The role of the women’s movement in legal reform

• Adequate funding that invests in primary prevention, as well as justice and response

• Promote evidence-based approaches

• Include indicators and mechanisms for monitoring and evaluations

• High-level leadership authority

• Tailored responses, taking into account women experiencing multiple, intersecting forms of discrimination

• Strong civil society input in the process of national action plan development, implementation and monitoring

• Support to women’s movements.

Although national action plans are a welcome development, most face many challenges and often fail to move the needle significantly in addressing GBV. Some reasons for this include a lack of consistency and alignment between national action plans and legislation, weak monitoring and accountability, inadequate budget appropriation, low authority of the lead agency for the advancement of women (often consisting of mechanisms that are second or third tier below ministerial level), and the fact that national action plans are often developed by external consultants supporting international organizations, with little engagement of civil society and buy-in from the Governments themselves. Therefore, some countries have state-of-the-art national action plans that are unlikely to realize their full potential. In PNG, for example, even though the Government led consultations and created the national action plan, there is no mechanism of accountability attached to it.272

Research has shown that a critical condition for progressive legal reforms and policy change has been the presence of feminist movements in national contexts.273 Autonomous feminist movements have led advocacy campaigns and undertaken strategic litigation that have influenced legal developments at the national, regional and international levels.274 They have been effective in adapting international and regional standards to national contexts, both in the framing and implementation of laws. Countries with the strongest feminist movements tend, other things being equal, to have more comprehensive policies on GBV when compared to those with weaker or non-existent feminist movements.275 Additionally, in situations of conflict and fragility, ensuring women’s participation in peace building and governance processes has also shown to lead to more equitable and lasting peace agreements.276

The United Nations Working Group on the Issue of Discrimination against Women has noted a growing trend of setbacks in women’s rights, including attacks on autonomous women’s movements and CSOs by State and nonState actors. This underscores the need to support and protect the crucial role that women human rights defenders play in progressive policy change, including on GBV.277

Women’s organizations have been crucial in pushing for GBV reform in the focus countries. The majority of the laws in PNG were achieved through years of advocacy by women’s rights and civil society groups, as well as technical and