A/HRC/38/24 weak legal and policy frameworks or the existence of discriminatory law undermine the capacity of actors, including Governments, national human rights institutions and civil society organizations to combat gender-based violence against women. 69 Men are often in decision-making positions with respect to efforts to reform such laws and policies, and thus engaging them will be crucial. 33. Integrating gender-transformative interventions, including those that engage men and boys, in long-term public policies and programmes on violence prevention and promotion of gender can be an effective measure to scale up efforts to transform social norms and attitudes.70 Some countries recognized the role of men and boys in their national policies and strategies on gender equality or violence against women. For instance, Egypt has adopted its National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030, which recognizes the collective responsibility of men and boys in women’s empowerment.71 The National Policy against Gender-based Violence in Rwanda, adopted in 2011,72 recognizes not only women and girls but men and boys as victims of gender-based violence and acknowledges the need to foster dialogue between men and women, and boys and girls, aimed at changing the cultural, social, economic and other systems and structures that deny human rights and equality between women and men. 73 Sweden has adopted a national strategy to prevent and combat men’s violence against women for the period between 2017 and 2026, which has a specific focus on universal violence prevention, targeting stereotypical norms of masculinity as a cause of violence. 74 G. Building institutional capacity 34. Public and private institutions, including in the executive, the judiciary, parliaments and in educational and health systems, are key to promoting gender equality and to preventing and responding to gender-based violence. Therefore, it is crucial that these institutions adopt a gender-transformative approach, including in their interactions with men and boys. Some submissions highlighted that some of the challenges for these institutions to adopt a gender-transformative approach included gender bias and the lack of understanding by the professionals working in such institutions of the impact of discriminatory gender stereotypes.75 Resistance against efforts to change negative gender norms and stereotypes by religious institutions and leaders was also mentioned as an obstacle.76 35. As an example of an effort to engage the judiciary in the elimination of genderbased discrimination and bias, OHCHR prepared a study, “Eliminating judicial stereotyping: equal access to justice for women in gender-based violence cases”, in 2014 and has been conducting training sessions and conversations with the judiciary on their role in challenging wrongful gender stereotyping by lower courts, as well as norms and practices that embody harmful stereotypes and that could result in violations of human rights and constitutional guarantees. 77 The Council of Europe, with the support of OHCHR, has developed the Training Manual for Judges and Prosecutors on Ensuring Women’s Access 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 12 Submissions by the Human Rights Defender’s Office of Armenia, the Human Rights Ombudsman of Guatemala, the National Centre for Human Rights of Jordan, the Slovak National Centre for Human Rights and Sonke Gender Justice. See, for example, the submission by the Centre for Health and Social Justice. See http://ncw.gov.eg/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/womens-stratagy.pdf. See www.migeprof.gov.rw/fileadmin/_migrated/content_uploads/GBV_Policy-2_1_.pdf. Ibid., p. 13. Submission by Sweden. See also www.government.se/4afec2/contentassets/efcc5a15ef154522a872d8e46ad69148/161219-infokituppdatering2.pdf. Submission by Rutgers. Submissions by Switzerland and Restored. See www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Women/WRGS/judicial_stereotyping2014.docx.