SENIOR POLICE CONSULTANT IN GENDER-RESPONSIVE GAP-ANALYSIS AND COURSE DEVELOPMENT ON POLICE RESPONSE TO SEXUAL AND GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

I. Justice Education Society

The Justice Education Society of British Columbia (JES) is a non-profit organization with over 30 years of experience advancing the rule of law by empowering people to access and deliver justice through increasing legal capability, strengthening justice systems and developing digital solutions. JES currently implements programs and has offices in Canada, Guyana, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama, and also works in Costa Rica, Colombia, and El Salvador. In the near future, JES will establish an office in Castries, Saint Lucia to implement programs in Saint Lucia, Grenada, Dominica, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.  JES has diverse sources of funding including donors and provincial, federal, and overseas governments. More information on JES is available at: www.JusticeEducation.ca.

II. Background Information

In Guyana, one of two (1 of 2) women experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime^[1] – a statistic which placed the country at the top of the list for domestic violence rates in a country not currently engaged in war or armed conflict. Further, national and United Nations data and reports, as well as JES’ desk research and in-country diagnostic study in 2020, confirm substantial barriers for women and girls - and Indigenous women and girls in particular - to access justice in Guyana.

While a legal framework exists to protect the rights of Guyanese women and girls, the processes within that system have limited provisions to ensure equal access to justice for all. The Committee of Experts of the Convention of Belém do Pará (2012) highlighted gaps such as the absence of statistics on violence against women and the absence of provisions to protect against violence against women.

While more than 250 police officers have been exposed to training in the provisions of the legislation, according to the Guyana National Report on the 25th anniversary of the 4th World Conference on Women (2020) the application of the Domestic Violence Act (DVA) and the Sexual Offences Act (SOA) at all levels of police remains a challenge. In the CEDAW Committee’s concluding observations in the 9th Guyana Report, enforcement is highlighted as being weak, particularly in relation to discrimination and gender-based violence (GBV) offences. CEDAW points to the “lack of systematic and mandatory capacity-building for law enforcement personnel, border police and social workers on gender-sensitive guidelines for interviewing victims, as well as on the early identification of trafficking victims and their referral to appropriate services”. The report recommends that sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) be an integral part of the mandatory training for police officers, prosecutors, lawyers, and the judiciary. Women and girls also highlighted issues with the police and frontline workers when reporting cases of violence during stakeholder meetings and surveys conducted during the JES diagnostic study in 2020.

Further, the successful prosecution of perpetrators remains very low in part due to challenges with proper investigations of SGBV cases and the courts’ access to quality forensic and DNA evidence. At an institutional level, there is limited comprehension of the vulnerability of Indigenous populations, and limited skills, services, and programs to ensure access to justice for remote Indigenous communities. There is little to no training for police, prosecutors, or the judiciary to help them deal with cases that involve Indigenous individuals, especially female victims, who are susceptible to re-victimization. Remote communities also pose other challenges to law enforcement in a number of areas. Many participants in the JES 2020 Diagnostic Study felt that there was general impunity for perpetrators of SGBV in their communities.

III. The Project

JES is expanding its successful work with justice operators in Guyana to improve technical skills and building the capacity of agencies for the strategic response, investigation, and prosecution of crimes. Through its new project, Strengthening Justice to Women, Girls and Indigenous Peoples, JES aims to deliver greater equality in access to justice for women and girls throughout Guyanese society, and to empower Indigenous women and girls to be less vulnerable to violence.

This four-year project aims to deliver greater equality in access to justice for women and girls in Guyana, especially in remote Indigenous communities, by:

1. building the technical capacity of justice actors to respond to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) targeting women and girls, through training and assistance for the Guyana Police Force (GPF), Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), and the judiciary; and

2. by running a pilot project in Region 1 (Barima-Waini) and other locations to build capacity of service providers, Indigenous women and leaders, women's groups and civil society organizations (CSOs) to deliver gender-transformative and rights-based public legal education, and coordinate with strengthened remote police detachments, to respond to SGBV against women and girls.

The focus of the project at the national level is to reduce impunity for violence against women and girls (sexual violence, homicides, gender-based assaults, inter alia) while at the local level, to improve access to justice for Indigenous women, girls, and peoples. By improving both the access of women and girls to justice institutions as well as the actual capacity of the justice system to respond to SGBV, the project will empower women and girls to exercise their rights and support a more inclusive, gender-responsive and culturally aware access to justice.

To achieve these outcomes, JES will apply a Gender-Based Analysis plus (GBA+) perspective throughout the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the Project, integrating a combination of sensitivity and awareness training related to gender issues into all curricula and activities, including on:

• • Gender bias and cultural sensitivity
  • Major case management and investigations
  • Interviewing skills for victims of sexual and gender-based violence
  • Preparation of victims for court appearances
  • Developing and adopting checklists and quality assurance protocols.

IV. Purpose

The objectives of this consultancy are:

1. 1. Act as an advisor to the project on international standards and best practices for investigative and legal procedures and approaches to cases of SGBV incorporating a gender, human rights, victim-centred and trauma-informed approach, including in planning, communications, facilitating, reporting, and addressing issues.
   2. To provide basic training to bolster the capacity of members of the GPF to improve the response and management of SGBV cases, and to work with justice-related institutions to develop tools to improve organizational operations and standardize the operating procedures.
   3. To work with the project team and other consultants where necessary, to develop strategies to ensure that methodologies bolster human rights and are trauma-informed and gender-responsive in their implementation.