KITUO CHA SHERIA BLOG

Participants of the Eastern Region CUCs Forum posing for a group photo.

The 6^th and 7^th of November 2015 presented an opportunity for the last in a series of Court Users Committee Learning and Capacity building Forums.

This time it was the turn for the eastern Kenya region held at Outspan Hotel in Nyeri.

The forum brought together a total of 25 participants who engaged in the training and discussions on sexual gender based violence, refugee law and asylum seekers rights.

The participants included the Chief Magistrate, Magistrates, Judges, officers from the office of the Director of Public Prosecution, Children Officers, Advocates and officers from the Immigration Department.

The training was facilitated by SGBV expert Ms. Lydiah Muthiani, resource persons from International Rescue Committee (IRC), The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Department of Refugee Affairs (DRA) and Kituo Cha Sheria-Legal Advice Centre.

This training marks the end of the Court Users Committee Learning and capacity building forums for 2015. We have been engaging Court Users Committees for Nairobi region, Coastal region, Western region, and Eastern region.

The objectives for these training were the following:

1. Increase awareness of Court Users Committee members on Sexual Gender Based Violence, Refugee Law and Asylum seekers Rights.
2. Hold a learning platform for Court Users Committees to exchange their best practices in promoting access to justice.
3. Potential role and strategic engagement with the aim of realizing access to justice for the poor and marginalized.

We believe these objectives have been met with the help of our facilitators who gave good lectures and our participants that have interacted with each other in discussions on the practices regarding the issues as we seek to promote access to justice.

It is also important to take this opportunity to appreciate all of the participants involved in the Courts system around the country for taking time to further their knowledge on sexual gender based violence, refugee rights and asylum seekers rights so they can contribute to our mission to empower the poor and marginalized persons to effectively access justice.

We thank our amazing facilitator, SGBV expert Lydiah Muthiani, resource persons from International Rescue Committee, UNHCR and Department for Refugee Affairs.

Especially, Kituo cha Sheria want to give great thanks the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for making this activity possible.

By,

Christina Malmgren

AGCP, Kituo Cha Sheria