MCTC judge awarded scholarship to US confab

JUDGE Christine Muga-Abad of the 12th Municipal Circuit Trial Court of Moalboal-Badian-Alcantara, Cebu was  awarded a scholarship by the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ) to attend the 2011 NAWJ 33rd annual conference.

The International Scholarship Committee of NAWJ selected judges from all over the world who would benefit from the conference, who are committed to improving the lives of women and the roles of women judges in their courts and, who would share their knowledge gained with other women judges when they go back to their country.

Abad was the only Asian awarded with the scholarship.

Other recipients were from Honduras, Bosnia, Malawi, Tanzania, Egypt, Cameroon and Botswana.

The theme for this year’s conference was “Global Women’s Issues. The NAWJ scholars and the other international judges were given a two-day pre-conference tour of the  State Courts including the Essex County Historic Courthouse and the Federal Courts at Newark. They were able to observe how the US courts conduct the trial of a civil and criminal case.

During the main conference, a symposium featuring academics, US and international judges, prosecutors and human rights advocates discussed violence against women, deprivation of women’s property rights and human trafficking at the Rutgers School of Law-Newark.

The plenary session at Rutgers School of Law also examined how to promote global equality for women and prevention of human trafficking. There was also a short education program at the Seton Hall University School of Law, N.J. that discussed topics such as cross-cultural issues in the court, family law-domestic violence issues, forensic evidence, immigration considerations in your courtroom and effective leadership styles for judges.

During the last night of the conference, the NAWJ held an annual awards banquet at the The Newark Club, One Newark Center, where  US Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the keynote speaker.