Kathmandu, March 10: The second National Conference of Women Judges-2081 BS concluded here today, issuing a 12-point pledge letter.
The pledge letter is centered on creating a favorable work environment suiting to the condition and need of the women judges, staffers of the courts and service-seekers.
The letter emphasizes maintaining gender sensitivity in the workplace, taking special precaution and adopting appropriate measures to prevent sexual violence and harassment, establishing childcare centres and lactation rooms in workplace for creating opportunities to spur overall development of women.
Furthermore, the letter stresses the importance of putting in place a mechanism for immediate hearing of the complaints of sexual harassment in the workplace and formulating policies against sexual harassment and offences.
The letter also calls for revising court’s regulations and taking initiatives to establish women committee in courts in all three levels of government.
The letter pledges to frame necessary policies, strategies and programmes for capacity enhancement and leadership development of women judges, women officers and staffs working in judicial agencies and courts in all three levels, considering their diversity.
Efforts would be coordinated and arrangements would be made to create equal opportunities for women judges for higher education, training, participation on national and international conferences and exposure visits for experience exchange, the letter points out.
The letter commits to take initiatives to make court structures and infrastructures women-friendly, arrange safe housing facility for women judges and female staffs and ensure security management and create enabling environment that allows for the placement and transfer of women judges and staffs discharging their duties in various geographical conditions and in various responsibilities thereby enabling women to gain diverse experiences.
“Collaboration will be carried out with relevant agencies to create an environment wherein women judges and staffs could deliver with high morale,” reads the pledge letter. The letter draws the attention towards devising a collective mechanism through information technology for effective record-keeping of the Supreme Court’s interpretations, landmark decisions and orders, principles and legal perspectives on the issues concerning women rights, equality and gender justice as well as to update the relevant officials and stakeholders on these landmark orders and verdicts.
The two-day gathering of 50 women judges and 10 former women judges also highlighted the importance of creating a national alliance of women judges to forge unity among themselves for their professional development. The Alliance would also serve as a platform for them to voice their views, enhance advocacy for their rights, exchange experiences and foster friendship.
Moreover, the experiences, opportunities, and challenges faced by women judges, both serving and retired, would be documented and archived, especially of those experiencing such upon starting their service or while being promoted to higher positions.
The letter includes a commitment for taking initiatives to implement international conventions on women rights, convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and the principles embedded in the ‘Bangalore Principle’.
The participants of the conference reaffirmed their commitment to ensure gender quality in accordance with the spirit and provisions in the Constitution of Nepal, the country’s legal framework and international conventions on human and women rights.
Noting the important role of women’s meaningful participation in upholding the rule of law and social transformation, they pledged to make active efforts towards this end in the pledge letter.#nepal #political #rss
