Panel on consular assistance for victims of gender-based violence

Gender-based violence is a global scourge. Numerous countries have implemented strategies and programs to eradicate this violence against women. And, in a globalized world like the one we live in today, this sexist violence unfortunately also knows no borders.

Victims of gender-based violence face situations of helplessness and abandonment that devastate their lives. Migrant women are at particular risk of finding themselves in situations of greater vulnerability as victims of gender-based violence. They find themselves far from their family and friends, often without a support network to seek refuge in, sometimes with limited knowledge of the local language, and with the added challenge of navigating unfamiliar bureaucracy.

In this context, consular assistance for victims of gender-based violence is an essential tool to guide migrant victims on how to respond to this fundamental attack on their dignity and safety. In this situation of vulnerability, many migrant victims find it easier to seek help from the authorities of their country of origin, with whom they are more familiar. As such, Consulates constitute another actor within the support network that sometimes goes unnoticed, and therefore, it is important to make their role within this network visible.

In 2015, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs designed a protocol to assist Spanish women victims of gender-based violence abroad. Therefore, on the occasion of the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence, the Embassy of Spain is organizing this panel in order to showcase the way in which Consulates located in Australia can play a better role in this effort and further synergies within local support networks.

Moderator: Ms Elizabeth Espinosa, Commissioner to the Land and Environment Court of NSW, Councillor of the Law Society of NSW

Panellists:

• Dr Anna Cody, Sex Discrimination Commissioner

• Ms Rebeca Chantal Guinea Stal, Consul-General of Spain in Sydney

• Professor Cassandra Sharp, Director of the Legal Intersections Research Centre of the University of Wollongong

Elizabeth Espinosa

Bachelor of Arts/Law (Hons) University of Wollongong, Elizabeth Espinosa serves as Commissioner of the Land and Environment Court (appointed 1 June 2020) and is a Member of the Law Society of NSW and Women Lawyers Association of NSW. Prior to commencing as a Commissioner, she practiced as a solicitor for over 20 years, specialising in local government, planning and environmental law. She also served as a councillor on the Law Society of NSW from 2013 to 2020 and served as President of the Law Society of NSW in 2019. 

Dr Anna Cody

Dr Cody started as Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner in September 2023. Before this, Dr Cody had a distinguished career as an academic, as a lawyer specialising in discrimination and as a passionate advocate for human rights.  Her work over the years has included substantial advocacy to various United Nations human rights committees when they have reviewed Australia’s and other nations’ fulfilment of their human rights obligations. Most recently she was the Dean of the School of Law and Professor at Western Sydney University for 4.5 years, leading education and research impact within the School to better reflect the diversity of the community and the intersection of law and justice.

Rebeca Chantal Guinea Stal

Senior diplomat and cultural leader with nearly 20 years of experience directing international institutions, shaping policy, and advancing Spain’s global presence through diplomacy, cultural cooperation, and strategic leadership. She has been the Consul-General of Spain in Sydney since January 2023.

Cassandra Sharp

Cassandra Sharp, PhD is Professor of Law and the Director of the Legal Intersections Research Centre (LIRC) in the School of Law at the University of Wollongong. Her research draws on legal theory, feminist studies, literary theory, and cultural legal studies to interrogate public interaction with the law, with a focus on responses to women’s stories related to violence across the digital spaces of social media. She is the author of Hashtag Jurisprudence: Terror and Legality on Twitter (Edward Elgar, 2022) and the co-editor of Cultural Legal Studies and Law’s Popular Cultures and the Metamorphosis of Law, Sharp, Cassandra and Leiboff, Marett (eds)(Routledge, 2015).