Integrating the Issue of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Detention Monitoring It is generally more useful to have a series of open-ended questions, rather than a strict list of questions about detention or SGBV more specifically. This will allow people to bring up the issue of SGBV when they are ready to do so and to express themselves more freely. It is important to allow people to talk about the issues that are important to them and to allow them to do so in their own time. It is, however, useful to have a checklist or questionnaire available to ensure that all important topics have been covered during the interview. People are generally more likely to feel comfortable if the interview begins with some general questions about their situation. For example, interviewers could ask how long a person has been in detention or they could ask where the person is from. When moving on to more specific areas, leading, judgemental and closed ended questions about SGBV should be avoided, where possible. Open ended questions are preferred. Below is an example of how the same question can be asked in different ways: • Leading: The police officers abused you, didn’t they? • Judgemental: What did you do to make them behave aggressively towards you? • Closed-ended: Were you abused by the police officers? • Open-ended: Tell me about your experiences with the police officers. How did they behave? Depending on the answer given, monitors can follow up on cues and ask for more specific details, as needed and appropriate. When interviewing detainees/prisoners about potentially sensitive subjects like SGBV, and including body searches and medical examinations, monitors should first check whether the person feels comfortable discussing the issues. Some questions might be inappropriate for particular interviewees, and monitors should be trained to make that judgement during the interview itself, based on their knowledge of and experience with each individual. Monitors should be mindful of the fact that, for some detainees/prisoners, questions about sexual violence might bring back previous experiences of trauma that have happened prior to detention/incarceration. With LGBTI detainees/prisoners, monitors should be particularly vigilant not to ask direct questions about sexual orientation and/or gender identity, and to be careful about the language they use. 29