WUNRN
Counter Terrorism Measures & Effects on Implementation of the Women, Peace & Security Agenda
25 March, 2015 - NEW YORK,
USA – On the occasion of the 59th Commission on the Status of Women
(CSW), the panel discussion "Counterterrorism Measures and Their Effects
on the Implementation of the Women, Peace & Security Agenda" took
place on March 12, organized by the Women Peacemakers Program (WPP), Human
Security Collective (HSC), Ecumenical Women’s Initiative (EWI) and WinG India.
The panel discussion was hosted by the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands to the UN in New York. The panel highlighted the impact of
counterterrorism measures on women’s organizations, in particular women CSOs
working for the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda.
The
sessions specifically addressed women activists’ growing concerns about the
effects of restrictive financial regulations and legislative measures, which
are rapidly shrinking an enabling space for civil society everywhere – and
women’s critical civil society in particular.
The rapid rise of counterterrorism measures
(CTM) is presenting those concerned with implementing the WPS agenda with new
challenges. It has brought an entirely new set of obstacles to women peace
activists and organizations worldwide, which increasingly are being affected
directly and indirectly. They are facing new restrictive legislative
requirements, suffocating financial regulations, intimidating surveillance
policies and exhaustive reporting requirements, all this in an already
challenging environment. Fifteen years after United Nations Security Council
Resolution 1325 was passed, women’s organizations not only struggle to
translate this important document into a reality, they now also find themselves
struggling to deal with the effects of a counterterrorism agenda that on the
one hand labels women as important stakeholders in the fight against terrorism,
yet on the other hand is rapidly shrinking the space in which these women so
desperately need to operate.
Karel van Oosterom, Permanent Representative
of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the UN in New York, remarked in his
opening speech the importance of maintaining an enabling environment for
women’s organizations, so that they can do their important work for peace,
justice and development. He underlined that measures created to shrink
terrorist space should not result in a limitation of human and women’s rights.
Lia van Broekhoven (HSC) opened the panel
discussion, advocating for a stronger role for civil society in shaping
counterterrorism policy. Civil society is a key stakeholder as they are an
important actor in building peaceful societies – yet is also directly affected
by these measures as CSOs are targeted specifically within the CTM framework.
Based on HSC’s elaborate experience on the issue, she gave some examples of how
CSOs can be effectively involved in policy development to counter these
effects. Looking from a human rights perspective, Jayne Huckerby (Duke
University School of Law) outlined the human rights challenges of
counterterrorism strategies being directly equated with the WPS agenda, as this
carries the risk of approaching women’s participation from an instrumentalist
angle rather than a women’s rights agenda. Framed as such, this could even end
up further putting women activists’ lives at risk, as it carries the risk that
they – and their important work for peace on the ground - becomes perceived
though a security lens and as closely tied to a foreign CTM agenda.
Next, several panellists shared their
experiences in relation to the effects of counterterrorism measures on their
work for women’s rights and WPS in particular. Isabelle Geuskens (WPP)
highlighted: “Counterterrorism measures have increased the already vulnerable
position of women’s peace organizations, e.g. via NGO bills that undermine a
critical women’s civil society and banks that delay, limit or block the
transfer of funds to women’s peace organizations. Not to mention the
ever-increasing bureaucracy attached to donor’s transparency requirements,
completely swallowing up already over-stretched women activists. This, in an
environment that in itself is already unsupportive and risky enough. With UNSCR
1325 under review, raising awareness on the CTM effects on women’s work for
peace is crucial. Otherwise, we might end up in the near future with a WPS
agenda that looks good on paper, yet in reality we will be without an enabling
space for women’s organizations to actually implement this agenda.”
Carolyn Tomasoviæ Boyd (EWI), representing
the perspective of women’s funds during her contribution, warned that
counterterrorism measures are make supporting innovative, smaller women’s
organizations increasingly difficult, with risks of them disappearing all
together: “The issue of identifying resources for women is high on all of our
agendas, but one issue not being talked about underlies them all. That is how
counterterrorism measures are impacting women’s rights to access those
resources already dedicated to her.”
Finally, Anjuman Ara Begum (WinG India)
shared how grassroots women’s activists experience and deal with
counterterrorism measures: “We constantly adopt different strategies to keep on
doing our work. We have to be creative in continuing our gender and peace
activist work, while simultaneously addressing the negative effects of
counterterrorism measures.”
The panel discussion concluded with a list of
key recommendations for civil society as well as policy makers and UN
representatives.