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The proposed judicial sector assessment will focus on justice at the level of magistrate courts in Kenya. In addition to the general challenges faced by magistrates, it will concentrate on the role of the social context in dispensing justice. Social context in this sense means underlying socio-cultural structures and belief systems of a community as well as socio-economic backgrounds. This Economic and Sector Work (ESW) will assess the extent to which the social context of a particular region jeopardizes equality before the law; whether magistrates take the social context into account in their judgments; and the degree to which they can take it into account within the limits of the law. The main objective of the assessment is to better understand magistrate needs given the various socio-economic environments of Kenya within which they work. These insights will be used to inform ongoing justice sector reform strategies with the aim of making the magistracy service more equitable and accessible.

This study examines and evaluates developments in the Justice Law and Order Sector (JLOS) institutions, noting both the achievements and continuing challenges of reform under first phase Sector Investment Plan (SIP I) and SIP II. It pays particular attention to the SIP guidelines and objectives and to the outstanding challenges described in various reviews of the JLOS institutions, more specifically: (a) the commercial court; (b) the impact of the establishment of the centre for arbitration and dispute resolution on case backlogs; (c) the adequacy of legal education to meet the needs of the sector in view of recent reforms, and (d) the provision of legal aid services to the poor to increase their access to justice. The study also touches on the challenges identified by the JLOS Medium Term Evaluation (MTE), which warranted detailed study and which informed the development of SIP II. They include law reform, legal education, and access to justice for the poor and particularly in the conflicted areas of Uganda.

This publication is the result of an Interactive Needs Assessment on Parliamentary Oversight of the Security Sector in Liberia, which was held at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Centre from the 28th to the 30th of March 2007. The event was part of the activities of the DCAF Africa Programme, in collaboration with the Conflict Security and Development Group, Kings College, University of London and the African Security Sector Network (ASSN). The objective was to facilitate a process which would enable Liberian legislators identify what they require in order to deliver effective parliamentary oversight of the security sector after protracted conflict. Report of the Interactive Needs Assessment is available at: http://www.dcaf.ch/news/_diarydetailskms.cfm?param0_219=2007&lng=en&id=29378&nav1=2.

As the Netherlands is becoming increasingly active in the field of DDR, this document aims at presenting a policy on DDR and gender.

The ambition of this thesis is to investigate the significance of gender issues for reforming the security sector. Further on it will be analyzed which gender-strategies are crucial for police reform and to which extent gender-sensitive police reform (GSPR) can contribute to a reduction of violence against women. The case study shall examine to which extent gender issues were integrated in GSPR in Sierra Leone. Based on these findings, this analysis will develop recommendations how gender can be integrated successfully into security sector reform. The theoretical part of this paper illustrates the concept of security sector reform and its meaning for peace-building and development. In addition, relevant dimensions and actors are introduced combined with the exemplification of influencing factors and potential obstacles. Afterwards the concept of gender is discussed, including its relevance for development cooperation as well as a description of gender-based violence and its consequences. The theoretical part concludes by merging these two concepts and illustrates the relevance and strategies of gender-sensitive police reform. The second part of this analysis focuses on gender and police reform in Sierra Leone. This chapter begins with a brief description of the civil war in Sierra Leone as well as the prevalence of gender-based violence. Afterwards the chapter analyses to which extent gender-sensitive strategies were integrated in police reform. The paper concludes with recommendations for further gender-sensitive strategies in the security sector and argues if effective police reform can reduce the emergence of gender-based violence.