Tool 2: Policing and Gender External oversight External oversight plays a critical role in ensuring the justice sector operates in a fair, equitable and transparent manner. Myriad actors are involved. Ê Civil society actors (including CSOs, the media, think-tanks and educational institutions) can investigate abuses, keep the public informed on justice matters and raise awareness of gender equality and human rights issues. They are essential in mobilizing impetus for change (including legal reform) and support for victims (through the provision of legal aid and psychosocial services, for instance).* Ê National human rights institutions (including national human rights commissions, ombuds offices and thematic commissions) can investigate human rights violations and make recommendations for improving legislation and its application in a way that better responds to the specific needs of women, vulnerable men and people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities and expressions.^ Ê Parliamentary oversight, including through parliamentary committees, helps ensure that the justice sector functions properly and concerns are addressed.** Building the capacity of these oversight actors, or establishing them where they do not exist, can help to hold justice institutions to account, including ensuring compliance with gender policies and programmes (on the elimination of gender bias and discrimination, for instance). Capacity building can involve new resources, new staff posts and training, as well as creating a legal framework conducive to a vibrant civil society and building relationships between judicial providers and CSOs. National human rights institutions, parliamentary committees and civil society actors can consider judicial decision-making and sentencing in cases with a particular gender dimension, such as GBV. They can look at gender-disaggregated statistics on attrition and conviction rates, sentencing and recruitment and retention. Cases and judgments can be assessed for potential bias. Retention of women in legal and judicial professions, for instance, can be cross-checked with men’s retention rates and analysed against seniority, age and caring responsibilities. Analysing these data over time can help hold the justice sector to account in respect of being gender responsive, non-discriminatory and representative. In BiH, for example, trials are monitored and cases are regularly and systematically reviewed to identify how gender interacts with the application of the law (see case study 5). Oversight of informal justice providers is also important to ensure adherence to human rights and gender equality principles – recognizing that lack of data and logistical challenges can pose difficulties for monitoring and evaluating compliance. More broadly, formal monitoring and evaluation programmes should accompany all programmes, plans and policies to advance gender equality and non-discrimination, and there should be an inclusive approach to developing evaluation criteria. Criteria should include public perceptions, and a diverse range of members of the community should be consulted on their experiences with the justice sector to inform monitoring and evaluations (see Box 6). 4.14 Challenging society’s gender norms and stereotypes, and legal empowerment Awareness-raising of the importance of gender equality, human rights and equal access to justice as well as the harms caused by discrimination, inequalities, GBV and other gendered crimes (such as child, early and forced marriage) needs to occur beyond formal and informal justice institutions, and within the community. Unless societal gender norms * The role of civil society in oversight of the security and justice sector is discussed in detail in DCAF, OSCE/ ODIHR, UN-INSTRAW (2008) “Civil Society Oversight of the Security Sector and Gender”, Tool 9, Gender and Security Sector Reform Toolkit, Geneva: DCAF, OSCE/ODIHR, UNINSTRAW. ^ For more detailed guidance for national human rights commissions and ombuds institutions see DCAF, OSCE, OSCE/ODIHR (2014) “Integrating gender into oversight of the security sector by ombuds institutions and national human rights institutions”, Geneva: DCAF, OSCE, OSCE/ODIHR. ** For more detailed guidance on how parliaments can integrate gender in security sector oversight see Tool 7 on “Parliamentary Oversight of the Security Sector and Gender”. 43