Women and Law in Southern Africa-Lesotho
Mots'oene Road, Industrial Area Dolphin House, Maseru P.O. Box 0961About
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Added by Jopie, at 01 January 2020
Description
1. Organizational Profile
Women and Law in Sothern Africa Research and Education Trust -Lesotho is a local chapter of the regional Women and Law in Southern Africa Research and Education Trust (WLSA). It was established as a regional research project in 1989 by researchers from Botswana, Lesotho Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In June 1998 WLSA was established as a Research and Educational Trust including Malawi as the seventh member country. In Lesotho WLSA is registered as an NGO under Society Act registration number 2000/101.
WLSA’s mission is to contribute to the socio-economic political and legal advancement of women and children specifically in the WLSA countries through:
• Collaborative strategic and action research in the socio-legal field
• Lobbying for legal reforms and policy changes on laws and practices that discriminate and disadvantage women.
• Improving legislation that protects women’s legal rights
• Enhance justice sector capacity to interpret and enforce women’s legal rights
• Strengthen civil society’s ability to advocate for women’s legal rights
• Increase public awareness of women’s legal rights
The trust is an NGO pursuing women’s human rights in a legal context. Since 1989, WLSA has undertaken research and advocacy in:
Inheritance Law (1994)
Maintenance Law (1991)
Beyond Inequalities (1997)
Family Belonging for Women in Lesotho (1998)
In Search of Justice: Where do women in Lesotho go? (2000)
Sexual Violence in Lesotho (2002)
Gender, HIV and AIDS and the law (2008)
To-date WLSA has produced 60 sets of publications that include books and working papers.
Prompted by previous WLSA studies and the problems encountered by women in Southern Africa in regard to HIV and AIDS, WLSA identified the need for research with a specific focus on gender, HIV and AIDS and the law in the seven WLSA countries. At the same time, the need to establish WLSA as a more sustainable organization was established as a prerequisite for WLSA’s future impact on women’s human rights in terms of the law.
WLSA work is not done purely as an academic exercise but rather as an action research with the ultimate aim of emancipating women and men. Its work generates information and knowledge to action- oriented goals. WLSA’s action research is intended to support action that will be taken to improve women’s legal position. It incorporates action into research by educating women about their legal rights, providing legal advice, questioning and challenging the law as well as instigating campaigns for changes in the law in the course of research. WLSA works in the space between the academia and activist organizations, it tries to ‘bridge the divide’ by making theory accessible, re-interpreting and advancing it, as well as contributing to the gender and human rights discourse in the region. Through the work of WLSA, women in the southern region are changing the meaning of citizenship in their societies through an engagement with the state and by demanding entitlements related to rights and issues of integrity.
2. Organizational Experience in Legal Aid Services
WLSA also provides legal aid services to different clients such women and women who are victims of gender based violence. Legal Aid Services that are offered by WLSA include legal advice/ opinion, mediation and referrals to other stakeholders. Legal advice could be on human rights, legal rights education, marriage laws, property and inheritance laws, and gender based violence issues etc. The type of gender based violence cases which the organisation deals with cut across issues of physical violence, emotional violence, sexual or even economic abuses. Clients who utilise WLSA legal aid services could be those that are referred to WLSA by other stakeholders such as the Child and Gender Protection Unit (CGPU) which is within the Police Service department, Department of Gender, other civil society organisations and community members. Other clients learn of the legal aid services that the organisation provides through radio programmes hosted by WLSA, public dialogues and educational programmes such as trainings and Information, Education and Communication (IEC) material which WLSA produces and share with members of the public.
3. How the Organisation deals with Children who are survivors of Gender Based Violence.
The first step that is undertaken upon receiving a report of gender based violence against children is to conduct guardians or parents of the child. First, the organisation assesses the type of abuse against the child and who the perpetrator is in order to establish the relationship between the perpetrator and the child.
The next step is to establish which legal steps have already been taken in order to address the problem. For example, it is important to find out if authorities such as chiefs, and the police have been informed about the type of abuse against the child. Then, the organisation would either refer the child to the Child and Gender Protection Unit if it is the case of sexual abuse so that prosecution process could be initiated if it had not yet started. Another measure would be to refer the case to the offices such as the Legal Aid within the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights if it is the cases of neglect (emotional or economic abuse such as maintenance) so that they can institute civil proceedings on behalf of the child. Depending on the nature of the case, the Legal Aid Department would then provide Legal Counsel who would represent the child in court
On other instances, where the case involves property dispossession against children, the office would refer and liaise with the Office of the Master of the High Court for purposes of administering the estate of orphaned children. Where it may be necessary, the case may be referred to the Department of Social Welfare for other types of protection to the child.
In conclusion, WLSA’s role in cases involving children could be in a form of mediation or reconciliation between the child and the aggrieved party especially where the issue relates to the child vis - a- vis the parent/guardian. Otherwise in all other cases of abuse, WLSA’s intervention would normally be in the form of referrals to other stakeholders stipulated above and to follow the case through until it reaches finality.
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