Criminal assault against women in the home is widely accepted as normal. Even where women know that the violence done to them is a crime, pressure from the community and families effectively stop women from reporting or proceeding with a case. Promoting settlement, withdrawal, and lenient sentences has been common in the past. The customary practice of apology applies pressure on women to withdraw charges, even in rape cases punishable by life imprisonment, and has been given too much weight. This practice ignores the victim's rights and effectively denies the victim her fundament right to protection from the law.
Legal literacy is about making the law understandable and more accessible to ordinary people.
If people have some knowledge of the law and see how it affects their lives, they have a means to access their rights, resist discrimination and obtain justice within their own families, communities and country. We conduct training with judges, magistrates, court staff, police, NGO's and government departments, helping them become more even-handed in administering the law. We support organisations running their own legal literacy programs. Children and young people make up a very high percentage of the population and it is important that they know their rights and responsibilities, and the duties of others towards them. From reading this supplement you can see just how much there is to know.