Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji has called for strengthening gender-sensitive policies to safeguard women and children.
Haji highlighted the need to identify gender-sensitive initiatives and policies within the criminal justice sector that are focused on the protection of women and children.
Moreover, DPP noted that aside from harming the socio- economic development, national security, and the rule of law, transnational organized crimes also affect women and children by taking advantage of their vulnerability.
According to Haji, women and children are usually forced into prostitution, forced labor, trafficking and other forms of abuse and violence by criminal entities.
As such, they are left with lasting psychological and physiological effects.
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“We must therefore continuously adopt policies and procedures that reflect our commitment to ensuring equitable access to justice for all,” the DPP said.
While speaking in Kampala, Uganda during the10th annual general meeting and conference of the East African Association of Prosecutors, DPP Haji urged the regional prosecutors to strengthen collegiality, information-sharing, and collaboration among member countries through professional networks.
Furthermore, Haji emphasized on the importance of harmonizing the laws and considering modalities to implement hybrid systems within member countries and ease cooperation and collaboration.
“Our various legal systems are because of our differing colonial legacies, which have left some countries with the common law system and others with the civil law system. This has made it difficult for us to fully utilize and benefit from regional cooperation and collaboration due to the barriers presented by these differing legal systems,” the DPP said.