Russian Lawyers Advocacy Project
In October 1996, WLD International, in collaboration with the Crisis Center for Women No to Violence (ANNA) and the Russian Association of Crisis Centers for Women, launched the two-year Russian Women Lawyers Advocacy Project to help combat violence against women. The project had three goals:
- to improve women’s capacity to make laws and institutions more responsive to the problem of violence against women;
- to improve the capacity of legal professionals to provide legal services to victims of violence; and
- to increase public awareness about violence against women and respect for women’s rights.
Training workshops, which began in December 1996, explored available legal strategies and tools under the Russian legal system and how to design advocacy strategies and community education initiatives to respond to the issue of domestic violence. National and international experts in the field conducted the workshops. In the first round, Canadian lawyer Susan Bazilli offered expertise on domestic violence approaches from Canada, South Africa and the US in a series of workshops held in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The content and process of these workshops were documented and evaluated to provide a tested curriculum for training future lawyers in Russia and other regions.
The project also relied on the active participation of an advisory committee, comprised of leading Russian women’s rights advocates, headed by Marina Pisklakova, pioneer in the area of domestic violence in Russia. This committee provided input and guidance in the development of the program and also linked the participants to on-going advocacy initiatives spearheaded by committee members. It was this committee that initiated an effort to pass, for the first time ever, a Russian domestic violence law. The model legislation WLD developed in 1996 as part of its research support of the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women played an important role in this advocacy initiative.
Russian translation of State Responses to Domestic Violence, which contains a comprehensive "model legislation" on domestic violence. |
The project made it possible for the first time for Russian crisis centers to have lawyers providing legal services related to violence. Fourteen lawyers and seven senior officers (psychologists and social workers) from the crisis centers worked 20 hours a week (paid by the project) on legal aspects of violence against women. After receiving training, the lawyers made an implementation “contract” with their center and the other participants of the project. They committed to try new approaches and implement what they learned at the training. In between each workshop, WLD project staff offered support and technical assistance.
During the course of WLDI’s Russian Lawyers Advocacy Project a core group of activist lawyers with an understanding of gender emerged to take a leadership role. They used the law creatively to challenge police officers’ and prosecutors’ refusal to investigate and prosecute sexual assault and domestic violence cases. And crisis center counselors began taking on new roles, as paralegal “social advocates” within the judicial system.
At that point USAID in Moscow became interested in the area of domestic violence in Russia, but their approach was to bring Russian police personnel to the United States to learn techniques from American police rather than support the organic development of community based centers.
During the course of WLDI’s Russian Lawyers Advocacy Project a core group of activist lawyers with an understanding of gender emerged to take a leadership role. They used the law creatively to challenge police officers’ and prosecutors’ refusal to investigate and prosecute sexual assault and domestic violence cases. And crisis center counselors began taking on new roles, as paralegal “social advocates” within the judicial system.
At that point USAID in Moscow became interested in the area of domestic violence in Russia, but their approach was to bring Russian police personnel to the United States to learn techniques from American police rather than support the organic development of community based centers.
The project also produced educational resources for lawyers and the general public.
Women Against Violence was a Russian language booklet providing psychological and legal information about domestic violence. 7,500 of 8,000 copies were been distributed by the Association of Crisis Centers for Women, free of charge, across the nation.
What We Are Silent About was a Russian language booklet on sexual assault. 11,000 copies were provided not only to crisis centers, but to forensic doctors, the legal community and universities.
Counseling Lawyers in Crisis Centers: Aspects of Coordination is a training film for lawyers and consultants who work with survivors of domestic violence. Produced as a collaboration between WLDI and the women's human rights organization, Femina, from Naberezhny Chelny, the film served as an educational tool for training the legal community.
Women Against Violence was a Russian language booklet providing psychological and legal information about domestic violence. 7,500 of 8,000 copies were been distributed by the Association of Crisis Centers for Women, free of charge, across the nation.
What We Are Silent About was a Russian language booklet on sexual assault. 11,000 copies were provided not only to crisis centers, but to forensic doctors, the legal community and universities.
Counseling Lawyers in Crisis Centers: Aspects of Coordination is a training film for lawyers and consultants who work with survivors of domestic violence. Produced as a collaboration between WLDI and the women's human rights organization, Femina, from Naberezhny Chelny, the film served as an educational tool for training the legal community.