“Adopt legal reforms to combat sexual and gender-based violence by introducing new criminal offences and increased penalties, and expand the scope of protection of and support for victims of sexual and gender-based violence.” (A/HRC/24/59, para. 95 (h)) “The Commission of Inquiry recommends that the Government: (a) Strengthen legislation protecting and promoting the equality of women ...; (b) Ratify the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa; (c) Permit the creation of independent gender-specific civil society organizations, which are necessary to increase women’s involvement in public life and decision-making; (d) Ensure that women have access to productive land, agricultural training and the means required to make their farming sustainable and productive; (e) Ensure that all women and girls enjoy equal inheritance rights and are protected by the same legal standards; (f) Investigate, prosecute and sentence offenders of sexual and gender-based violence …” (A/HRC/29/CRP.1, para. 1534) E CHECKLIST CHECKLIST FOR REPORT WRITING ;; Integrate gender throughout the chapters of the report; gender analysis should not be an occasional add-on, or the subject of an occasional paragraph, but, rather, a core part of the report. ;; Ensure that gender-sensitive language is applied consistently throughout the report. ;; Use age and sex gender-disaggregated data and avoid gender-neutral terms that could hide the experiences/roles of women. ;; Use the checklist provided in Chapter 15 of the Manual on Human Rights Monitoring to integrate gender into reports.67 ;; Acknowledge that “gender” implies more than women’s issues and sexual violence. ;; Prioritize issues to be included in the report while keeping in mind the most serious gender-based violations/impacts. ;; Include background information in the report and contextualize the situations of women and men. ;; Include a gender perspective when analysing a pattern of human rights violations, such as multiple or intersectional and/or compounded discrimination. ;; Ensure that the international human rights legal framework is used along with international humanitarian and international criminal law, when applicable, in the legal analysis of the report, fully reflecting the gender-specific impacts and human rights violations that occurred during the situation under investigation. ;; Pay attention to consistency between the findings and the recommendations, making sure that relevant gender-specific findings and conclusions on gendered violations are accompanied by tailored recommendations. ;; Ensure that the report includes relevant recommendations that will contribute to ensuring respect for women’s human rights and the enhancement of women’s status and security. OHCHR (2011), Chapter 15. 67 55