Women in Law Initiative Pakistan disagrees with point 5 of the resolution issued at All Pakistan Lawyers’ Convention held in Peshawar on July 8 2023 and firmly stands against the application of seniority for judicial appointments. In this aspect this lawyers’ convention does not represent our views and stance. We stand by our demand for fair representation in justice sector and for affirmative action to ensure gender representation in apex judiciary.
Technicalities like seniority are anti-women and anti-representation as well as anti-merit and deserve no place in highest judicial forums. The colonial hangover with self-serving narratives around seniority are not the solutions to larger political context and polarisation that it is conveniently often assumed that they are. The roots of such polarisation come from a compromised bar in shape of growing interference and intermingling of national politics with bar politics.
We demand that steps to ensure independence of bar be put in place to truly address larger concerns around independence of judiciary. Only an independent bar can lead to independent judiciary and no seniority like technicalities can achieve that. On the contrary, measures further entrenching technicalities and limiting the pool of candidates who can be appointed to apex judiciary instead of widening such a pool to include appointment from members of academia for instance, will be counter-productive and will disproportionately impact female lawyers and those on margins.
In addition to that we also reiterate that the Lawyers Protection and Welfare Act does not address needs and concerns of female lawyers and we demand that it be amended to include and cover our needs related to maternity leaves, day care policies and infrastructure, equal opportunities in profession, in the firms and other avenues of employment, provision of stipends, compliance with workplace harassment law and action against discrimination and discriminatory practices during interviews, practice and professional endeavors and protection from gender based violence.
The Act must also be amended to enable shift towards online voting in bar elections. We also call for other technological advancements for making the justice sector more accessible for all, especially women and those who may be differently abled or operating on margins. We demand that the Act must also include setting up of an independent office of legal ombudsperson to address complaints of lawyers inter-se within the profession, particularly those who are marginalised, to promote and aid their protection and welfare in the profession.
Technicalities like seniority are anti-women and anti-representation as well as anti-merit and deserve no place in highest judicial forums. The colonial hangover with self-serving narratives around seniority are not the solutions to larger political context and polarisation that it is conveniently often assumed that they are. The roots of such polarisation come from a compromised bar in shape of growing interference and intermingling of national politics with bar politics.
We demand that steps to ensure independence of bar be put in place to truly address larger concerns around independence of judiciary. Only an independent bar can lead to independent judiciary and no seniority like technicalities can achieve that. On the contrary, measures further entrenching technicalities and limiting the pool of candidates who can be appointed to apex judiciary instead of widening such a pool to include appointment from members of academia for instance, will be counter-productive and will disproportionately impact female lawyers and those on margins.
In addition to that we also reiterate that the Lawyers Protection and Welfare Act does not address needs and concerns of female lawyers and we demand that it be amended to include and cover our needs related to maternity leaves, day care policies and infrastructure, equal opportunities in profession, in the firms and other avenues of employment, provision of stipends, compliance with workplace harassment law and action against discrimination and discriminatory practices during interviews, practice and professional endeavors and protection from gender based violence.
The Act must also be amended to enable shift towards online voting in bar elections. We also call for other technological advancements for making the justice sector more accessible for all, especially women and those who may be differently abled or operating on margins. We demand that the Act must also include setting up of an independent office of legal ombudsperson to address complaints of lawyers inter-se within the profession, particularly those who are marginalised, to promote and aid their protection and welfare in the profession.