PROGRESS AGAINST PROGRAM OUTCOMES AND OUTPUTS ........................................................................ 2 V. CHALLENGES AND LESSONS LEARNED ..................................................................................................................... 5 VI. CONCLUSION AND WAY FORWARD ............................................................................................................................ 6 The International Development Law Organization (IDLO) is pleased to submit this Quarterly Report to the Department for Stabilization and Humanitarian Aid of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in conjunction with the required IATI reporting for the programme “Empowering Women to Access Justice and Claim their Rights at the Local Level in Tunisia”, based on the agreement signed between the Department for Stabilization and Humanitarian Aid of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and IDLO on 3 December 2018. I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Women in Tunisia continue to encounter barriers in accessing justice and many still lack awareness and knowledge of their rights. Social norms remain an obstacle to legal change, and discriminatory practices on the part of justice sector actors persist. Women, more often than men, tend to seek legal information from informal resources within their families. The lack of a legal framework to effectively address the legal empowerment of women remains a key hindrance to the advancement of women’s right to access justice in practice. Challenges in the administration of justice, such as lack of adequate competences and resources on part of justice sector actors, further compound these complex dynamics. Moreover, the practical application of the normative framework for legal assistance in Tunisia demonstrates the insufficiency of existing legal mechanisms. Throughout this programme, IDLO provides support to justice stakeholders in strengthening access to justice and legal services for women in the Tunisian governorates of Tunis and Kef. These governorates were selected during the inception phase of the programme. During the reporting period (April - June 2020), the international and national landscape continued to present considerable complexities as the world remains disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic continued to affect programme implementation, given the restrictions imposed by the Tunisian Government on social gatherings. Training activities planned under output 2 were postponed. However, IDLO was able to make progress towards achieving output 1 (“Legal and policy dialogue on the existing system of access to justice and its impact on women advanced”). IDLO organised a multi-sectoral coordination meeting in Ben Arous governorate on 16 June 2020 to discuss with the participants the challenges in delivering care services and providing assistance to women victims of violence at the local level. The programme also continued to provide legal aid services for GBV survivors through the legal aid centres established in partnership with the IDLO implementing partner Lawyers without Borders (Avocats Sans Frontières - ASF.) The support offered to GBV survivors proved to be fundamental in a time when cases of violence against women in Tunisia have grown sevenfold during the period of general lockdown, as stated by the Minister of Women, Family and Children’s Affairs in early July 2020. It is worth noting that – although not planned in the original programme proposal – IDLO took the initiative to organise a virtual meeting on 15 April 2020 with key donors and development partners on the COVID- 19 crisis and its impact on the justice sector and programme delivery. The meeting was attended by 25 representatives (12 women and 13 men) from among the international community in Tunisia, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the European Union (EU), the Council of Europe, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the U.S. State Department – Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), the International Commission of Jurists, the International Legal Assistance Consortium, the Foundation Hanns Seidel, Democracy Reporting International Organisation and the National Center for State Courts. The participants discussed the impact of the pandemic on the work of the international organisations in the country, the challenges faced in the justice sector and the common search for alternatives and new methods of programme implementation and adaptation strategies. During this meeting, IDLO highlighted the need for digitalization of the justice sector in Tunisia and the requirement to support the Tunisian Government in this effort. 1 II. PROGRAMME GOAL Strengthen the access of women victims of violence to justice and to the assistance services made available to them by the various government structures. III. RESOURCES The total Programme budget is EUR 700,000. As at the end of the reporting period, EUR 339,378 have been spent. IV. PROGRESS AGAINST PROGRAM OUTCOMES AND OUTPUTS OUTCOME 1: WOMEN ARE EMPOWERED TO ACCESS LEGAL SERVICES AND CLAIM THEIR RIGHTS IN TWO GOVERNORATES OF TUNISIA Output 1: Legal and policy dialogue on the existing system of access to justice and its impact on women advanced Gather feedback on the results of the needs assessment on women’s access to justice at the local level In order to identify and analyse access to justice gaps and challenges faced by women at the local level, in 2019 IDLO conducted a needs assessment in cooperation with the Tunisian Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the High Judicial Council (HJC), the Ministry of Social Affairs (MSA) and other key partners such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Legal Foundation (ILF). The assessment focused on what works and what does not work in existing legal aid schemes so as to propose viable recommendations for improvement. The results of the needs assessment (as summarised in the Needs Assessment Report) were presented and discussed during a number of multi-sectoral coordination meetings aimed at stimulating dialogue at the local level to gather additional information on and recommendations to address access to justice gaps faced by GBV survivors. During this reporting period, IDLO organised a multi-sectoral coordination meeting on 16 June 2020 on the premises of the Childhood Center in Ben Arous governorate. The meeting brought together 26 participants (20 women and 6 men) including judges, psychologists from the Ministry of Social Affairs, officials of the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Women, Family and Children’s Affairs, as well as representatives of civil society. The participants discussed the problems and challenges that persist at the local level concerning the assistance and care services provided to women victims of violence. The meeting also discussed the impact of COVID-19 and the restrictive measures adopted by the Tunisian Government as a response to the health crisis, especially since the lockdown measures have dramatically increased cases of gender- based violence in the country. Feedback gathered during the meeting continued to inform IDLO proposals for a more responsive and advanced legal aid system, including tools and mechanisms that can assist relevant judicial institutions and local administrations in the two target governorates to deliver better legal aid services and improve coordination between all relevant parties. 2 Output 2: Integrated legal aid scheme for women in two governorates of Tunisia Develop an integrated legal aid scheme for women in two governorates of Tunisia The COVID-19 pandemic affected implementation of activities under this output, given the restrictive measures put in place by the Tunisian Government banning all gatherings. Yet, despite the lockdown and the impossibility to organise legal consultations at the programme partners’ locations IDLO and its implementing partner ASF continued to provide support to programme beneficiaries in compliance with Government restrictive measures. In order to do so, IDLO and ASF developed a new implementation approach, which entailed providing legal consultations and support via telephone. The new methodology was highly welcomed as it was much needed in light of the increased number of domestic abuse against