The ABA [American Bar Association] is launching a new project that will harness the modern power of the Internet to help counter political forces and cultural traditions that support oppression against women in many societies around the world.
The International Models Project on Women’s Rights—dubbed IMPOWR—is a response to the continuing plight that women face in many societies despite decades of efforts to implement national laws recognizing gender rights.
Plans call for IMPOWR to create an online database that collects information on gender-related legal issues, laws and reform efforts in countries around the world. The project will include a significant collaborative element that allows experts both “in country” and on the outside to contribute information, and will hold links to resources and other materials that can be accessed by others using the database.
The IMPOWR website and database will cover over 100 countries. The main feature will be a rich database on gender-related legal issues, laws and law reform efforts, created through wiki technology with information contributed from a broad array of local and international experts. Wiki entries will be organized by country under a standard set of topics in the areas of civic life, healthcare, marriage and family relations, economic and social life, crimes and violence, access to justice and treaty obligations.
The searchable wiki database will describe the current state of law in each topic area, the role of law enforcement, law reform projects that have been undertaken and the role of civil society as well as community traditions in the effectiveness of reforms. Wiki entries will include robust links including to the texts of pertinent laws through access to the Library of Congress Global Legal Information Network (GLIN) and other sources as well as to additional information on law reform projects and other useful websites and primary and secondary source documents including articles, books and project reports. In addition to the wiki database, the IMPOWR website will also include a directory of experts and an open forum on issues of current interest.
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