Can Security Sector Reform Contribute to the Reduction of Gender-Based Violence?

Master's Thesis from the year 2011 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Development Politics, grade: 1,7, University of Duisburg-Essen, course: Politikwissenschaften - Internationale Beziehungen und Entwicklungspolitik, language: English, abstract: The ambition of this thesis is to investigate the significance ofgender issues for reforming the security sector. Further on it will beanalyzed which gender-strategies are crucial for police reform and towhich extent gender-sensitive police reform (GSPR) can contribute to areduction of violence against women. The case study shall examine towhich extent gender issues were integrated in GSPR in Sierra Leone.Based on these findings, this analysis will develop recommendationshow gender can be integrated successfully into security sector reform.The theoretical part of this paper illustrates the concept of securitysector reform and its meaning for peace-building and development. Inaddition, relevant dimensions and actors are introduced combined withthe exemplification of influencing factors and potential obstacles.Afterwards the concept of gender is discussed, including its relevancefor development cooperation as well as a description of gender-basedviolence and its consequences. The theoretical part concludes bymerging these two concepts and illustrates the relevance and strategiesof gender-sensitive police reform. The second part of this analysisfocuses on gender and police reform in Sierra Leone. This chapterbegins with a brief description of the civil war in Sierra Leone as well as the prevalence of gender-based violence. Afterwards the chapteranalyses to which extent gender-sensitive strategies were integrated inpolice reform. The paper concludes with recommendations for furthergender-sensitive strategies in the security sector and argues if effectivepolice reform can reduce the emergence of gender-based violence.