20 Gender and Security Toolkit parties, was put in place to develop the content of the proposed law. The final version was reviewed during a one-week retreat by the editing team before being presented to the National Assembly. Although the law had not been adopted at the time of writing, this process has served to put the issue of violence against women and girls on the agenda of the National Assembly and given other stakeholders an entry point for advocating for legal improvements.2 The parliament of El Salvador provides another example of how security and security needs can be defined in an inclusive manner. In 2015 the Salvadoran Parliament passed a law that takes into account the unique security challenges encountered by the LGBTI community. A dialogue between MPs and the LGBTI community led to the conclusion that sanctions for crimes motivated by hatred based on sexual orientation and gender identity needed to be made more severe. Violence against the LGBTI community and impunity for attacks perpetrated by non-state actors, especially gangs, are serious problems. The Salvadoran justice system: … has failed to recognize and investigate LGBTI hate crimes, thereby rendering individuals vulnerable to attack and without redress. In particular, transgender individuals have been the targets of brutal murders. Most of these cases are not investigated and none have resulted in a successful prosecution.3 To address this situation, the Legislative Assembly, El Salvador’s unicameral Parliament, approved a reform of the Penal Code in 2015. The reform introduced harsher penalties for murder and hate-motivated threats, “including on the basis of race, ethnicity, political views, religion, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation or any other equivalent”.4 As in El Salvador, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina took action in 2014 to rectify the fact that hate crimes were not addressed in its Criminal Code. The Women’s Caucus of Parliamentarians of the Federation’s House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament, worked with a civil society coalition that was fighting against hate speech and hate crimes. The Caucus drafted an amendment to the Criminal Code that included provisions for hate crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Subsequently, the Women’s Caucus submitted to parliament a comprehensive draft law on amendments to the Criminal Code. In February 2016 the House of Representatives in Sarajevo adopted the draft into law.5 4.2 Effective legislation and structures address GBV A parliament that carries out effective oversight of the security sector to advance gender equality ensures that comprehensive legislation is passed to prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute GBV. Legislation should encompass all forms of GBV, including (but not limited to) sexual harassment; domestic violence and marital rape; male-on-male rape; forced marriage, pregnancy or abortion; trafficking for sexual exploitation; genital mutilation; and honour killings. Legislation should establish appropriate sanctions for perpetrators and support for victims. An effective security sector protects everyone, including women in all their diversity (taking account of age, disability, etc.) and individuals of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities and expressions, from violence and discrimination. For example, research suggests that women with disabilities are more likely to experience domestic violence, emotional abuse and sexual assault than women without disabilities. Women with disabilities may also feel more isolated and unable to report abuse, or they may be dependent on the abuser for their care. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and expression consists of unfair treatment or an arbitrary distinction based on a person’s