Puntland Women Lawyers Association (PUWLA) is a Somali organization that had visible impact on communities in the Puntland region in the aspect of legal services and access to justice for women, which changed the status quo. Through PUWLA, Puntland women seek legal aid for cases of

abuse Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of a thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, crimes, or other t ...

, neglect, rape, and other crimes. It is often said that

Somali culture The culture of Somalia is an amalgamation of traditions in that were developed independently since the Proto-Somali era. The hypernym of the term ''Somali'' from a geopolitical sense is ''Horner'' and from an ethnic sense, it is '' Cushite''. Ove ...

stigmatizes women who go to court to file a complaint about a male

perpetrator Perpetrator may refer to: *Someone who committed a crime *Suspect of committing a crime *Perpetrators, victims, and bystanders In Holocaust and genocide studies, perpetrators, victims, and bystanders is a typology for classifying the participan ...

, be it her husband, brother, cousin, or even a stranger, despite the fact that it is a right in Islamic law and the

Somali constitution The Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia ( so, Dastuurka Jamhuuriyadda Federaalka Soomaaliya) is the supreme law of Somalia. It provides the legal foundation for the existence of the Federal Republic and source of legal auth ...

. In this culture, the woman is supposed to go through her

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...

membership, which requires following a

hierarchy A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important ...

by first going to her male relative or traditional elder, who in turn would reach out to the traditional elder of the male perpetrator. But this changed with PUWLA free services because women are seeking the protection of the law. The movement started when female graduates from the Faculty of Law of one of the local universities decided to combine their human energy to provide services to the community using their legal skills and as a result they established an initiative to provide free legal services to the community. The organization has two offices in Puntland, one office in Garowe, the capital city of Puntland, and another in

Bossaso Bosaso ( so, Boosaaso, ar, بوصاصو), historically known as Bender Cassim is a city in the northeastern Bari province ('' gobol'') of Somalia. It is the seat of the Bosaso District. Located on the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden, the mun ...

, the commercial hub. The services they provide include legal counseling,

mediation Mediation is a structured, interactive process where an impartial third party neutral assists disputing parties in resolving conflict through the use of specialized communication and negotiation techniques. All participants in mediation are ...

, and appointing lawyers that represent women in criminal cases. PUWLA works with many actors including Puntland Police, the

Attorney General's office The Attorney General's Office (AGO) is a department of His Majesty's Government that supports the Attorney General and their deputy, the Solicitor General (together, the Law officers of the Crown in England and Wales). It is sometimes referred ...

, Ministry of Justice, and both military and civil courts in the region. PUWLA currently has 25 members that perform different duties within the organization, including lawyers,

paralegal A paralegal, also known as a legal assistant, or paralegal specialist is a professional who performs tasks that require knowledge of legal concepts but not the full expertise of a lawyer with a license to practice law. The market for paralegals i ...

s, GBV case workers, human rights officers, and advocates and lobbyists that work closely with the Ministry of Justice to influence policy making. Some of the cases they undertake include rape cases, Gender-based violence (GBV) cases, and other crimes against women.

References

{{reflist 1. http://www.so.undp.org/content/somalia/en/home/ourwork/democraticgovernance/successstories/Puntland.html 2. http://puntlandstateuniversity.com/legal-training-and-curricula-development-expert-2/ Organisations based in Puntland Law of Somalia Women's organisations based in Somalia Law-related professional associations