6 Gender and Security Toolkit Security sector oversight mechanisms are designed “to provide checks and balances that prevent human rights abuses, hold those guilty of abuses accountable, make recommendations to prevent recurrence and ensure that institutions operate efficiently and effectively while respecting the rule of law”.2 Scrutiny of how the security sector implements national policy around gender equality and Women, Peace and Security is integral to these oversight tasks. Based on their representational function, parliaments are in a unique position to grant or withhold democratic legitimacy to government’s decision about security policy and security reform and to bridge government and citizens in shaping national dialogue on security.3 Parliamentary oversight, if effective, sets limits on the power of the executive or president. As such, effective oversight is essential to good security sector governance, characterized by a substantive concern for human rights, democracy and the rule of law, including the principles of gender equality, and to sustainable social and economic development (see Box 1). Democratic parliaments oversee the work of the security sector on the basis of the principles of legality, accountability, transparency, participation and responsiveness to the citizenry.* Box 1: Parliamentary oversight and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals In September 2015 the UN General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development affirms that through law making, the adoption of budgets and their role in ensuring accountability for the security sector, national parliaments play a crucial role. The implementation of the SDGs requires an inclusive parliament, as inclusiveness is at the core of SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), and also a parliament that focuses on achieving SDG 5 on gender equality. The 2030 Agenda presents “both a challenge and an opportunity for parliaments to develop their role in working with governments to improve the well-being of all people” (IPU and UNDP, 2017: 11). See the Policy Brief on “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Security Sector and Gender Equality”. Source: UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2015) “Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, New York: UN DESA; IPU and UNDP (2017) “Global parliamentary report 2017 – Parliamentary oversight: Parliament’s power to hold government to account”, Tignieu-Jameyzieu: Courand et Associés, p. 11. In countries undergoing democratic transition there are often widespread problems in the security sector. Security sector institutions may be plagued by a lack of accountability mechanisms, corruption and low public trust. Other countries may suffer from a lack of resources and oversight, widespread corruption and an inadequate parliamentary and judicial framework. To address these problems and strengthen security sector governance, reform of the security sector is often required. Parliaments play an essential role in security sector reform (SSR). SSR has two components, a normative one to ensure good governance of the security sector by strengthening management, accountability and civilian oversight; and a practical one to pursue effectiveness and efficiency by restructuring the sector and building its human and material resources. 2.3 Key actors within the parliamentary system Parliamentary oversight of the security sector is conducted in multiple ways. Central are a parliament’s mechanisms for scrutinizing and approving budgets, and enacting legislation related to the security sector and supervising its implementation. OSCE commitments, for example, refer to parliamentary oversight in military and national security matters, * Security sector governance and SSR are explained in more detail in the DCAF Backgrounder Series. The connections between gender equality and good security sector governance and SSR are discussed in more detail in Tool 1, “Security Sector Governance, Security Sector Reform and Gender”.