34 Gender and Security Toolkit 4.5 Reforming the law An enabling environment for gender justice requires a supportive legal framework. The strongest framework is created when a country accedes to, ratifies and implements international and regional human rights treaties that include the principle of gender equality (as discussed in section 2.7). Compliance with international and regional human rights treaties should be assured through comprehensive and regular review of national laws, including the constitution. Transitional justice processes also provide an opportunity for countries to assess how their legal frameworks can be reformed to guarantee non-recurrence of human rights violations and prevent conflict. The constitution should guarantee the equal enjoyment of human rights and gender equality, and prohibit gender-based discrimination and violence. National legislation should prohibit all forms of gender-based discrimination and violence, and include positive measures to prevent discrimination and ensure gender equality. Where the law is deficient in promoting gender equality, legal reform should be undertaken. Any legal reform process should be informed by understanding of the context, gender analysis (including of customary or informal laws where relevant) and research to ascertain the gendered effects of the law and potential effects of proposed changes. These processes are discussed in sections 4.1 and 4.2. Legal reform can send a message that certain behaviours are not tolerated by society. For instance, after years of advocacy and legal work, when rape during wartime was first recognized under international law as a form of torture, it helped to combat the narrative that rape is an inevitable by-product of war. Likewise, over the last decade a number of countries have reformed their laws to decriminalize homosexuality and/or legalize same-sex marriage in an effort to reduce discrimination and violence based upon sexual orientation (see also case study 4 on legislative reform concerning domestic violence in Ukraine). Legal reforms do not suffice, however. They have to be implemented, and often raising awareness is needed to ensure respect for the law. The impact of legal reform will be constrained by the broader legal framework as well as by cultural and social norms. For instance, in places where women are economically dependent upon their husbands, criminalizing domestic violence might have a limited effect in the absence of economic support for victims. So, to maximize success, legal reform needs to occur alongside other long-term activities to build motivation and capacity for enforcement and change public attitudes. While reform is often urgently needed in criminal law, civil and administrative law are also important. Reforming family law and legislation that governs inheritance and property rights can significantly empower women and other marginalized groups, and help tackle poverty and other causes of insecurity. It is important that legal reform processes are inclusive. This means that diverse groups should be meaningfully consulted in legal reform (see Box 6). In many countries where quotas have been used to increase the number of women in parliament (in Rwanda, Spain and Costa Rica, for instance), more progressive laws on GBV, land rights, employment and healthcare have followed, sometimes because women have organized across party lines to advocate for women’s rights. This has, in turn, led to transformational change in society.6