ICAAD is working with technologists, data scientists, and grassroots civil society organizations to develop a customized legal research database on sexual and gender based violence cases; providing sentencing patterns over decades, tracking newly adopted domestic violence legislation, and providing concrete data on gender bias in judicial decision making. This tool will help ensure consistency and accountability of the judicial system, and better access to justice for survivors of violence.
Women and girls in the Pacific Islands are on average more than twice as likely to fall victim to domestic violence and sexual assault than anywhere else in the world. Additionally, the region is incredibly data-poor, and that lack of data precludes many formal assessments, which would uncover the link between the pervasiveness of bias within the justice system, limited reporting of SGBV, and barriers to accountability in SGBV cases.
ICAAD works to strengthen the capacity of local civil society and public officials (e.g. attorney generals, prosecutors, magistrates), so that local advocates can champion data-driven law reform and public servants can institutionalize best practices. Making previously unavailable SGBV case law accessible will strengthen civil societies' ability to monitor and advocate for consistency and accountability within the judicial system, and will increase the uptake of newly enacted or revised laws.
By eliminating discriminatory practices, there will be no implicit judicial sanction to the continued violence that women and girls face, victims/ survivors will have a proper forum to seek redress, and fair sentences for domestic violence and sexual offenses will convey to the perpetrator and the broader community the severity of the violent act. As attitudes and behaviors shift, these will be reflected in laws and societal norms that impact 5,000,000 women and girls in the region.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).