Qayinaat Annowar : legal advisor levelling social inconsistencies

Conflicts exist in all the areas of life. In a world where siblings are fighting among themselves for properties left behind by elders, while colleagues are in constant disagreement and employees are suing their employers for harassment, Qayinaat Annowar is striving hard to promote peace and understanding with the art of mediation. 

As a legal advisor, the work of Qayinaat Annowar consists of providing compliance services to all clients as per requirements, among which are advising clients about the shaping of their organisations, commercial or not-for-profit entities including private limited companies, partnerships, trusts and associations according to the relevant law. She protects the company from undue contractual risk, ensuring that the company adheres to the law and internal policies. 

Apart from her professional job, Qayinaat acts also as Family Mediator after her office working hours. She helps people to resolve their disagreements about marriage, separation, divorce, child support and parenting skills through a series of sessions. “Mediation is a confidential setting, we may have a legal background but we have a unique role. As a Mediator, I am not involved in representing or advocating for either party, I am neutral to both parties. I can give the client information about laws and local court procedures and other resources available, but I do not give legal advice,” she explains. As soon as the parties agree to try to resolve their differences outside of court, Qayinaat tries her best to reunite them so that her clients do not have to spend much on expensive processes. Mediators are trained to facilitate the communication between the parties in different types of situations. However, she explains, sometimes the parties choose to obtain certain needed legal advice from their own separate lawyers before or during mediation and these are recommended before they sign their proposed agreement.

The demands of her profession

The legal advisor explains that it requires knowledge and courage to come in with recommendations or business advice that is more than just legal advice. “To become an advisor in a company, you need to be right more often than not, and you need to be clear and honest in your communications. Being a ‘yes woman’ will not win you a place in the legal field,” she adds. As a Family Mediator, the answer varies with the number of issues and complexity involved in each type of situation. Normally, the degree of conflict between the parties is the major concern. But at times, the ability and willingness of the parties to negotiate in good faith and cooperate without strong emotions facilitates the process. Through mediation, divorce and legal separations are the most common situations that I had to deal with. Instead of a lengthy, stressful and costly courtroom divorce, a mediation process is more likely to help you and your spouse reach an agreement without attorneys. “Normally, a typical divorce case may take anywhere from two to eight sessions or more whereas Mediating Parenting Plans alone may take as few as one to three sessions,” explains Qayinaat.

Fighting for women’s rights

Being a member of DIS-MOI (Droits Humains de l’Océan Indien), which is a Non-Governmental Organisation, Qayinaat Annowar strongly believes in women’s rights and live with a hope of trying to encourage women to push their capacity to the maximum. Oppression, according to her, is a term that we need to fight against. With the current statistics projecting an alarming increase pertaining to aggressions, rapes, murders, harassment and domestic violence in the Mauritian society, Qayinaat Annowar thinks that it is high time to educate men. “Why is it so difficult to accept our wives or our daughters’ opinions? Ladies, we should stand up for our rights! We should not allow domestic violence to destroy us, as we are human beings and we have Human Rights,” she points out.  In her opinion, whether you are a man or a woman, we all have the right to live and exert our freedom of expression. 

As a young woman, Qayinaat is ready to dedicate herself to the cause of human rights. “Our presence provides ample proof that young people are motivated to campaign for human rights! I believe as youngsters, we have a duty to ensure that the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that 'All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights', must be respected and should echo in all ears across the world,” she says.

With the help of the Australian Embassy, a delegation of DIS-MOI including Qayinaat started a mission in the Comoros Island with the only purpose to coach people who are in need of Human Rights Education. During her visit to the Comoros, she was fascinated to see how young Comorians engage in debates on human rights.