The London office of No5 Chambers played host to a delegation from Egypt’s leading judiciary on a fact finding visit of violence against women within the law.
The five day trip was organised jointly by the Bar Council and British Council as part of its ‘My Right’ programme, and offered senior members of the Egyptian legal profession the opportunity to meet UK barristers and judges and share information on how each country’s legal system responds to a variety of offences against women.
Delegates visited the Royal Courts of Justice, received a welcomes from senior judges, heard talks from the Home Office and CPS, took part in a case study discussion examining how different countries deal with offences against women, and looked at which aspects of the UK’s legal approach to violence against women could be utilised in Egypt.
No5 Chambers was successful in its bid to host a training event during the visit, and barristers Nageena Khalique QC, Emma Sutton, Ian Brownhill and Emma Edhem welcomed the delegates on Wednesday, November 11.
Ms Khalique said: “It was a real privilege for No5 to secure the visit and succeed in winning the bid to host the event against other chambers.
“We enjoyed a very successful and meaningful exchange of information and views and delivered a training session using an example of a case where there had been violence against a woman as a means to understand the differing legal systems and approaches to these issues in the host and visiting countries. We also explained our unique legal system and described life for a barrister in the UK.
“Egypt has a very good constitution, but there are gaps in the legislation, especially in the field of domestic violence. We hope that this exchange will turn out to be a reciprocal arrangement, as we would be very interested to see developments within Egypt’s legal system as a result of the visit.”
Over the course of the five days the delegates took part in a variety of workshops and sessions looking at the frontline services utilised in the UK to tackle domestic violence in a civil society. They explored and received advice on how aspects of Britain’s system could be delivered in Egypt taking into consideration the different culture and normal practices of society.
The My Right programme helps Egyptian women know and understand their rights. It has been inspired by Victim Support UK in establishing women support centres which offer expert legal advice to women and girls who are subject to violence.
Picture caption: British Council representatives at the My Right programme on the issue of violence against women were hosted by No5 Chambers. Pictured, centre, with the delegates are No5 barristers Nageena Khalique QC, Emma Sutton, Ian Brownhill and Emma Edhem.