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Gender and Security Toolkit
Mobile courts, ideally supported by legal aid, can likewise provide access to justice for
victims/survivors of GBV who live in remote or rural locations, or lack the means to travel
to major cities.14 Specialized bodies and gender units are discussed further in section 4.10.*
Specialized services can include formalized arrangements where key actors and services,
including judges, prosecutors, police and social services, co-ordinate their work and decisionmaking. “One-stop centres”, such as the New York Family Justice Centers in the USA, can
house relevant services in one place. These may include forensics, legal advice, healthcare
and psychosocial support, and information on self-help and other support groups. This can
make a victim’s search for help and justice more efficient and effective. Victim/survivor
safety and concerns about treatment, confidentiality or potential stigma can generally be
better attended to through bespoke structures and support. In South Africa the Thuthuzela
Care Centres have led to conviction rates for rape cases reaching 89 per cent, compared
with a national average of 7 per cent.15
Where formalized arrangements or one-stop centres are not in place, integrated services
and referral systems should be promoted. CSOs often plug gaps in referral pathways and
services.
4.9 Training and other capacity development for justice
professionals^
Training on gender equality needs to be developed for all judicial and legal professionals and
court administrators, referent to national, regional and international laws and obligations.
This should include, at a minimum, the principle of non-discrimination, ethics, human rights,
women’s rights, legal procedures for GBV, protection of the human rights of LGBTI people
and how “gender bias” operates in the justice system to affect men and women. Specific
training on investigation methods and requirements for crimes involving GBV should be
provided to staff who work on such cases.
There should be an ongoing commitment to and investment in sustained professional gender
and GBV training, which could be provided by national schools for judges or prosecutors, or
similar. Where these do not exist, bar associations or law societies as well as the relevant
ministry and civil society actors can provide or support training initiatives. External actors
(such as DCAF, UNODC, the Council of Europe and national bar associations) may also be
engaged in providing professional training for judicial and legal practitioners.
It is important that judicial and legal professionals receive such training before they are
licensed to practise, so professional, technical and academic institutions should ensure that
curricula include gender equality.
In professional training there needs to be a focus on transformative education, recognizing
that most legal professionals will know the law but may apply it in a discriminatory manner.
When specifically considering justice professionals:
Ê peer-to-peer training (rather than relying on external trainers who are not judicial
experts and/or not from the same country) can help ensure core messages resonate
and continue to be communicated after any external programme has concluded
Ê outside speakers might include victims/survivors of crimes involving GBV, to deepen
the understanding among judicial and legal professionals of the harms these crimes
have beyond the evidentially physical, and the context in which such crimes occur
Ê mentoring, study visits and coaching can be effective.
* See also case study 3 on
approaches used in Iraq to
increase access to justice for
survivors of GBV.
^ Effective gender training
practices in the security and
justice sector are discussed
in more detail in Tool 1 on
“Security Sector Governance,
Security Sector Reform and
Gender”.
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