Gender and SSR Toolkit: Civil Society Oversight of the Security Sector and Gender: Tool 9

This tool provides an introduction to the importance and benefits of integrating gender issues into civil society oversight of the security sector, including practical examples and recommendations. Civil society can contribute to the process of security sector oversight in a number of different ways, including through both formal and informal mechanisms. Ensuring that gender issues are addressed, and that women and women's organisations are fully included, can make these mechanisms more participatory and comprehensive. Gender-responsive civil society oversight mechanisms can more effectively ensure that the needs and interests of both women and men are visible and included, and therefore that the security sector is held accountable for protecting all members of the population.

A transparent, accountable and effectively governed security sector is a linchpin of the democratic process. Oversight by civil society is an important mechanism to support the realisation of these values, through articulating and communicating the security needs and interests of the population to policymakers, and through the provision of expertise and monitoring of state security services. Poorly regulated or unaccountable security forces can lead to increased insecurity and the misallocation of resources, and can undermine good governance efforts. Furthermore, a non-democratically governed security sector can easily be used for partisan ends, or can cause the state's monopoly on the use of force to unravel.1 Oversight of the policies, structures, programmes, actions and reform processes of the security sector is one way of ensuring that human rights standards and the rule of law are upheld by the security sector.

This tool is designed to be a resource for civil society organisations (CSOs) engaged in oversight of the security sector, as well as those CSOs that seek to play a more active role in this regard. The tool is also relevant for policymakers and officials in national governments, internat ional and regional organisations, and donor countries around the world that are engaged in designing and implementing security sector reforms and that could play an active role in strengthening and supporting civil society engagement.