Tool 2: Policing and Gender - CEDAW General Recommendation No. 30 on women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations underscores the importance of “advancing substantive gender equality before, during and after conflict and ensuring that women’s diverse experiences are fully integrated into all peacebuilding, peacemaking and reconstruction” (para. 2). It obliges states parties to ensure that “all forms of discrimination against women are prohibited when re-establishing the rule of law during legal reform” (para. 81(d)); to “combat impunity for violations of women’s rights” (para. 81(i)), “address all gender-based violations” (para. 81(g) and ensure “the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judicial system [and strengthen] the capacity of security, medical and judicial personnel to collect and preserve forensic evidence relating to sexual violence in conflict and postconflict contexts” (para. 81(j)). To enhance women’s access to justice, General Recommendation No. 30 urges “the provision of legal aid and the establishment of specialized courts, such as domestic violence and family courts, providing mobile courts for camps and settlement settings and for remote areas, and ensure adequate protection measures for victims and witnesses, including non-disclosure of identity and the provision of shelters” (para. 81(k)). It also stipulates that “equal weight is given to the testimony of women and girls as to that of men” (para. 81(h)) as part of gender-sensitive efforts adopted to avoid further victimization and stigmatization. Further, General Recommendation No. 30 obliges states parties to secure women’s access to justice, including by ensuring that transitional justice mechanisms are gender sensitive, promote women’s rights, address all gender-based violations (rejecting amnesties and ensuring compliance with decisions) and involve women in their design, operation and monitoring at all levels (as well as the design of all reparations programmes). It also encourages direct engagement with informal justice mechanisms to encourage compliance with human rights standards, including gender equality. - CEDAW General Recommendation No. 33 on women’s access to justice recognizes the impact of discrimination, inequalities, stereotypes and gender bias in the justice system as impeding women’s access to justice. It recommends that states parties take “measures, including awareness-raising and capacity-building programmes for all justice system personnel and law students, to eliminate gender stereotyping and incorporate a gender perspective into all aspects of the justice system” (para. 29(a)). It urges a gender-sensitive approach to handling cases in the justice sector and removal of other obstacles in the way of access to justice, including guarding against stigmatization and secondary victimization of women in their interactions with judicial authorities. - CEDAW General Recommendation No. 35 on GBV against women demands “an effective and accessible legal and legal services framework in place to address all forms of genderbased violence against women” (para. 22), “appropriate preventive measures to address the underlying causes of gender-based violence against women, including patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes, inequality in the family and the neglect or denial of women’s civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights” (para. 30(a)) and “mandatory, recurrent and effective capacity-building, education and training for the judiciary, lawyers and law enforcement officers” (para. 30(e)). UN General Assembly Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (1993), which calls on states to refrain from engaging in violence against women and exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and punish acts of violence against women. States are called upon to provide women who have been subjected to violence access to the mechanisms of justice; prevent revictimization; ensure adequate government budgets for activities related to the elimination of violence against women; and ensure “public officials responsible for implementing policies to prevent, investigate and punish violence against women receive training to sensitize them to the needs of women” (Art. 4-i). 17