Amanda Atwood

As UNICEF recently announced, in the past three years, the rate of child abuse in Zimbabwe has increased by over 40%. In part, this is a devastating, but perhaps unsurprising, outcome of Zimbabwe’s declining economic conditions. Conditions for vulnerable groups, including women and girls, often deteriorate as social tensions mount. And with 85% unemployment and inflation at over 100,000%, Zimbabwe certainly qualifies as a country in crisis.

Child abuse and domestic violence remain inexcusable crimes. Addressing them is imperative for the health of the country and its future, but this violence is often under-reported and not discussed because of the shame and stigma associated with them. The 2006 Domestic Violence Act was gazetted late last year, and aims particularly to protect women and children from violence in the home, but until more people speak out about this violence, the effect of this new law will remain limited.

In Nigeria, BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights and the Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre wanted to break the silence around violence against women and girls. They organised a “mock tribunal” in which 33 women and girls told a panel of respected judges their stories of abuse. The event was covered by the national media and hundreds of people came to witness. The testimony of the women brought many in the audience to tears, and when the judges came back from their deliberations, they had developed powerful recommendations for changing Nigeria’s policy to better protect women from violence and human rights abuses.

Before the event, violence against women had long been trivialised in Nigeria. People refused to recognise the extent of domestic violence and abuse, and there was no government effort to address it. The mock tribunal was timed to correspond with democratic elections in Nigeria so that newly elected representatives would gain greater perspective on the issue and be confronted with the need to include it in their schedule of legislation. It was also aimed at promoting greater public appreciation of the issue of domestic violence. The mock tribunal added faces, stories and experiences to the statistics of violence against women to give greater weight to the issue.

BAOBAB began planning and fundraising for the event almost a year in advance. They sought coordination support and co-sponsorship from other women’s human rights groups in Nigeria to ensure a wider impact of the event. They worked with other organisations to mobilise the women who would testify in the tribunal – one of the hardest tasks in the event. The testifiers required counselling and encouragement to participate, and BAOBAB had to confront many cultural and religious obstacles to ensure their involvement. Each testifier worked with a “supporter,” with whom she could rehearse her testimony and who helped allay her fears. Testifiers could use pseudonyms, veils and filmed testimony to help protect them.

BAOBAB invited the judges for the tribunal’s panel well in advance, and had confirmation a month before the tribunal. They invited government and law enforcement agencies, ministries, local government officials, UN agencies, cultural and religious leaders, schools, donors, NGOs and individuals to participate in the event.

The media was briefed ahead of time. More than 45 journalists attended, and two workshops were held with the media before the event to raise their awareness about the issue and to sensitise them to how they could cover the event. These workshops highlighted the extent of ignorance about violence against women in Nigeria, even among journalists themselves.

The mock tribunal had a striking impact, and the women’s testimony moved witnesses to look at the issue of violence against women and demand action. Several of the legislators present pledged their support, and worked with BAOBAB to bring a Violence Against Women Bill before the National Assembly.

The tribunal was videotaped, edited and made into a film for further advocacy. BAOBAB was also commissioned to develop the research and documentation element of the tribunal into a DFID report on women’s access to justice in Nigeria. Other follow-up activities included the convening of women’s leadership training workshops to empower poor urban and rural women, and case work with individual women victims of domestic violence and abuse. The tribunal also built BAOBAB’s reputation and recognition, and deepened their involvement in other Nigerian groupings addressing women’s human rights, including the Human Rights Violations Investigation Panel Report (the Oputa Panel), the Legislative Advocacy Coalition and the Coalition on Violence Against Women.

In the longer term, the tribunal raised awareness about violence against women, and actively engaged journalists who continued to highlight the issue more regularly in their reporting. The tribunal also created a reference point for the discussion of women’s human rights and violence against women. National and state level legislation to protect women were developed as a result of the mock tribunal, and the Network on Police Reform was developed to ensure that law enforcement officials could better respond to violence against women.

A mock tribunal is one way to raise awareness about a number of pressing issues, not just violence against women. For example, a mock tribunal could draw attention to how HIV/AIDS is experienced, and could mobilise public awareness around concerns such as prevention, treatment and stigma. Similarly, it could highlight issues such as disability, discrimination and mental illness.

The fact that a “mock tribunal” is being held begs the question – why is the state not having its own tribunal? By involving journalists as well as prominent national and local government officials, it can be a way to break through media and government resistance on a particular issue. But, a successful mock tribunal requires a great deal of planning in advance, and must be part of a longer-term advocacy strategy around a given issue.

To find out more about this Nigerian case study, read the New Tactics tactical notebook, Mock Tribunal – Violence Against Women.

Amanda Atwood is the Content Manager at the Kubatana Trust of Zimbabwe and the NGO Network Alliance Project.

Amanda Atwood

As UNICEF recently announced, in the past three years, the rate of child abuse in Zimbabwe has increased by over 40%. In part, this is a devastating, but perhaps unsurprising, outcome of Zimbabwe’s declining economic conditions. Conditions for vulnerable groups, including women and girls, often deteriorate as social tensions mount. And with 85% unemployment and inflation at over 100,000%, Zimbabwe certainly qualifies as a country in crisis.

Child abuse and domestic violence remain inexcusable crimes. Addressing them is imperative for the health of the country and its future, but this violence is often under-reported and not discussed because of the shame and stigma associated with them. The 2006 Domestic Violence Act was gazetted late last year, and aims particularly to protect women and children from violence in the home, but until more people speak out about this violence, the effect of this new law will remain limited.

In Nigeria, BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights and the Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre wanted to break the silence around violence against women and girls. They organised a “mock tribunal” in which 33 women and girls told a panel of respected judges their stories of abuse. The event was covered by the national media and hundreds of people came to witness. The testimony of the women brought many in the audience to tears, and when the judges came back from their deliberations, they had developed powerful recommendations for changing Nigeria’s policy to better protect women from violence and human rights abuses.

Before the event, violence against women had long been trivialised in Nigeria. People refused to recognise the extent of domestic violence and abuse, and there was no government effort to address it. The mock tribunal was timed to correspond with democratic elections in Nigeria so that newly elected representatives would gain greater perspective on the issue and be confronted with the need to include it in their schedule of legislation. It was also aimed at promoting greater public appreciation of the issue of domestic violence. The mock tribunal added faces, stories and experiences to the statistics of violence against women to give greater weight to the issue.

BAOBAB began planning and fundraising for the event almost a year in advance. They sought coordination support and co-sponsorship from other women’s human rights groups in Nigeria to ensure a wider impact of the event. They worked with other organisations to mobilise the women who would testify in the tribunal – one of the hardest tasks in the event. The testifiers required counselling and encouragement to participate, and BAOBAB had to confront many cultural and religious obstacles to ensure their involvement. Each testifier worked with a “supporter,” with whom she could rehearse her testimony and who helped allay her fears. Testifiers could use pseudonyms, veils and filmed testimony to help protect them.

BAOBAB invited the judges for the tribunal’s panel well in advance, and had confirmation a month before the tribunal. They invited government and law enforcement agencies, ministries, local government officials, UN agencies, cultural and religious leaders, schools, donors, NGOs and individuals to participate in the event.

The media was briefed ahead of time. More than 45 journalists attended, and two workshops were held with the media before the event to raise their awareness about the issue and to sensitise them to how they could cover the event. These workshops highlighted the extent of ignorance about violence against women in Nigeria, even among journalists themselves.

The mock tribunal had a striking impact, and the women’s testimony moved witnesses to look at the issue of violence against women and demand action. Several of the legislators present pledged their support, and worked with BAOBAB to bring a Violence Against Women Bill before the National Assembly.

The tribunal was videotaped, edited and made into a film for further advocacy. BAOBAB was also commissioned to develop the research and documentation element of the tribunal into a DFID report on women’s access to justice in Nigeria. Other follow-up activities included the convening of women’s leadership training workshops to empower poor urban and rural women, and case work with individual women victims of domestic violence and abuse. The tribunal also built BAOBAB’s reputation and recognition, and deepened their involvement in other Nigerian groupings addressing women’s human rights, including the Human Rights Violations Investigation Panel Report (the Oputa Panel), the Legislative Advocacy Coalition and the Coalition on Violence Against Women.

In the longer term, the tribunal raised awareness about violence against women, and actively engaged journalists who continued to highlight the issue more regularly in their reporting. The tribunal also created a reference point for the discussion of women’s human rights and violence against women. National and state level legislation to protect women were developed as a result of the mock tribunal, and the Network on Police Reform was developed to ensure that law enforcement officials could better respond to violence against women.

A mock tribunal is one way to raise awareness about a number of pressing issues, not just violence against women. For example, a mock tribunal could draw attention to how HIV/AIDS is experienced, and could mobilise public awareness around concerns such as prevention, treatment and stigma. Similarly, it could highlight issues such as disability, discrimination and mental illness.

The fact that a “mock tribunal” is being held begs the question – why is the state not having its own tribunal? By involving journalists as well as prominent national and local government officials, it can be a way to break through media and government resistance on a particular issue. But, a successful mock tribunal requires a great deal of planning in advance, and must be part of a longer-term advocacy strategy around a given issue.

To find out more about this Nigerian case study, read the New Tactics tactical notebook, Mock Tribunal – Violence Against Women.

Amanda Atwood is the Content Manager at the Kubatana Trust of Zimbabwe and the NGO Network Alliance Project.