Last week 40 women Judges, Justices of the Peace, Magistrates, and Judicial Development Officers from 13 of the Pacific Justice Sector’s 15 Pacific partner countries met in Papua New Guinea for an Empowering Women in Justice workshop.
The two-day workshop was funded by the US Department of State as part of the Ina’ilau Programme, a PJSP initiative promoting access to justice for women and children, and leadership development for women in Pacific justice sectors, and delivered in conjunction with the PNG Centre for Judicial Excellence in Port Moresby.
Topics covered in the workshops included wellbeing, gender competent courts, engaging with faith-based and customary judicial providers, and the possibility of a formal support network for women in Pacific justice sectors.
Discussions about creating a Pacific Judicial Women’s Association began back in 2017 when Te Kura Kaiwhakawā funded a group of Pacific judicial officers to attend the International Association of Women Judges conference in Argentina. COVID stymied an attempt to bring a large contingent of women judicial officers to the next IAWJ conference in Auckland in 2020. Recently in Port Moresby, this conversation again gathered momentum as participants discussed the value of forming an association.
With representatives from Niue — a small island with a population of just 1,600 — to Papua New Guinea, home to more than 12 million people (with 1,680 local courts, and over 18,000 judicial officers), the workshop participants came from diverse backgrounds. However, many common challenges were shared, and a united purpose emerged, with the women unanimously agreeing to develop a Pacific Women Judicial Officers Association, form a steering group and begin the work of setting aims and direction. The group noted the strong support provided to pacific women judicial officers by the New Zealand Women Judges’ Association and its Australian counterpart and looked forward to continuing those links.
The Empowering Women in Justice workshop marked an important moment for women in justice across the Pacific, bringing together women from different nations, cultures, and legal systems, all committed to strengthening the role of women in the justice sector and advancing access to justice for women and children in the region.
Pictured:Back row L to R: Dr Carolyn Graydon, Sandy Tiankim (Acting Principal Magistrate), Josephine Kilage (Deputy Chief Magistrate), Hitelai Polume-Kiele (National court judge), Rosie Johnson (Magistrate), Tracy Ganaii (Senior Magistrate), Nancy Warrey (Village court), Miriam Dondo (Village Court secretariat) Front row L to R: PJSP’s Tere Silas and Holly Ewens; PNGCJE director, Stacey Levakia-Wali and PJSP’s Tina Pope.
