On October 14th, 2014, Michael Woods, senior partner at Woods, LaFortune LLP, attended the Ontario Bar Association’s (OBA) event – “How the Equality Effect and 160 Girls Are Making Human Rights “Real” in Africa.” The event, organized and presented by the Constitutional, Civil Liberties, and Human Rights Law/Women Lawyers Forum Sections of the OBA, highlighted the courage and determination of a group of 160 girls determined to fight for basic human rights in Africa and that of the inspiring and skillful lawyers who successfully took the Government of Kenya to court. Relying upon Kenya’s new Constitution, the girls, ranging in age from three to seventeen ,won a landmark High Court ruling that forces government officials (notably the police force) to enforce existing and previously ignored laws against rape and sexual violence. Michael Woods indicated that more lawyers should be made aware of this story to highlight the way that an international team of lawyers came together in a collaborative effort to make a lasting contribution. As Canadians, we should be very proud of the Equality Effect, a Toronto-based non-profit charity that “uses international human rights law as a crowbar to pry open justice for women and girls around the world.”
For more information on Equality Effect and their projects, please visit http://www.theequalityeffect.org
