PRESS RELEASE

Are U.S. Counter-Terrorism Measures Undermining Women’s Rights?
Regional Experts Meet to Uncover Gender Impacts of U.S. Counter-Terrorism in Africa

(New York, August 25, 2010)—As the Obama administration puts women’s rights at the center of its policies to combat extremism and terrorism, a meeting to uncover the gender impacts of U.S. counter-terrorism measures will be held in Nairobi, Kenya on August 26-27, 2010 announced the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at NYU School of Law today. The consultation–being held with the Open Society Initiative for East Africa—will be the first in Africa to determine whether U.S. diplomatic, military and development assistance to counter terrorism helps or hurts gender equality in the region.

From AFRICOM’s training of local militaries and “hearts and minds” campaigns, to U.S. rendition and detention, this meeting will examine U.S. policies and also generate recommendations for how the U.S. can ensure that its counter-terrorism presence in Africa advances—rather than undermines—gender equality.

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COLLABORATIONS AND CONSULTATIONS

Regional Workshops: 2010

In 2010, the Center will partner with local organizations to host regional workshops focused on identifying and reversing the gender discriminatory impacts of U.S. counter-terrorism initiatives. The workshops bring together a range of stakeholders from human rights, gender rights, and women’s rights organizations—as well as counter-terrorism experts—and provide a space for fact-finding, policy dialogue, and capacity-building. Some of the topics to be addressed in the workshops include:

• What have been the gendered impacts of U.S. counter-terrorism measures on asylum, immigration, and immigrant and minority communities?
• What have been the gendered impacts of U.S. material support, listing procedures, and other terrorist financing laws?
• What is, and what should be, the role of gender in U.S. measures aimed at combating conditions (e.g. poverty) that lead to radicalization and terrorism?
• What have been the gendered effects of U.S. counter-terrorism foreign partnerships and presence, from Iraq and Afghanistan to bilateral relationships (such as Pakistan, for example)?
• What are the short-term and long-term gender implications of U.S. detention, rendition and interrogation practices from 2001 onwards?

The workshop schedule, partners, and key documents are:

• New York (April 27, 2010): Agenda and Concept Note
• Nairobi (August 26-27, 2010) in partnership with the Open Society Initiative for East Africa: Concept Note
• Bangkok (September 13-14, 2010) in collaboration with the International Commission of Jurists
• Istanbul (October 15-16, 2010) in partnership with the Bilgi University Human Rights Research Center

PUBLICATIONS

CHRGJ and GAATW Release New Report on Trafficking, Globalization, and Security

Beyond Borders: Exploring Links between Trafficking, Globalisation, and Security: identifies the ways in which globalization (through structural adjustment, global competition and trade liberalization) and security discourse impact the human rights of migrants and trafficked persons and offers recommendations on how anti-trafficking strategies can engage in these areas to maximize the human rights of trafficked persons. The paper, co-authored by Jayne Huckerby and April Gu at the International Human Rights Clinic/CHRGJ, is part of the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) Working Paper Series which explores links between trafficking and migration; trafficking and labor; trafficking and gender; and trafficking, globalization, and security.

COLLABORATIONS AND CONSULTATIONS

U.N. Expert Consultation: 2008

In 2008, the Center partnered with Professor Martin Scheinin, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism to advance research on gender and counter-terrorism. In concert with the Special Rapporteur, the Center played a key role in assisting with researching and drafting a report on gender and counter-terrorism. The Center also hosted an Expert Consultation in March 2009, which helped to inform this report. The Center marked the presentation of the Special Rapporteur’s report to the U.N. General Assembly by hosting a public discussion with a distinguished group of panelists working on issues of gender and counter-terrorism.

EVENTS

CHRGJ Co-hosts: "The United States and Gender, National Security, and Counter-Terrorism Africa Workshop" (August 26-27, 2010)

CHRGJ in partnership with the Open Society Initiative for East Africa will co-host a workshop to discuss the gender and human rights impacts of U.S. counter-terrorism measures in Nairobi, Kenya on August 26-27. Participants of the Nairobi workshop will consider both the ongoing gendered impacts of U.S. post-9/11 policies that have been discontinued and the gender effects of current U.S. counter-terrorism measures, particularly in the areas of combating violent extremism, U.S. defense strategy in Africa, anti-terrorism financing laws, rendition, secret detention, and torture, and cross-border movement. The discussion will encompass impacts on women and men, as well as the ways in which counter-terrorism measures use and affect gender stereotypes, including those relating to sexual orientation and gender identity.

CHRGJ hosts: "The United States and Gender, National Security, and Counter-Terrorism Asia Workshop" (September 13-14, 2010)

CHRGJ will host a workshop to discuss the gender and human rights impacts of U.S. counter-terrorism measures in Bangkok, Thailand on September 13-14. Participants at the Bangkok workshop will consider both the ongoing gendered impacts of U.S. post-9/11 policies that have been discontinued and the gender effects of current U.S. counter-terrorism measures, particularly in the areas of combating violent extremism, U.S. defense strategy in Asia, anti-terrorism financing laws, rendition, secret detention, and torture, and cross-border movement. The discussion will encompass impacts on women and men, as well as the ways in which counter-terrorism measures use and affect gender stereotypes, including those relating to sexual orientation and gender identity.

CHRGJ co-hosts: "The United States and Gender, National Security, and Counter-Terrorism Middle East Workshop" (October 15-16, 2010)

CHRGJ in partnership with the Bilgi University Human Rights Research Center will co-host a workshop to discuss the gender and human rights impacts of U.S. counter-terrorism measures in Istanbul, Turkey on October 15-16. Participants at the Istanbul workshop will consider both the ongoing gendered impacts of U.S. post-9/11 policies that have been discontinued and the gender effects of current U.S. counter-terrorism measures, particularly in the areas of combating violent extremism, U.S. defense strategy in the Middle East, anti-terrorism financing laws, rendition, secret detention, and torture, and cross-border movement. The discussion will encompass impacts on women and men, as well as the ways in which counter-terrorism measures use and affect gender stereotypes, including those relating to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Engendering Counter-Terrorism and National Security (October 27, 2009)

6:00-8:00PM/ Vanderbilt Hall 218

Click here to hear the audio recording of the event

On October 26, 2009, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism presented his groundbreaking report on gender and counter-terrorism measures to the U.N. General Assembly. The report addresses the long-ignored impacts of counter-terrorism on women and LGBTI individuals, condemning patterns such as government bartering of these individuals’ rights to appease terrorists and the use of anti-terrorism laws to criminalize gender equality advocates.

To mark the presentation of the report to the General Assembly, the Center hosted a discussion with a distinguished group of panelists working on issues of gender and counter-terrorism. The panelists were: Karima Bennoune, Professor of Law and Arthur L. Dickson Scholar, Rutgers School of Law – Newark; Jayne Huckerby, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Clinical Law and Research Director, CHRGJ, NYU School of Law; Martin Scheinin, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism; and Malalai Joya, an Afghani women’s rights advocate and the youngest member ever elected to the Afghan parliament. Fareda Banda, Professor, NYU School of Law, moderated the panel discussion.

Martin Scheinin explained that he chose to present this thematic report on gender and counter-terrorism measures to the General Assembly in New York, rather than at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, because of the importance of mainstreaming gender into the U.N.’s counter-terrorism work. He reported getting negative reaction to his report from some states at the General Assembly. Nonetheless, he expressed his conviction that, with time, the U.N. will come to take gender into account in countering terrorism.

Jayne Huckerby then set out the drafting process of the report and the key questions it addresses. Most important, she said, was addressing what we understand as a gendered perspective and what the challenges and opportunities a gender and counter-terrorism approach presents. She pointed to several new patterns identified in the report, including the bartering of women’s and LGBTI rights to appease terrorist groups, the collateral impacts of counter-terrorism on women, and women’s dress as a focal point for profiling suspects in counter-terrorism policies.

Karima Bennoune said the Special Rapporteur’s report contributed to a holistic approach to counter-terrorism and terrorism and gendered abuses. She called women’s experience of terrorism a much-neglected topic and identified the need for a human rights account of terrorism and gender. She saluted Professor Scheinin for being forward-looking, emphasizing that his report should only be mark the beginning of an important process.

Malalai Joya described the catastrophic situation of women in Afghanistan. Despite the United States’ use of women’s rights as justification for military intervention in Afghanistan, she said the U.S.’ actions had pushed women “from the frying pan to the fire.” She spoke of impunity, insecurity, corruption, and joblessness that characterize daily life and a false “democracy” that has privileged warlords and fundamentalists. She described her own experience of being elected to, and then expelled from, Parliament because she denounced the presence of warlords and criminals in Parliament; she now lives under constant threat of violence. Ms. Joya called on the audience to lend their support to Afghani women and to demand a change in US policy in recognition that peace will not be secured through war.

The panel then took many questions from audience members, which ranged from their appraisal of the role of the U.N. in Afghanistan to the rise of female suicide bombers. The panel was followed by a reception at which guests and panelists were able to discuss the issues further.

About the panelists:

Karima Bennoune, Professor of Law and Arthur L. Dickson Scholar, Rutgers School of Law - Newark

Jayne Huckerby, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Clinical Law and Research Director, CHRGJ, NYU School of Law

Martin Scheinin, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism

Moderated by Fareda Banda, Professor, NYU School of Law

EVENTS

Gender, National Security, and Counter-Terrorism: Expert Consultation Meeting (March 20-21, 2009)

By invitation only

In Spring 2009, the Center launched a new project on the issue of Gender, Counter-Terrorism, and National Security. As part of our work in this programmatic area, the Center hosted an expert consultation on this topic in support of Professor Martin Scheinin’s mandate as U.N. Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. The purpose of the consultation was to provide input into the project and to advise the Special Rapporteur on this topic.