Atty. Star from CHR Region IV-B: Our
provincial office in MIMAROPA is new; CHR is
slowly establishing its presence in the
provincial islands. In terms of data, perhaps Len: Please document your experience on how
we could improve its accuracy since we are these things were handled and the lack of
sensitivity of the government in handling such
already there and people are asking us.
cases.
For the legal challenges of the VAWC victims,
there was a case where the case was lost due Twyla: It’s good that we have raised this. That even
to the affidavit not made by the children. In us from CHR face these challenges when we are
affidavit, somehow, we are required to doing legal assistance and referrals. What we work
specify the date when the crime or rape was toward this is to keep strengthening our
committed. It does not mean that if the inter-agency relationships.
children cannot remember the date when
We are also conducting a gathering of the cases
the crime was committed, the violation did
handled by the Commission. Some are really
not take place. Then it was endorsed to CIDG
unsuccessful but this highlights the gaps that
for another statement which brought more needs to be addressed when handling the cases.
trauma to the victim.
One of the challenges is the procedure of our Ma’am Adel: When we conduct investigation with
legal system. Just because the child cannot children, we encourage them to make a statement.
We avoid using legalese so that it will be easier for
remember the exact date of abuse, doesn’t
them to express. When the victim do not remember
mean it did not happen. It is frustrating
the exact time, we use phrases like “sometime in
because the child might not get the justice
February”, etc.
deserved because of the technicalities. I’ve
even come to the point where I questioned
my capabilities as a Lawyer. Time is not an
essential ingredient and if the child forgot it,
the case should not be still dissolved. It
MAKING DATA WORK FOR WOMEN: VALIDATION OF FRAMEWORK AND RESEARCH FINDINGS ON GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
A DOCUMENTATION REPORT
30
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents