UNODC's Terrorism Prevention Branch (UNODC/TPB), in collaboration with UN Women, delivered a regional consultative workshop for South and South-East Asia on gender mainstreaming in the criminal justice response to violent extremism leading to terrorism in Vienna on 15-17 January 2019. The event was funded by the government of Japan.
The workshop gathered participants from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives, Nepal, the Philippines and Sri Lanka that included national officials and criminal justice practitioners working in areas related to counter-terrorism, terrorism prevention and women's rights and empowerment. The workshop was also attended by experts from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as civil society organisations.
The workshop enabled participants to share national experiences, practices and challenges with regards to integrating gender considerations in national criminal justice efforts against violent extremism leading to terrorism. Furthermore, participants conducted presentations on their national experiences and lessons learned in this area. Discussions also focused on diverse methods to support national criminal justice systems to respond to the specific needs of women who come into contact with these systems as victims of terrorism, or who are associated with terrorist groups.
UNODC/TPB introduced participants to the forthcoming UNODC handbook on Gender Mainstreaming in the Criminal Justice Response to Terrorism. The workshop included presentations from international and regional experts, including on gender mainstreaming, in an effort to prevent and counter terrorism and violent extremism leading to terrorism within the framework of international human rights law, as well as emerging trends concerning women and violent extremism in Asia, the Pacific, as well as globally. The event also featured presentations on women's empowerment at the community level to support efforts to prevent violent extremism leading to terrorism.
The event concluded with a review session in which the participants identified follow-up actions on developments and best practice studies on gender mainstreaming in the criminal justice responses to violent extremism leading to terrorism.
