2nd phase of women’s access to justice project concludes

AMMAN — The Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD) in partnership with Oxfam GB, on Monday held a concluding event for the second phase of the Women’s Access to Justice (WAJ) project, funded by the ministry of foreign affairs of Finland. 

The second phase of the project aimed at reducing the vulnerability and suffering of disadvantaged women among refugee and host communities, ARDD said in a statement e-mailed to the Jordan Times on Monday.

Two panel discussions on the status of women’s access to justice from the perspectives of civil society and the justice sector were held during the event, which attracted representatives from the government and judiciary system, along with representatives from local and international organisations, stakeholders and the media.

The first panel, titled “Civil Society: A Way Forward for a Supportive System for Women’s Access to Justice” discussed the state’s efforts in women’s and human rights issues and the costs and socioeconomic challenges associated with seeking justice. 

Jordanian government coordinator for human rights, Basel Tarawneh, member of Jordanian Parliament, Wafaa Bani Mustafa, consultant for ARDD’s WAJ II project, Nuha Muhreiz and journalist Rana Al Husseini were the panel speakers.

The second panel, dubbed “Justice Sector: Facilitating a Supportive Environment for Women’s Access to Justice”, focused on the root causes that prevent an enabling environment within the court system, gender sensitivity in policy making, the effect of court procedures and their costs on women, and the juristic perspective on Jordanian personal status legislation. 

The consultant of the Jordanian Supreme Judge Ashraf Al-Omari, Senator Fedaa Al Hmoud, President of the Centre for Women’s Studies Abeer Al Dababneh and SIGI Jordan lawyer, Enaam Asha led the discussion on these topics. 

WAJ II has been implementing a holistic approach combining legal, psychosocial, and financial empowerment, in addition to capacity building and community engagement, to facilitate legal system access and just outcomes for beneficiaries in Amman and Zarqa Governorates, the statement said.

It built upon WAJ I (2011-2014) by continuing to provide women in the MENA region with the tools to reduce vulnerability and suffering by securing just outcomes and verdicts. Phase II expanded on prior programmes in Jordan and Lebanon and introduced new programming in Egypt and Yemen, to create change at the individual, community, regional and national levels.