Integrating the Issue of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Detention Monitoring
lenges and risks associated with such work.1 This publication aims to bridge that gap
and can be read in conjunction with other monitoring tools.
Effective systems of monitoring can help to restore public confidence in the way places of deprivation of liberty are run and serve to increase the overall accessibility of
closed institutions to actors from outside the criminal justice system. In addition, the
findings of monitoring mechanisms can challenge the stereotypes that are often associated with SGBV in places of deprivation of liberty.
This guidance note is designed to help all detention monitoring mechanisms integrate
the issue of SGBV in their ongoing work. The document summarizes the importance
of monitoring for SGBV and provides practical suggestions on how to incorporate
these considerations into monitoring work without further endangering those at risk.
Specifically, the guidance note gives examples of how monitoring mechanisms can
incorporate SGBV into their research and planning, how best to approach the issue
of SGBV, and how to follow up when they become aware of incidents of abuse. It also
identifies specific situations of risk for SGBV and the preventive measures that should
be in place, providing suggestions of the types of issues monitors could focus on.
The suggested questions should serve as guidance for monitors to integrate the issue
of SGBV in their existing work to the best possible extent, taking into account particular country contexts and the constraints under which monitors may be working.
This document draws from and accompanies the ODIHR publication Preventing and
Addressing Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Places of Deprivation of Liberty: Standards, Approaches and Examples from the OSCE Region,2 which was published in 2019.
Monitors and others should consult the main document for more detailed information
on SGBV in places of deprivation of liberty.
1
Examples of existing guidance related to sexual and gender based violence and gender in detention include: ODIHR,
Preventing and Addressing Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Places of Deprivation of Liberty, (Warsaw, ODIHR 2019),
<https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/f/b/427448.pdf>; The Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF),
ODIHR & UN Women, Places of Deprivation of Liberty and Gender (Geneva: DCAF/ODIHR/UN Women 2018), <https://www.
osce.org/files/f/documents/a/e/442531.pdf>; and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Sexual Violence
in Detention, (Geneva: ICRC (2017), <https://www.icrc.org/en/publication/4293-sexual-violence-detention> Other relevant resources include: DCAF, ODIHR & OSCE, Guidance Note on Integrating a Gender Perspective into Oversight of the Security Sector by Ombuds Institutions and National Human Rights Institutions, (Geneva: DCAF/OSCE/ODIHR 2014), <https://
www.osce.org/files/f/documents/0/e/118327.pdf>; ODIHR & the Convention against Torture Initiative, “Providing Rehabilitation to Victims of Torture and Other Ill-Treatment – A Practical Tool”, <https://www.osce.org/odihr/385497>; ODIHR
& Penal Reform International (PRI), Guidance Document on the Nelson Mandela Rules (Warsaw: ODIHR & PRI 2018), <https://
www.osce.org/odihr/389912>; Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), Towards the Effective Protection of LGBTI
Persons Deprived of Liberty: A Monitoring Guide (Geneva: APT 2018), <https://www.apt.ch/en/resources/publications/
towards-effective-protection-lgbti-persons-deprived-liberty-monitoring-guide>; APT & PRI, “Women in Detention:
A Guide to Gender-Sensitive Monitoring”, 2015, <https://www.penalreform.org/resource/women-detention-guide-gendersensitive-monitoring>; and UN Women, the World Health Organization (WHO), The United Nations Population Fund,
the United Nations Development Programme & the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, “Module 3: Justice and
policing”, in “Essential Service Package for Women and Girls Subjected to Violence”, 2015, <https://www.unwomen.org/
en/digital-library/publications/2015/12/essential-services-package-for-women-and-girls-subject-to-violence>.
2
ODIHR, Preventing and Addressing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Places of Deprivation of Liberty, Ibid.
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