Beyond Tokenism: Women Leading Prevention, Justice and Policy in Counter-Terrorism (Counter-Terrorism Week Side Event)

Good morning, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues. Welcome to the very first side event of UN Counterterrorism Week on women's leadership in counterterrorism. Thank you very much for everyone here who came physically in the room today. Also many colleagues joining online, and very important and physical and virtual demonstration of your support to the full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation of women in preventing and countering terrorism. Today is not only the first day of Counterterrorism Week, it is also UN Charter Day. So of course, historic, signed in 1945 in San Francisco. The Secretary-General is somewhere also marking this occasion. We should also take the occasion to mark that because the Charter was historic for many reasons, but also for recognizing equality between the sexes and guaranteeing the equal participation of men and women also in the UN institutions. So, of course, this is a cornerstone on which we've been building together with civil society organizations and our member states in full support. And it's very important that we do share these good practices and recommendations to achieve these goals. So, before handing over the floor to Under-Secretary-General Zouëv for the opening remarks, I would like to thank our co-organizers, in particular CITED, a very important partner, UN Women, Canada, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, the European Union, and of course the CSO Coalition on Human Rights and Counterterrorism. Under-Secretary General Zuev, you have the floor.

Thank you very much, Annick. Excellencies, of course, ladies and gentlemen, of course, distinguished colleagues, I mean, it's a very special day for us and I'm very glad that our first side event— and we have almost 40 of them during our Counterterrorism Week, you know, is dedicated to this important topic. I am a big champion of women's empowerment and gender equity, and I am very, very honored to address you first because women play a very special role in their leadership in preventing and countering terrorism. And you know this very well. I would like indeed to thank our co-organizers: Canada, Costa Rica, Kenya, Mexico, the European Union, UN Women, the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, and the civil society organization Coalition on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism. Thank you also to all our distinguished panelists and participants joining in person, but also and online to reflect with us on a critical dimension of effective and sustainable counterterrorism. As you remember, last year we marked the 25th anniversary of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda. This milestone was a reminder not only of how far we have come, but also of how much further we must go to ensure that women's rights, Leadership and all programmatic activities are fully realized across peace and security efforts, and I can tell you, last year I celebrated this anniversary in my previous job, Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions, but I can also attest in my former capacities that for peacekeeping, women peace and security agenda, it's a very critical, very critical part of our peacekeeping activities. Well, you know that women are not only affected by terrorism in specific and often very devastating ways, including through sexual and gender-based violence and other crimes, but they are more importantly leaders, practitioners, researchers, peacebuilders, and they are agents of change. Women's participation in counter-terrorism cannot be underestimated or considered to be symbolic. We must put rights of women and girls at the center of counter-terrorism efforts, ensure that our policies and responses reflect their lived experiences and do not harm. It is critical for member states to ground counter-terrorism efforts in human rights, context-specific gender analysis and ensure that these efforts do not result in exclusion, discrimination, or shrinking civic space. Women-led civil society organizations are often at the forefront of prevention, community engagement, victim support, and access to justice—all critical aspects of a comprehensive, sustainable approach to counterterrorism. Yet their contributions remain very often underrecognized, and the barriers they face—legal, financial, institutional, security-related—they still remain very significant. At the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, we advance gender-responsive, victim-centered, and human rights-based approaches across all our programming in support of member states. Assessment of our efforts under the UN System-Wide Action Plan for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment and findings of independent program evaluations speak to this commitment. We recognize that, like probably most of us in this room, we can and should do better to translate this commitment in practice. A key focus in our work has been to strengthen knowledge and capacity both through mainstreaming gender equality across all our activities and by undertaking dedicated programming. Through our Gender and Identity Factors platform, supported by Canada, we equip practitioners with tools and training to better integrate gender and intersectional perspectives into counter-terrorism efforts. In 2025, This platform was accessed by nearly 7,000 users, highlighting significant interest in gender-responsive approaches to preventing and countering terrorism. This platform brings together global stakeholders through a series of webinars organized by us jointly with UN Women and CITEAD. It also hosts dedicated communities of practice for civil society organizations and member states. —while offering a library of resources and e-learning courses to support knowledge sharing and capacity building in this area. Furthermore, UNOCT promotes women's participation in security institutions through technical capacity building, helping women advance to senior roles, for instance, in national mechanisms for intelligence sharing and analysis. We have also turned our attention to promoting institutional reforms in this area at the national levels. Through EU-UN Global Terrorism Threats Facility, we are supporting national authorities in identifying and addressing barriers to increase women's participation and leadership across counter-terrorism institutions, law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and of course the justice sector. Today's event invites us to move beyond rhetoric and beyond tokenism toward action, institutional change, and genuine partnerships with women-led civil society organizations. I hope these exchanges will help all of us to advance concrete commitments, including from funding partners, that ensure women's leadership is not the exception but the norm. Thank you for your attention.

Thank you, USG. I would now like to invite Ms. Natalia German, Executive Director of the Counterterrorism Committee Executive Directorate, CTED, to deliver opening remarks.

Thank you very much. Good morning, good afternoon, Your Excellencies. Ladies and gentlemen, first of all, I would like to thank our co-organizers, Canada, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, the European Union, and the Civil Society Organizations Coalition for their support of this side event. I would also like to express gratitude to our United Nations partners, the Office of Counterterrorism and the UN Women, for our excellent cooperation. The full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation of women at all levels of decision-making is at the heart of the Women, Peace and Security agenda. The Women, Peace and Security framework calls for women to be included not merely as beneficiaries of policy, but as central actors in conflict prevention, resolution, and indeed in fostering long-term resilience. Security Council Resolution 2242 explicitly linked the Women, Peace and Security Agenda to efforts on countering terrorism and violent extremism conducive to terrorism, urging Member States and the United Nations system to ensure women's participation and leadership in the development of strategies and measures to counter terrorism and violent extremism conducive to terrorism. And Resolution 2242 also specifically mandated my office, the Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate, to integrate gender as a cross-cutting issue in all our tasks and activities which we carry out in support of the United Nations Security Council and its Counter Terrorism Committee. This includes our core mandate, and that is to assess member states' implementation of counter-terrorism measures pursuant to the relevant Security Council resolutions and facilitate the provision of technical assistance in the areas where the implementation gaps persist. As called for by the United Nations Security Council, CTAT is ensuring that gender considerations are embedded across global counter-terrorism efforts. And this means supporting member states in strengthening accountability for terrorism-related crimes, including sexual and gender-based violence. It means promoting survivor-centered approaches that improve access to justice and reparations. And it also means ensuring that counter-terrorism laws and policies are implemented in ways that are fair, non-discriminatory, and grounded in human rights. We also promote the meaningful participation of women in security, law enforcement, justice institutions, and in prevention efforts, recognizing the women not only as victims but as leaders and agents of change. Through CITED's unique assessment and analytical mandate,, we are able to make recommendations to Member States on how to ensure that their counter-terrorism responses are more inclusive, human rights-based and gender-sensitive. In many of the assessment visits that I have led personally, I have seen firsthand the important contributions that women make to counter-terrorism efforts across the world. This has included women-led civil society organizations that play a critical role in advancing comprehensive and survivor-centered approaches to sexual and gender-based violence in terrorism contexts. Their efforts range from providing immediate and long-term medical and psychosocial support, advocating for inclusive access to justice and reparations, supporting reintegration into communities,— and promoting holistic prevention efforts. And it is essential to ensure that these frontline actors receive the protection and support needed to be able to continue their lifesaving work in the context of shrinking civic space and limited funding. I have also witnessed the work of women police officers advancing community policing, grounded in the understanding that trust between authorities and communities enhances safety and helps address the drivers of radicalization to violence. And in several jurisdictions, women prosecutors, judges, and investigators are leading complex counter-terrorism cases involving foreign terrorist fighters, returnees, and terrorism financing networks. These are just some of the success stories that deserve greater visibility. And I'm also proud that within CTAD itself, key thematic portfolios, including countering the financing of terrorism, human rights, gender, information communication technology, and trends analysis, are led by highly qualified women. Their leadership reflects the very principles that we promote globally. Excellencies, dear colleagues, Integrating gender perspectives into counter-terrorism is not an optional add-on. It is not symbolic. It is strategic. When women participate fully and safely, counter-terrorism efforts are more legitimate, more effective, and more sustainable. I thank you.

Thank you very much, ASG. I would like to invite now Ambassador Michael Gort, Deputy Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations, to deliver opening remarks.

Thanks so much, Annick, USG, ASG, Excellencies, distinguished colleagues. It's a real pleasure. Let me just start actually by saying that I will, in very Canadian fashion, deliver half of my remarks in English and then in French. So if you just want to get ready with your earpieces, you might want to do so. It's a real pleasure to be with you here today on— for this important event on Beyond Tokenism: Women Leading Prevention, Justice, and Policy in Counterterrorism. And it's great to see so many people, women and men, in this room. And of course, like my colleagues here, I would like to thank UNOCT, UN Women, CITED, the European Union, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, and of course the CSO Coalition on Human Rights and Counterterrorism for co-organizing this really timely and very important event. And Annick, you stole the words right out of my mouth about the Charter. I was writing down some notes about that. It's great that you highlighted that it's actually the Charter that established gender equality, and we should not forget that. And this morning, together with big group of PRs and DPRs and others. I had a chance to run with the PGA to celebrate, um, the anniversary of the Charter and of course gender equality. Um, unfortunately, we meet at a moment of heightened global uncertainty where security challenges, including terrorism and violent extremism, are increasingly complex and interconnected with other threats such as organized crime. And in this context, we believe that inclusive perspectives are not optional. They are essential, and counterterrorism efforts must be grounded in human rights, informed by gender analysis, and also responsive to the diverse realities of the communities that they serve. We hope that today's discussion will make clear that women's meaningful participation in counterterrorism in counterterrorism efforts is central to the effective prevention and countering terrorism, violent extremism, and radicalization. Inclusive leadership brings diverse perspectives and expertise together. It strengthens our ability to detect biases, to avoid stereotypes, and to make better informed decisions, especially when confronting actors who exploit gender roles and narratives to advance their agendas. Women contribute across policy, justice, and security sectors, as well as within civil society and at the community level. Yet far too often, their contributions remain underrecognized or marginalized. Canada believes that women and women's organizations must be meaningfully engaged in the development, implementation, and monitoring of counter-terrorism and PCVE efforts and strategies. And for Canada, gender and identity factors are integral to our approach. We remain committed to using a gender-responsive lens and in supporting women in all their diversity and their full participation in decision-making roles. Through our Counter-Terrorism Capacity Building Program, Canada works with member states and various partners to translate to put these principles into practice. This includes Canada's support for the Gender and Identity Factors Platform, hosted under UNOCT's Connect and Learn digital platform. The platform brings together member states, practitioners, and civil society to share knowledge and strengthen gender-responsive and intersectional approaches. And we encourage all of you to engage actively with this platform.

Cher collègue, distinguished colleagues, presentation of civil society must be structured, supported, and meaningful, with transparent participation mechanisms, access to information, and an environment conducive to allowing a diversity of voices to contribute safely and effectively.

Canada also underscores the importance of comparative gender analysis to inform interventions when it comes to countering terrorism.

When practitioners have tangible tools to incorporate gender perspectives in their work, counterterrorism interventions, as well as prevention and anti-violent extremism measures, become not only inclusive more inclusive, but also more effective. Today, we have the opportunity to shed light on inspiring experiences and to build together reflections based upon best practices. By sharing our experiences, we can strengthen the full, equitable, diverse, meaningful, and safe participation of women at every level.

Canada hopes that today's discussions will underscore the importance for member states of supporting a resolution in the 9th reading that reflects these priorities, because the incorporation of gender-sensitive approaches against terrorism remains a shared responsibility.

Canada is willing to continue this work together with all of you.

Thank you.

Merci beaucoup. Thank you very much, Your Excellency. I would now immediately give the floor to my dear colleague and friend, Alexandra Dear, Head of the Gender and Children Unit at CETAID, to moderate our first panel discussion.

Thank you very much, Annick. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, and colleagues, it's my pleasure I'm delighted to moderate this first panel of our event, which will highlight experiences in advancing women's leadership in counterterrorism institutions from different national and regional perspectives. And for cross-regional perspectives, and indeed for cross-regional support that is also reflected in the range of co-sponsors of this event, is in itself a key message. There's recognition across geographies, and contexts of the need for gender-responsive approaches to counterterrorism and of the importance of women's meaningful participation at both institutional and grassroots levels. And so in this first panel, we invite our speakers to share the range of experiences that they bring from their respective vantage points in advancing women's participation and the difference that women's contributions and leadership make to the effectiveness, sustainability, and legitimacy of counterterrorism efforts. In other words, we want to focus, as the title of this event suggests, not on tokenistic approaches but on real impact. And in doing so, we also aim to identify good practices that others can learn from and that can help overcome remaining barriers and challenges in this area that also still persist. So to address these issues, we have an excellent panel of speakers who bring a wealth of experience in championing women's participation in national and international security. And so without any further ado, I'm pleased to introduce our first speaker, Mr. Kibiego Keegan, Director General of the National Counterterrorism Centre of Kenya.

Please, sir, you have the floor.

Thank you very much, Excellencies. Madam President, distinguished colleagues, good morning. They say in Kenya, 'Jumbo.' Good students. It is profoundly symbolic that this United Nations City Week opens with a session that not only acknowledges the role of women in counterterrorism, but moves decisively beyond tokenism to reaffirm their leadership and recognize their indispensable contribution. Women are not merely participants in counter-terrorism. They stand as leaders of prevention. They stand as architects of resilience. They stand as shapers of policy. Their leadership is not only symbolic, it is substantive. Indeed, main evidence clearly demonstrates that when women's voices move from the margins to to the center, prevention gains credibility, interventions achieve greater impact, and policy becomes more inclusive. This conversation is therefore both timely and critical because while great strides have been made to empower and facilitate the participation of women, our current efforts remain insufficient. And risk sliding into tokenism. This meeting marks an important inflection point, reaffirming our commitment to consolidate the gains achieved, institutionalize the lessons learned, and embed women's leadership as structural imperative in counterterrorism policy and practice. Distinguished colleagues, In Kenya, the active participation of women in counterterrorism is not optional. It is a constitutional mandate. It's an imperative. We've woven into our laws, embedded in our policies, and rooted in our values. A cornerstone of our success is contained in containing the threat of terrorism and shielding communities from the corrosive influence of violent extremist terrorism has been the leadership and active role of women in counterterrorism. Our communities are safer and more resilient because of women who have excelled in strategic roles, heroines in uniform who have stood on the front lines, and grassroots voices that have championed efforts to prevent radicalization and recruitment. I am honored to restate a fundamental truth. Kenya's counterterrorism architecture and our national resilience are built on the vision, courage, and unwavering commitment of our women. It is their leadership that continues to safeguard our security and strengthen our communities. However, as we celebrate the collective contribution of women in counterterrorism,, we must confront the cost. Women in counterterrorism across the world continue to face tough barriers, including persistent systemic exclusion, grave personal risks, and the burden of navigating institutions that sometimes undervalue their true potential. It is our solemn duty to dismantle these hurdles. —to safeguard their participation and to ensure that their courage and leadership is honoured with protection, recognition, and equal opportunity. To truly transform counter-terrorism, inclusion cannot be an afterthought. It must be structural. Women's inclusion must be built into the foundation of our architecture. We must anchor women participation in law, and maintain gender perspectives into every strategy, recognizing that women are not just victims, they are leaders and architects of peace. Inclusion also calls for protection and funding of women-led organizations, bringing grassroots voices directly into national and global policymaking arenas. Further, inclusion requires that interventions are grounded in gender-sensitive analysis, structured consultations, and measurable targets. Together, these measures form a clear roadmap towards full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation of women in counter-terrorism. Distinguished colleagues, securing a future free of terrorism requires collective resolve. Strengthened by the safe, equal, and meaningful participation of women at all levels. Indeed, the fight against terrorism is inseparable from the fight for equality. Let us therefore commit to dismantling barriers, safeguarding the participation of women, and resourcing their leadership so that women stand not at the margins but at the very center of our efforts to counter terrorism. I thank you.

Shukran.

Many thanks, Director General Keegan. And it is my pleasure to give the floor to Ms. Anna Strzanska, the Special Envoy for Counterterrorism of the European Union External Action Service.

Please, Ms. Strzanska.

Thank you very much. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It is a real pleasure to be here in this side event and represent the European Union in this very important panel. As one of the main international actors in counter-terrorism and in gender equality and gender mainstreaming, the European Union has done a lot in this field, and we are happy to share some key takeaways with you today. First of all, let's reflect on what we see as basic principles of counter-terrorism. It is particularly important to highlight in the context of the, uh, context of the 9th review of the Global Counterterrorism Strategy. For the European Union, the only sustainable response to terrorism and violent extremism has to be based on democracy, the rule of law, transparency, accountability, and gender-responsive approaches. Good governance in countering and preventing terrorism is essential. Counterterrorism measures must uphold human rights, not only by choice, but also to address the underlying causes of terrorism, preserve those values that the terrorists are trying to destroy, and to avoid feeding any grievances. The European Union's policy and dedicated Council conclusions on women, peace, and security stress the importance of addressing the gender dimensions of security threats including terrorism. The European Union has also a dedicated action plan on women, peace and security, which runs till 2027, which commits to integrating gender equality and women's empowerment into all external actions. And we will be preparing the next edition shortly. The European Union does support and prioritizes a gender-responsive approach to all counter-terrorism and preventing, countering violent extremism policies. We are convinced it ensures their effectiveness. We are glad that references to gender equality are already part of the UNGCTS, and we have been one of the main advocates to keep them strongly embedded in the current strategy. Implementation remains uneven though, and we need to ensure that we are on the right track. The European Union will do its part to ensure this track is maintained and sustained. In addition to prevention as— and as a globally gender-responsive approach, the European Union supports also some specific strands. So explicit recognition of gendered drivers of radicalization, such as harmful gender stereotypes, and moving beyond the narrative of women only as victims. Women can and also should be counter-terrorism actors, leaders, peacebuilders, and mediators. We also promote continued support for meaningful women-led civil society engagement, and we also support ensuring that city measures do not inadvertently exacerbate gender inequalities or fuel grievances that contribute to radicalization. These principles are the ones that guide our work, and we have launched and funded initiatives that aim— initiatives that aim to strengthen the full, equal, safe, meaningful, and effective participation, decision-making, and leadership of women in counterterrorism efforts. And fresh initiatives are forthcoming. We have been working closely with UNOCT on a women dimension in CT, as was already mentioned. And I also have two good examples that I would like to share with you. The first, to be developed in the framework of the Global Counterterrorism Forum, will aim to develop good practices for strengthening women's active participation and leadership in counterterrorism. This work will be done together with the UNOCT and also with the Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law and through a new component of the EU-UN Global Terrorism Threats Facility. Drawing on diverse regional perspectives and expertise, it will provide strategic, technical, and contextual input to help address the persistent structural, legal, and institutional barriers that continue to limit women's meaningful participation and leadership in counterterrorism. And this requires governments that are willing to train, recruit, retain, and promote women in the intelligence and criminal justice chain of counterterrorism.. And we are aware it also requires a societal approach. More specifically, through the facility, we will support institutions with relevant CT PCVE mandates from law enforcement to judiciary to identify and address barriers to women's recruitment, retention, and advancement through tailored technical assistance. Engagement is already underway in Kenya, with the anti-terrorism police unit of the Kenya Police Service, and in Uganda with the Counter-Terrorism Directorate of the Uganda Police Force. And the project is exploring doing the same with relevant entities in Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and with the League of Arab States. And I would like to commend Kenya in particular for their commitment and great work and collaboration in the development of this work and project. I would also like to mention briefly the EU CityJust project. The work initially focused on the counter-terrorism sector and then broadened to cover the role of women in investigations, both as police officers and as prosecutors. The project also addressed the situation of women who are members of terrorist armed groups and how they are managed in prisons. More work has already been developed in the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum framework by members on gender approaches to violent extremism, including a dedicated toolkit. And this includes working with our partners on raising the number of women in law enforcement and increasing attention paid to the role of women and girls in CT and PCVE policies. And we will remain, as the European Union, very much committed to keep meaningful women's role in efforts to prevent counterterrorism and violent extremism conducive to terrorism. You can count on us. Thank you very much.

I thank Ms. Cionska for her remarks and it is my pleasure to give the floor to Major Karima Shanash, Head of the Women's Section in the Jordanian Public Security Directorate. Major, please.

Good morning. It's a privilege to speak today about something is not only professional for me, but deeply personal: the evolving role for women in counterterrorism within Jordan's Special Branch. What I will share is not a theory or a policy statement. It's a lived institutional transformation that I have witnessed and lived and helped shape over the past I would like to begin by reflecting on where we were just 5 years ago. At that time, women in special branch represented only 1.7% of the workforce, and their role were largely limited to administrative and supportive function. Today, the picture is significantly different. Women now represent in Special Branch more than 5% of the workforce, and female officers are integrated in all divisions and sections of Jordan Special Branch. Their role was largely contributing to operational counterterrorism work. Women are no longer seen now as supporting the mission. They are part of delivering it. Two years ago, we established Women City Team and Special Branch, and I have the privilege of serving as its team leader. The team consists of 20 female police officers from all the divisions of Special Branch. Its purpose, not only to form specialized units, but to create a sustainable pool of trained and operationally capable female officers who can deliver and transfer the knowledge and the experience to others in Special Branch. Through this initiative, the officers receive intensive and specialized training in operational disciplines. This help— help them gradually bridge the experience gap that— sorry— help them gradually bridge the experience gap with more senior colleagues and contribute effectively to FELT operation. However, training alone was not sufficient. One of the key pillars of our progress was changing institutional culture. We work to demonstrate that female officers are fully capable of performing operational duties at the same professional standard as their male colleagues. This was not about special treatment. It was about equal opportunity. Leadership played a decisive role in this transformation. When leadership believes, believes in women's contributions, that belief is reflected throughout the institution and translates in real operational inclusion. Today, female officers in Special Branch serve in surveillance teams, cyber investigation teams, explosive expertise, and other critical security roles. International cooperation has also been a key factor in our progress. In 2023, I participated in a study visit to Wisconsin State organized by ECITAB. We observed how female officers are fully integrated into frontline policing roles, including patrol supervision and operational leadership. This experience helped us translate international best practice into practical steps at home, reinforcing a simple but a powerful principle: operational rules should be defined by competence, not gender. As a result, we are— we were able to expand the role of female police officers with our institution. Today, women serve in 911 response, response, response patrol, tourism patrol, traffic patrol, and undercover patrol. Regarding challenges, they have evolved over time. In 2018, I was the only female police officer served as a special branch headquarters. Main challenge then was acceptance in a fully male-dominated environment. Today, as the most senior female officer and the head of operational section, the challenge has shifted. It's now about balancing demanding counter-terrorism responsibilities with family life. This reflects both progress and increased responsibilities. Looking forward, Our goal is not only to increase number, but to prepare women for leadership position in national security on counter-terrorism. Our journey demonstrate that meaningful participation is achieved when institutional commitment, leadership support, effective training come together. And I will end with this. When women are fully empowered within security institutions, we don't just participate in counter-terrorism, we contribute, redefine its effectiveness, its credibility, and its future. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Major Karima, and I thank all the panelists for their very valuable insights. I think the interventions we heard highlighted not only experiences from different regional contexts, but also from the perspective of different stakeholders, those advancing national and regional efforts working within the national institutions, those providing technical assistance and capacity-building support to others, and those receiving the technical assistance. And so this goes to show that many different stakeholders are indeed needed to ensure that we are able to make counterterrorism efforts more effective by advancing the participation and leadership of women, and that this is a shared responsibility and we all have our role to play in upholding our commitments to this issue. And I think that this point on the importance of a multi-stakeholder engagement is also the perfect segue to our next panel, which will focus on another indispensable partner in this effort, civil society. And so I want to thank once more our panelists and hand over the floor to Ms. Beth Alexian from the CSO Coalition.

Thank you so much, Alexandra, as well as to all of the co-sponsors of this very important discussion. It's a pleasure to join you as the coordinator of the CSO Coalition on Human Rights and Counterterrorism, which is a global network of civil society organizations, advocating for greater protections of human rights and civic space in global counterterrorism responses. It's a true honor to co-sponsor this discussion alongside such a wide group of member states and UN entities, uh, reflecting global support for the objectives and commitments set out in this event. As we approach the conclusion of the 9th review of the Global Counterterrorism Strategy, it is worth acknowledging and appreciating that a very wide and substantial majority of member states have pushed back against attempts to remove or weaken provisions on the integration of gender analysis and women's inclusion in counterterrorism efforts throughout the review. This is consistent across other areas of the UN. Member states continue to support the principle that gender-sensitive approaches to addressing violence and the promotion of gender equality are essential to achieving the founding pillars of the UN, and as others have already noted, very foundational in the UN Charter itself. Self. Before we hear from our fantastic panel of civil society leaders, I would be remiss as the coordinator of a civil society coalition to not acknowledge the ways in which counterterrorism measures have been used to undermine civic space with negative consequences for those advocating for human rights and gender equality around the world. As the concept note for this session aptly notes, many women-led CSOs face compounding legal, financial, and security-related restrictions resulting from the widespread widespread misuse of counterterrorism measures. Around the world, women human rights defenders, women-led organizations, and those advocating for gender equality, reproductive rights, LGBTQI+ rights, etc., have been labeled or harassed as terrorists. This has led to many pernicious effects, including arbitrary arrest, prolonged detention, increased surveillance, threats and actual instances of physical and sexual violence, and asset freezing and loss of funding, which further exacerbates existing barriers and financial inequalities experienced by many women-led CSOs. I can also say that many women members of our coalition have experienced reprisals and threats of reprisals for their participation in UN counterterrorism discussions, so we really do appreciate the push and calls for greater safe participation of all actors and particularly women in these discussions. My second point, briefly before we get to our panel, reinforces what many have already noted this morning. Civil society organizations, and in particular women-led civil society organizations who support communities to meet their needs, are quite often excluded from policymaking programming decisions. As we know, counterterrorism discussions and policy setting often takes place behind closed doors without meaningful inclusion of diverse civil society. Much of the time, civil society are only approached at the final stages after decisions have already been made, merely to rubber stamp or only to help implement state-led security efforts. And of course, this is what we refer to as tokenization. And, you know, as this event hopes to move beyond this, often these approaches end up being ill-conceived, harmful, and out of touch with the realities faced by those working to protect communities from the harms of terror attacks and securitized counterterrorism approaches. As we look forward to how we can improve practice, I'm very pleased to turn now to our distinguished panel who will share examples and recommendations for how we can move beyond Tokenizing Women's Inclusion in Counterterrorism Measures. I am very pleased to introduce our first speaker, Ms. Halima Mohammed, the co-founder of the— and executive director of the Coast Education Center, joining us online, I believe. Ms. Halima, you have the floor.

Thank you, Beth. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, good morning and good evening from Kenya. I first became aware of the trauma and stigma that women, especially widows, experienced in 2014 when I witnessed how a family shunned and isolated their daughters, their daughters-in-law, because of— because when her husband was shot, they believed that they have brought shame and bad luck. There's no logic to this. It is superstition, but it drives so much the behavior of our communities. And it is the key dynamic in our communities where extremism has been spreading. Long before, long before violent extremism cells carries out an attack, the warning signs are visible. The shifts in youth behavior, the cracks in social cohesion, the creeping radicalization, these do not happen in vacuum. And the very first person to see them are women. Women-led organizations are most effective yet most underfunded early warning networks. They build community resilience where state institutions cannot reach, and they provide access to justice where trust in formal systems has broken. Ladies and gentlemen, today I want to bridge the gap between the grassroots expertise and your policy frameworks. In my remaining 5 minutes, I will outline the critical lessons emerging from community level prevention and digital recommendations. When we look at women-led, community-led prevention, 3 clear lessons emerge from formal security frameworks. First, traditionally, counter-terrorism relies on hard security, borders, and surveillance, but women-led peacebuilding CSOs use dialogue and mentorship. In coastal region Kenya, my organization, Coast Education Center, leveraged deep community trust and noticed early warning signs. We intercept vulnerable youth before they cross the line into violent extremism. We do not use punitive measures. We use counter-narratives that reject violence. We use trauma-informed care techniques to support women and girls affected by seeking. Secondly, Extremist groups exploit local grievances, poverty, and isolation. Women leaders build psychological and economic armor against the manipulation. They bring together mothers, teachers, and faith leaders to establish protective networks. They prove that resilience is not built by deploying more police but by strengthening social fabrics. 3. Many individuals join violent extremist groups not because they're they agree in ideology, but out of frustration with systemic injustice, human rights abuses, or corruption. Women human rights defenders and peacebuilders work on the frontlines to provide marginalized populations with access to justice. By holding institutions accountable and defending basic human rights, these women eliminate the exact grievances that recruiters weaponize. Excellencies, despite this immense contribution, women practitioners face a brutal squeeze. They are double targeted by violent extremists for their peace work and simultaneously restricted by state counterterrorism financing law and heavy bank de-risking regulations. We must, we must move, we must, we must move past tokenistic appreciations. I urge member states and United Nations office to commit to the following structural reforms. Member states. Stop treating civil society as a checkbox. Formally mandate that national action plans on counterterrorism be co-drafted and co-signed by independent women-led CSOs. Reform counterterrorism financing and anti-money laundering laws to explicitly exempt humanitarian, peacebuilding, and human rights activities led by women groups, led by women groups. For United Nations entities, direct UN agencies to allocate a mandatory minimum of 30% of their CT and PCVE project budgets as direct multi-year flexible core funding to local women-led grassroots organizations. Simplify complex UN vetting and procurement compliance hurdles that lock out smaller informal networks and allow local groups to apply for grants and reports impact using flexible formats. Excellencies, women in civil society are not just victims of conflict, nor are they just helpers in peacebuilding. They are strategic policy architects. If we genuinely want to prevent violent extremism, we must stop ignoring the very people who hold the keys to community trust. Let us move from rhetorical commitments to structural actions. Let's fund them, protect them, and give them a permanent seat at the decision-making table. Thank you very much. Back to you, Beth.

Thank you so much, Halima, for those important remarks. I'm pleased to now turn the floor to Miss Ruby Khalifa, the Secretary General and Indonesia Country Representative from the Asian Muslim Action Network Indonesia.

Over to you.

Thank you. Distinguished Chair, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to begin with a story. In November 2020, a terrorist attack struck a small village called Limbatongua in Siggi, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. 4 people were killed. The house of traditional leaders was burned to the ground together with a sacred cultural object that had been entrusted to him by generations of the community. When we dialogue with the survivor, we realize that the attack had taken away much more than lives. Women suddenly became the sole providers for their families. Children lost their sense of safety and faced stigma in their school and communities. Families lost their livelihoods. Communities lost trust and part of their cultural identity. At that moment, we ask ourselves one simple question: When the attack is over and the perpetrators have been arrested, who helps communities rebuild their lives? That question transformed the way AMAN Indonesia understands the prevention of violent extremism. Counterterrorism has strengthened states' ability to respond to violent extremism. That role remains essential. But after security operations end, another challenge begins. Communities must rebuild trust, restore dignity, and recover together. Security can stop violence, but security alone cannot heal communities. Working through the Women, Peace and Security framework, Amman, Indonesia began asking a different question. Instead of asking what is missing, we asked what strength already exists within communities. We found women holding families together, We found survivors whose lived experience became valuable knowledge. We found trusted local leaders and cultural values that protected social cohesion. We discovered that community already possessed the capacity to rebuild peace. Our role was not to replace those capacities, but to connect them and strengthen them. This belief led Amman Indonesia, together with other civil society organizations, to establish the Working Group on Women and Peacebuilding, not as another project or network, but as collaborative governance platform. Because preventing violent extremism requires more than coordination, it requires connecting the capacities that already exist across society. Through WAGAWC, we focus on 3 priorities. First, we localize Indonesia National Action Plan on Preventing Violent Extremism. Together with 89 civil society across 8 provinces, we connected national policy with the local action, bridging the gap on WPS nexus to PVE, making prevention a shared responsibility between government and communities. Second, we transform women's lived experience into public knowledge The voices of survivors, women peacebuilders, families affected by violent extremism, and grassroots organizations inform policy recommendations and strengthen gender-responsive implementation of both national and regional action plans. Third, together with Indonesia National Counterterrorism Agency, we help institutionalize women leadership through thematic working groups under the National Action Plan infrastructure, creating formal spaces where women organizations contribute to coordination, monitoring, and policy implementation. Together, these three efforts strengthen the collective capacity of communities and institutions to prevent violent extremism and sustain peace over time. SIGI became one example on how this approach work. Women organization connected survivor with the public institution, They facilitated dialogue among religious leaders, customary leaders, youth, and local government. They expanded psychosocial support beyond direct victims. Recovery became not only about compensation, it became about restoring dignity, rebuilding relationship, and strengthening social cohesion. Our experience also taught us one important lesson. Women are never one homogeneous group. They experience violent extremism differently, but they also contribute different knowledge, leadership, and capacities for peace. This is why investing in women-led organization matters. They do more than implementing project. They connect policy with communities. They transform lived experience into public knowledge, and they strengthen the governance, that makes prevention sustainable. Excellencies, perhaps the next evolution of the UN Global Counterterrorism Strategy is not simply expanding participation. Perhaps it is recognizing women-led organizations as strategic governance partners. This meaning investing not only the project, but in institution, not only in activities, but in long-term ecosystem of collaboration. Because when we invest in the women-led organization, we strengthen governance, we strengthen communities, and ultimately we strengthen our collective capacity to choose peace over violence. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Miss Khalifa. I'm pleased now to turn the floor over to Ambika Sadknanathan. An international human rights law expert as well as a member of the steering group of the CSO Coalition on Human Rights and Counterterrorism. Ambika, over to you.

Thank you, Beth.

Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, the fact that as we mark 20 years of the UN Global Counterterrorism Strategy, moving beyond tokenism where the leadership and participation of women in response to terrorism is concerned, is still a topic of concern must give us pause. At present, when the relevance and impact of the United Nations is being questioned by some more than ever, it must drive us not only to ask difficult questions but to show courage in effecting changes to structures, systems, and processes we take for granted, such as the UN counterterrorism architecture. Architecture itself. Our focus must revert to the fundamentals. Globally, terms such as gender and even women are being removed from documents produced by member states and multilateral institutions, while programs on gender issues are being closed, resulting in gender-blind interventions. We are witnessing the institutionalization and normalization of the restriction of women's roles in public space and the erasure of gender in state policy and practice. This is particularly acute in national security spaces. One of the main drivers of this is a factor we do not often name: patriarchy, which is reproduced in state and even UN structures and systems and processes. The new agenda for peace, however, does not shy away from naming it by acknowledging that For as long as gendered power inequalities, patriarchal social structures, biases, violence, and discrimination hold back half of our societies, peace will remain elusive. Patriarchy is founded on the denial of power to women. The UN Secretary-General acknowledges this in the Call to Action on Human Rights by reiterating that the regression in the realization of the human rights of women is fundamentally political. It is about power. If we want women to exercise more power, then influential structures such as the UN counterterrorism mechanisms must cede power sometimes. They must acknowledge that the counterterrorism architecture, both in national context and at the UN, can sometimes be an obstacle to practicing a gendered approach to counterterrorism. And they must also adhere to human rights standards in practice, not just in policy. Currently, women's groups are reluctant to actively challenge repressive state action on national security issues because they are at increasing risk, particularly given the absence of mechanisms to provide protection to women at risk. This, many women's groups have said, is having a gendered cooling effect on women's advocacy, particularly on issues related to counterterrorism. Terrorism. The UN counter-terrorism mechanisms must play a critical role in countering this by using the leverage they possess with member states. The failure to gender counter-terrorism measures is partly due to the misconception that ensuring gender equality and preventing gendered harms is distinct and disconnected from preventing human rights harms. Although a 2022 CETA report actually co-authored by Alexandra Heer, acknowledges that mainstreaming gender in counter-terrorism and shifting from hyper-masculine militarized approaches to human security-based approach will be an uphill battle. There are many measures the UN and member states can adopt to move beyond tokenism. These include formulating benchmarks for the inclusion of women in all processes in a meaningful way, The benchmarks should be based on questions such as: What are the gendered power relations in a particular process or system? Have we included and consulted with a diverse group of women? Are women in leadership roles? How will this action affect women and men differently, notably in legislation and its implementation? Does the action rely on or instead inadvertently exploit gendered stereotypes. Risk assessments of programs should include the assessment of the risk of instrumentalization of women and the undermining of their agency. In addition, based on consultations with diverse groups of women's organizations and activists, UN counterterrorism mechanisms should address identified risks of instrumentalization and adopt strategies to strengthen the voice and participation —of women and thereby enable them to express their agency effectively. This should include robust monitoring of the gendered impacts of UN counterterrorism support to member states and projects in national contexts as well. The preparation by UN counterterrorism entities of annual reports on how human rights and gender have been integrated into their programming. They can devise strategies to enable civil society's participation in the counter-terrorism space, providing clarity on the different entities, systems, and processes within the UN counter-terrorism architecture, and enhance their understanding of how gender is implicated in counter-terrorism systems and processes. This requires resources, commitment, ceding power, and increasing transparency of the UN system. And the counterterrorism mechanisms. In conclusion, I urge you to heed the forewarning of the New Agenda for Peace in formulating counterterrorism measures, which is that the failure to tackle the root causes of violence can lead to over-securitized responses. These can be counterproductive and reinforce the very dynamics they seek to overcome. As there are far-reaching consequences, such as the blowback from local populations, human rights violations and abuses, exacerbation of gender equalities, and distortion of local economies can be powerful drivers for recruitment into terrorist or armed groups. Thank you. Sorry, thank you.

Thank you, Ambika, and allow me to I want to thank once again our expert panel, Halima, Ruby, and Ambika, for highlighting best practices as well as the structural challenges that must be addressed to meaningfully move beyond tokenization of women's inclusion. I would encourage all stakeholders here to continue to support women-led CSOs and ecosystems, as has already been highlighted, and ensure that civic space is protected in all counterterrorism and PCVE efforts. I am pleased now to return the floor to Thank you.

Beth, I will now move to closing remarks. I would like to invite Ms. Paivi Kanisto, Chief of Peace and Security at UN Women, the UN entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Thank you, Annick, and distinguished co-organizers, distinguished speakers, participants. Thank you for being here. I was very encouraged by the experiences shared today, including the leadership demonstrated by the governments of Kenya, Jordan, and the European Union, important contributions of women-led civil society organizations. We heard from Somalia and Kenya and Indonesia, heard the recommendations to the United Nations, and I would say I would say you have the best possible audience for these recommendations here today. These examples demonstrate that progress is possible when institutions intentionally invest in inclusive governance and gender-responsive approaches. And I must say that I am very impressed by the women's leadership shown in today's event as well. So, thank you. For doing that. So this commitment and these examples are needed at this time when women's participation in peace, justice, and security, including in counter-terrorism efforts, is contested across many contexts. Advancing women's leadership is not only about improving outcomes, it's about upholding rights and ensuring institutions reflect and respond to the communities they serve. We are actually talking also about building trust between institutions and the citizens. As everyone in this room knows, and it's been mentioned many times, women and girls continue to be disproportionately affected by terrorism and violent extremism. Across contexts, designated terrorist groups deliberately target women's rights— by restricting access to education, limiting mobility, excluding women from public life, using sexual and gender-based violence as a tactic of control. These patterns are documented in the Secretary-General's reporting on the UN Global Counterterrorism Strategy, on Women, Peace and Security, on Sexual Violence in Conflict, just to mention a few. Even though these realities are known, justice and security institutions and counter-terrorism mechanisms have been slow to respond. We should be seeing expedited work to secure women's representation and leadership. I wish to state the obvious: justice and security institutions are not serving justice and security. If they are not serving everyone and if they are not inclusive and representative. We see that, for example, in the Sahel, women experience overlapping vulnerabilities driven by insecurity, economic pressures, restrictions imposed by designated groups, shrinking civic space, impacts of climate change, military operations, and reduced access to services and opportunities. Still, the peacebuilding efforts and efforts to reduce violence are led by women and women's groups in the Sahel—very impressive efforts. Responses that fail to account for these realities risk reinforcing exclusion rather than reducing it. Responses need to enable meaningful influence over policy and delivery, and women's vision and women's leadership is as critical as that of men's in this work. So prioritising women's rights and inclusion, women justice and security institutions need to be grounded in international law and accompanied by political leadership sustained financing, and institutional accountability. And as we heard, it also requires addressing structural barriers and securing a safe environment and civic space. Partnerships are central to this effort. At UN Women, we work closely with member states, with civil society, and of course with our UN partners. To support the work towards more equal justice and security, strengthened institutional capacities, and women's participation and leadership. Close collaboration with national stakeholders, especially the member states and women's civil society in countries, including in conflict and violence-affected areas, UN Women is also able contribute towards global policy processes, including through its role mandated by the Security Council on women, peace, and security. Building on our engagement during the 7th and 8th reviews, and in partnership with UNOCT, CITED, and OHCHR, we supported consultations between women-led civil society organizations and member states in preparation for the 9th review of the UN Global Counterterrorism Strategy. We are so grateful for the commitment of Member States and partners to strengthen gender-responsive approaches across the UN counterterrorism agenda. And it is our hope that the 9th review will serve as an opportunity to further strengthen women's leadership and meaningful participation participation in counterterrorism efforts. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Paivi. I now give the floor to Ambassador Widja Sadnovic, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Indonesia to the United Nations.

Thank you very much. Very good morning to all. It's a very valuable meeting to start the weekend. Annick mentioned that this is the first event during the Counterterrorism Week and we are talking about women leading prevention, justice, and policy in counterterrorism, so I hope the message will be carried out during the Counterterrorism Week. Colleagues, we also— Ambassador also mentioned about the UN Charter Day today. There's always a question whether the Charter and the United Nations can response to current challenges. The challenges are really evolving. It's become multidimensional. The actors are growing. It's simply the government cannot solve any problem by themselves, so the involvement and the cooperation with the civil society, with the women-led organizations is very vital. The counterterrorism strategy and efforts shows this basically. We are looking this at the beginning as a security challenge, but it's really deeper than that. The national security challenge is only the beginning, but it also impacts the fabric of the society. It destroys family. And also its hopes and the future. So it's really something that affect people. So with this, I would like to again thank you, the co-organizers, for bringing the perspective from the global, from the regional, and also from the national experience. This is something that we should continue in the future. I once, before we we start the discussions, I talk about the peace process in Indonesia at the time. Sometimes we take for granted the success story in the ground, so I think we need to ensure that these stories are being distributed, being voiced, and even institutionalized, because this is something that we need to share to other communities. To other governments and also part of our network. Colleagues, I don't want to sum up what have been transpired today, but I only take notes of some of the keywords that's important. First, of course, to ensure the involvement of women's perspective on all policymaking aspects and to ensure women at the table. Secondly, The voice of people, including victims, are important. It's also something— the keywords is also human rights and dignity, the social cohesion, and also a life experience that are impacted on how we formulate our counterterrorism strategy. Another is also strengthening women-led organizations. Moving from projects to long-term collaborations, so this is something because it's a long-term game, it's a marathon, it's not a sprint. There's always a challenge. The challenges are also evolving. In the past, we are not talking about the use of or misuse of information on digital space, cyberspace. Now it becomes another challenge. And I think we need also to respond to this current challenge. Finally, I think addressing root causes of violence and terrorism is important. So I think with this we agree that ensuring and enabling safe environment for all, including for women-led civil society, is a strategic endeavor for global peace and security. Let us leave this room committed to making full, safe, and equal leadership the baseline of our global counterterrorism architecture. Once again, I would like to thank our coordinators and all the speakers for their valuable perspective today. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much, Excellency. I think you've really done a great job in hitting all the keywords. Before concluding, I would like to thank, of course, all the speakers, also our interpreters, and of course our partners as ever for really the excellent partnership and calling attention to these issues. Thank you very much.