Gender and SSR Toolkit Support for improving the treatment of women and other vulnerable groups in prison may be more easily obtained than support for reform more generally. The government should produce information about women and children in prison that is easily accessible and not buried at the back of long reports. By involving civil society groups concerned with women and children and ensuring that prisons cooperate with such groups by giving them such access, various activities can be generated that can build public support. 5 Integrating gender into penal reform in specific contexts 5.1 Post-conflict countries ■ ! ■ Background States emerging from a period of conflict or internal turmoil present particular penal reform challenges. Against a background of many pressing priorities, such as rebuilding the infrastructure and re-establishing basic institutions, rebuilding a penal system is sometimes seen as a low priority. From the outset, it is important that the relevant state administrative body accepts the need for detention facilities to be provided and run, and allocates sufficient resources for these purposes. ■ ■ Challenges and opportunities for integrating gender Rebuilding a penal system is very complex. Major considerations are: ■ ■ ■ The existing local situation regarding prisons needs to be understood. Prisons may have very bad associations for the population of the country: detention without trial, rape, torture and execution. Rebuilding may be an opportunity to start with a clean slate and establish a system that will be less abusive, more gender responsive and more trusted by the people. The original prison system may have been dysfunctional or completely out of accord with the rule of law and gender equality. It may have been run by the police or the military, contrary to good human rights practice. If so, a different model of imprisonment needs to be created, but there is a danger that models from outside the country and inappropriate to its circumstances will be imported. A prison system must be re-established in a manner sensitive to the cultural and social environment, whilst also making efforts to introduce ideas such as better treatment for women and the employment of women staff. If a pre-conflict public prison service still exists and can be re-established quickly, the post-conflict environment may provide an opportunity to vet staff that have been involved in abuses and retrain other staff in a human rights approach that is gender sensitive. 14 ■ ■ ■ Before the conflict, there will have been a prison law in force but it may have been inadequate, out of date and disregarded because of its obsolescence. Yet, any place of detention set up in a post-conflict international intervention must be administered according to law, since the remit of the intervention is to assist in reestablishing a law-bound state. In the transitional period in 1999, the International Force for East Timor established a rudimentary prison law based on international standards which ensured no discrimination, regular visits by independent outsiders, norms for searching detainees, accommodation, hygiene, food, facilities for making purchases, exercise, the practice of religion and access to medical treatment.68 Starting prison reconstruction with a system that respects human rights and ensures no discrimination provides a good basis for the eventual construction of a gender-responsive penal system. Tips In post-conflict situations, understanding the different needs and roles of men and women is particularly important, especially if sexual violence was used in the conflict. Foreign forces and international bodies coming into a post-conflict situation to rebuild a prison system will need considerable training in cultural awareness and gender sensitivity. Handover from the police and the military to a civilian prison service as soon as possible. When rebuilding a system that existed before the conflict, consider working with more junior members of staff who will have had less responsibility for past abuses and are more likely to be receptive to a human rights based, gender-responsive approach. Where prison staff from other states are brought in to manage prisons in the transitional phase, it is important to ensure that the men and women selected have experience in dealing with female and young prisoners. Recruiters should look for cultural sensitivity and good communication and interpersonal skills, exemplary personal history and gender sensitivity. Where visits to other countries are part of penal staff training, it is important that it includes exposure to good practice in gender matters and meetings not only with officials but also with civil society groups concerned with gender issues. Ensure that accurate information about the prisons, the regime and the treatment is in the public domain, so that rumours related to alleged ill-treatment and sexual and other abuse can be quashed. Family visits are important, not only for the families involved, but so that families can dispel any rumours concerning alleged illtreatment. 5.2 Transitional countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia The countries of Central Asia and Eastern Europe (called transitional countries after 1989 as they were deemed to be in transition to a new form of government) are