So late, so late so late... goodness

Well! I’m sorry for the long absence... work has picked up and in my haste I’ve missed updating this blog. I know that it’s unpardonable but I hope it’s okay!

Let’s see... what has happened since the bout with chicken pox? First off, another intern from CCI has come. Give some warm greetings to Reena (who will be posting her entries from time to time as well, so you don’t have to get stuck with my meandering narrative all the time)! When I met her I got to show her around a lot of Osu – basically, just getting meals and showing her where to relax and unwind (though jet lag for her was killer – she literally slept past noon one of the days, which is amazing considering how crazy the roosters are in this country)! Reena’s got quite an overlap with my mandate... she’ll be centered in Takoradi, which is on the far western coastal edge of Ghana. Among her duties includes the court watch project and taking notes on WiLDAF’s LAP/LLV strategy.

It will be very useful and important to have her around and not just because she will contribute to getting a better data sample for the court watch. Reena’s background is in social work (and she hopes to go into development work someday), so an examination of Ghana’s DVA is very much interesting from her perspective. Whilst I’m very well-versed in the legal aspects of the DVA (and have a decent idea, now, of Ghanaian society and where challenges that aren’t simply based in statute may lay), Reena brings an understanding of social psychology and restorative justice that I don’t think I’ve studied quite as in-depth as she has. Some of what she brings to the court watch is that knowledge, as well as a female perspective, which may be quite different from what I can observe. As well, she is observing legal aid clinics, mediations and other legal processes that I might have less access to wherever I am, which will give her a better social nuance of how the other cogs in the DVA engine (the ADR and restorative justice parts, in particular) operate and whether or not they contribute towards the mandate of the DVA in general (which is to protect women and children, in particular, from domestic violence).

In drafting the court watch with her, some of the variables I identified as being useful to examine include:

• Demographic statistics – just who comes to apply under the DVA? Does this seem to be affected by any prosecutorial bias as to what constitutes domestic violence (and thus, other applications may be filed under assault instead)? How do these prosecutorial decisions function in conjunction with parts of the DVA which encourage an expansive reading of domestic violence and domestic relations in general?
• Types of DVA-based claims – physical and sexual claims, of course, are expected to make up the majority of actions. But how willing are judges or prosecutors in looking at economic, psychological, or even the “small acts occurring repeatedly” definitions that can also be encompassed by domestic violence? An interesting question that we won’t get to answer because we don’t interview people would also be – how many people actually come to report those types of violence but drop those charges before court in pursuing the more obvious physical and sexual assault patterns? How does that reflect on Ghanaian society as a whole?
• Attitudes of the court and court officials – how do court staff, lawyers and judges interact with one another and the parties at hand? How attentive are judges? Do the lawyers and judges conduct themselves professionally, and especially in these cases, neutrally (since interactions between defence and prosecution send messages to victims)? How helpful were police and court officers to either party in obtaining legal advice, therapeutic avenues, etc?
• Proper application of the law – are the judges exercising the DVA properly? Are they allowing certain cases to be dropped and settled out of court (as some can be, if the request is made by the victim) or are they refusing? Also, how constructive are the judgments? Are they of a more penal nature or are they better intended towards discipline whilst trying to provide economic and social support towards both parties? Also, how much do judges consider other factors in their judgments? How much do they consider victim impact statements and perhaps rule accordingly?
• Arguments pursued in court – How do the prosecutor and defense present their cases, interview their clients and cross-examine? How much of their cases are based in the facts as opposed to potential stereotypes, social pattern evidence or conjecture? How constructive are they in building their case as opposed to destroying the testimony of the other party?
• Victim satisfaction/comfort – how are victims, in particular, treated at court and how does the procedure potentially aid or hurt them in their pursuit of justice, whichever route they choose to take?

As one can see, most of my questions are based in what happens in court. It will be interesting what Reena will add to the mix! Also, Reena is conducting many studies which closely overlap with mine. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.

The other big thing I’ve been doing in past weeks is my research document which will look at the DVAs of a bunch of African commonwealth countries and compare outcomes. In looking at a country, I decided to examine it from the following perspectives:

• Their DVAs in strict isolation – how expansive or restrictive is the language in the Act itself? What interesting wording is there to note?
• Status of the DVA – is it enacted? If not, why has it not been?
• Their constitution and applicable legal documents and agreements – are these DVAs constitutionally consistent? How well are human rights enshrined legally in the constitution and international agreements? Aside from domestic violence, what other rights are given from gender, family, age, and disempowered-groups perspectives? What other laws exist which may cause conflict with proper enforcement of the DVA, and what would likely be chosen when in conflict?
• Applicable case law and trends in the country – how is the DVA being interpreted in the country? How are equality rights provisions being interpreted as well – is there an active or passive duty assigned to government and society? How does the case law potentially differ from another country and what kinds of legal traditions differ between these countries?
• Social history and the events leading to drafting of the DVA – were these DVAs well-thought out processes or enacted in haste, in response to an impetus? How well do the DVAs capture the mandate of the Constitution – for that respect, how much thought was put into the constitutional documents themselves? Was it an evolutionary process in introducing these rights or was it a direct result of decolonization?
• Social components in society – what kinds of social traditions exist which may increase or decrease the difficulty of effective DVA implementation across the country? What other events occurring in the country may cause social turmoil, which tends to be accompanied with a rise in DV or gender-based violence? How about other components in society (religion, traditional government, current leadership, etc)? Are they receptive to the idea that domestic violence is an issue and not a mere “family disagreement”? How do they perceive domestic violence – as a necessary component of their functioning society or as something else?
• Practical outcomes – what difficulties exist in enforcement of a DVA? What kinds of movements exist to try and aid victims to bring their claims forth? What kinds of potential proposals exist in the country to try and confront these problems?

So far, I’ve examined three countries with respect to these issues: Ghana, Uganda and South Africa. Ghana’s recently enacted their DVA, South Africa did about a decade ago, and Uganda still hasn’t even after 40 years of pushing for something. What is interesting to see is why Uganda has had problems (civil war, difficult social traditions, unresponsive government with a president who has sat for 26 years so far), why South Africa has such expansive civil rights (gradual process of decolonization and transition to democracy, careful drafting of Constitution which included strong enshrinement of human, particularly gender-based rights, and a stronger base of women’s organizations to help create the document). Ghana is somewhere in the middle (stable democracy with stable changing government, fast drafting of Constitution, challenging social traditions, strong base of NGOs due to stable aid-encouraged development) and it will be interesting to see it negotiate its future path. I hope my document will help in potentially drafting recommendations on how to bring Ghana more in line with South Africa and less so with Uganda.

These recommendations could also be helpful in potentially giving Reena some ideas on how to incorporate certain goals into the CEDAW (UN Committee to End Discrimination against Women) toolkit that WiLDAF wants her to make. In a way, all of what we’re doing is tied into CEDAW – further strengthening the institutions that enforce the DVA, further enlarging the scope of therapeutic services to victims of domestic violence, trying to work against gender-based violence and to curb social traditions which work to marginalize women... it all ties in.

Finally, I’m helping to organize a presidential forum with women from across the country going to talk to the presidential candidates about issues pertaining specifically to the condition of women across the country. It’s fascinating to see how quickly things coalesce in Ghana when they want to, and how much access WiLDAF has (I mean, seriously – when would I ever get to organize this kind of forum in Canada and how would I manage to persuade *all* parties to attend)? It’s quite heartening to see it take place (and I’m helping with things ranging from mailing out invitations, to arranging media interviews and coverage of the event, to getting in contact with some of the network of women’s organizations to see who will attend and what women might be chosen from various constituencies... to have one’s hands in something so direct is quite a neat feeling.

Well, that’s pretty much it for now. When I have more time (I forgot my laptop charger at work! Argh!) I’ll go into further detail. But for now, take care and thanks for reading!