Monitoring and case observations in gender based violence court

Abstract

This report sets out to monitor the protocols established for the GBV Court in Lahore via a series of court observations and study of selected judgements. The aim of this exercise was to not only monitor and assess the implementation of the specialized protocols designed for the functioning of the Court but to also evaluate the performance of the Court and propose recommendations for its improved operations. Dastak monitored proceedings in the GBV Court to mark trends in the application of the human rights-based approach and gender sensitivity in the prosecution of GBV cases. This monitoring also included eliciting feedback from judges, prosecutors and other relevant actors present within the Court. Judicial decisions of the GBV court were also collected for an evidence-based study of trends such as rate of convictions and acquittal and the time taken to decide a case etc. These observations and monitoring will be used for advocacy on legislative and/or procedural reform.