Case Law Handbook on Violence Against Women and Girls in Commonwealth East Africa

Courts are crucial to bringing about necessary changes in tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG). Thus, increasing the capacity of the judiciary to address VAWG promotes access to justice and ultimately gender quality.

This case law handbook has been developed by judges in Commonwealth East Africa as a contribution to the development of the jurisprudence of equality. It supports propagation of the procedural recommendations and good practices set out in the Judicial Bench Book on Violence Against Women in Commonwealth East Africa, with a view to providing judicial officers and rule of law practitioners with a comprehensive and up-to-date resource on adjudicating matters of VAWG in the East African jurisdictions. The handbook presents leading cases of relevance to these jurisdictions and is intended to add to local manuals, guidelines or handbooks that reflect local processes.

The handbook illustrates the relevance and usefulness of case law in highlighting manifestations of VAWG in the respective jurisdiction, application of the law (national and international), procedures, current and recommended court practices, sentencing, remedies, ratio decidendi, relevant obiter dicta and the recommended judicial process as set out in the judicial bench book.