6 Gender and Security Toolkit a “justice sector” refers to a judicial system, executive authorities and oversight bodies, as described in the top three boxes in Figure 1. Figure 1: Elements of the justice sector A judicial system and associated personnel and agencies For example: courts and judges, as well as lawyers, defence and prosecution services, state legal practitioners, bar associations, legal aid bodies and public representation programmes, paralegals, court personnel (such as bailiffs and ushers) and military justice systems, as well as alternative dispute resolution mechanisms such as tribunals, mediation services and community-based resolution mechanisms, where they exist. Executive authorities responsible for justice sector administration and management For example: usually a justice ministry or department that is functionally independent from the judiciary. Finance authorities and audit agencies also play a role in ensuring efficiency and accountability. Institutions responsible for justice sector oversight For example: parliamentary committees and independent oversight authorities such as judicial councils, judicial services and law commissions, as well as independent oversight institutions with a broader remit such as ombuds-institutions, human rights commissions and anti-corruption commissions. Agencies responsible for law enforcement* For example: police in all jurisdictions, but also general regulatory bodies, customs and border authorities, intelligence services, civil emergency services and sometimes commercial security contractors, among others. Agencies responsible for carrying out sentencing and rehabilitation For example: prisons, corrections and detention authorities (including administrators and prison guards); social, medical and mental health services specifically serving the justice sector; and authorities overseeing pretrial detention and community-based sentencing, often including customary and traditional authorities or commercial companies. In some countries people primarily access justice through non-state justice providers, particularly where state services lack reach, capacity or legitimacy. Non-state justice providers can be more accessible, affordable, trusted and transparent, and can provide a swifter and fairer response. However, they can also be discriminatory or exclusionary, and, like state structures, often replicate and reinforce dominant power structures and gender bias. For instance, non-state justice providers in parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have regarded rape as an attack on the family’s honour rather than on the woman, and so perpetrators provide reparations only to the family of the victim. Countries emerging from conflict or authoritarianism may utilize transitional justice processes to deal with serious and massive violations of human rights and re-establish the rule of law. Transitional justice can provide redress for large-scale violations and identify avenues to address the root causes of violence and repression, including gender inequality. * Agencies responsible for law enforcement are addressed in Tools 2, 6 and 14. Prisons and other places of deprivation of liberty are addressed in Tool 5.