Ramaphosa challenges IAWJ to address legal blind spots that work against GBV survivors

CAPE TOWN - President Cyril Ramaphosa has challenged the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) to address blind spots in the law that work against the survivors of gender-based violence (GBV).

He said the courts also had to address the factors that have led to gender-based violence becoming entrenched in society.

Judges from across the world are currently meeting at the biennial conference of the IAWJ underway in Cape Town.

In 2022, South Africa amended three laws to strengthen its response to gender-based violence.

But President Ramaphosa said that survivors of such crimes were still too often having to endure the negative impact of standing up for themselves.

He said that the right to a fair trial should not only apply to the accused.

"It should also apply to the fair treatment of survivors of gender-based violence and they should not be subject to bias and victim blaming as well."

Ramaphosa said that the strength of the justice system would also foster greater confidence in reporting such crimes.

Women judges, he added, also had the power to reshape how the law was interpreted.

"The International Association of Women Judges stands at a unique intersection of leadership, of advocacy and jurisprudence."

Ramaphosa said that women judges could also be a catalyst for change, through their lived experiences and the realities behind the cases they adjudicate.