As policymakers and practitioners in Southeast Asia increasingly recognize the importance of investing in preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) measures, it is critical to integrate a gender analysis when developing related national action plans, strategies, and programs. This policy brief examines key challenges, gaps, and needs of national and regional stakeholders and concludes with recommendations for these actors to consider in advancing gender sensitive P/CVE policy and practice in the region. The brief draws on desk research and extensive consultations with a range of civil society actors, experts, policymakers, and practitioners from the region, including a regional workshop and gender-sensitive P/CVE projects undertaken by local civil society organizations, supported by the Global Center and the government of the Netherlands.
A Closer Look
As governments consider effective responses to violent extremism, they must also decide how best to deal with those who have committed acts of violent extremism, particularly with regard to their rehabilitation and reintegration. Though it is their mandate, governments cannot undertake the rehabilitation and reintegration challenge alone. Civil society organizations can be well-placed to assist with or lead on various components and should be involved in planning and implementation. This action agenda builds on a 30 month project funded by the U.S. Department of State to explore the role of civil society organizations in rehabilitation and reintegration in three broad regions: the Sahel, the Greater Horn of Africa, and Southeast Asia. The action agenda offers guiding principles, recommendations, and examples to help stakeholders shape rehabilitation and reintegration practices and better incorporate the experiences and knowledge of civil society organizations.
Civil society organizations represent a bulwark against violent extremism. Civil society organizations across South and Central Asia, many of which focus on development, conflict prevention, peace-building, and human rights, have leveraged their experience in these areas to develop innovative preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) programs targeting a broad spectrum of issues confronting their communities. These initiatives include producing educational entertainment that challenges extremist narratives, improving relationships between communities and local government, and promoting research and understanding to better recognize local factors contributing to the spread of violent radicalization.
To help advance these efforts, the Global Center with support from the U.S. Department of State, undertook a two-year program to support civil society organizations in South and Central Asia in the development of contextually tailored and locally relevant responses to violent extremism. It concludes with key recommendations for policymakers, practitioners, and donors to consider as they look to initiate or increase support for P/CVE initiatives in South and Central Asia.
Since 2011, the Global Center has worked with the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), with generous support from the government of Norway, to implement a process that engages civil society actors and experts in efforts to enhance regional cooperation in South Asia. This process, undertaken in partnership with the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, included regular dialogue and engagement with nongovernmental actors in South Asia to foster deeper understanding of local and regional drivers of terrorism and violent extremism and to identify critical gaps, opportunities, and priorities for capacity-building support to address the threat.
This assessment presents key outcomes of the multiyear civil society and experts process. It provides an overview of regional challenges and the efforts by the Global Center and CTED to identify key needs and priorities to inform responsive policies and programs to address the threat of terrorism and violent extremism in South Asia. A set of recommendations highlight practical ways that multilateral and regional organizations and national governments can work with civil society, experts, and practitioners to address this threat in the region.
The South Asia Judges Toolkit provides practice-oriented guidance to judges and judicial training academies of the Member States of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation on the adjudication of terrorism and related cases in line with customary international and human rights law and norms. The Toolkit is designed to support judicial academies in the development of national bench books and practice manuals by providing guiding principles and resources. In the absence of a national manual, the toolkit can be used by judges as a reference guide. The contents of the Toolkit may also prove useful for other professionals working in this field, such as prosecutors and investigators.
The Global Center convened a series of regional consultations for judges to support the dissemination and implementation of the Global Counterterrorism Forum’s (GCTF) The Hague Memorandum on Good Practices for the Judiciary in Adjudicating Terrorism Offenses (Hague Memorandum). The program was delivered under the auspices of the GCTF’s Criminal Justice and Rule of Law Working Group and Horn of Africa Regional Capacity Building Working Group, with financial support from the United States Government.
Following an 18-month consultative process with judges and magistrates handling terrorism and related cases from East Africa and Southeast Asia, this publication offers a series of recommendations intended to inform policymakers and judicial administrators to support the implementation of the Hague Memorandum. For each region, an elaboration of the Hague Memorandum offers a more detailed analysis of law and practice, highlighting areas of convergence and divergence with the good practices and identifying institutional actors for their implementation. After a brief overview of the consultative process, this document presents 30 recommendations representing the consensus of the judges who engaged in the process.
In recent years, the role of women in preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) has gained momentum in the international counterterrorism policy discourse. Several questions emerge when discussing the particulars of why and how women partake in both violent extremism and P/CVE efforts. For example, what are the different roles that women can undertake in a terrorist organization? Are females recruited differently than their male counterparts? What roles do they play in inciting or persuading others to join violent extremist groups? Is there a particular role for women in countering terrorism and P/CVE? Are specific policies aimed at women a necessity moving forward? How can a gender analysis be effectively integrated into P/CVE policy and programming?
The collection of essays contained in this edited volume by the Global Center and Hedayah seeks to build the body of literature on women and P/CVE by drawing on examples from a number of countries and regions. The essays contain both policy-level recommendations as well as programmatic suggestions, and seek to answer some of the outstanding questions regarding the types of roles women might play in P/CVE efforts.
The Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) Rabat Memorandum on Good Practices for Effective Counterterrorism Practice in the Criminal Justice Sector elaborates guidance on 15 good practices that promote rule of law–based criminal justice responses to terrorism. The GCTF encourages all countries to consider the memorandum as a source of guidance, and its members and partners have been working bilaterally and multilaterally to promote its implementation in national and regional contexts. This report presents the core findings of a stocktaking project. It highlights trends, challenges, and opportunities for implementing the good practices of the memorandum and for leveraging these practices to more effectively counter terrorism while promoting and protecting human rights.
Although the Global Center report highlights examples of a wide range of good practices being implemented in national jurisdictions, it calls attention to diverse legal and institutional, organizational, and operational challenges that seriously undermine rule of law–based criminal justice across all countries examined. The findings suggest that core criminal justice sector development efforts are essential for strengthening national implementation of rule of law–based criminal justice practices to counter terrorism. The report concludes with a series of cross-cutting recommendations to support the ongoing efforts of the GCTF Criminal Justice Sector and Rule of Law Working Group.
Across South Asia, civil society has made important contributions to enhancing rule of law–based efforts to prevent and counter terrorism and violent extremism. Its role as advocate, monitor, technical expert, trainers, service provider, and information hub complements the efforts of law enforcement and security actors, and many opportunities exist for partnerships. Civil society actors have also played an important role in promoting development, improved governance and human rights in the region and a resilient social contract between citizens and the state.
This policy brief reflects on these contributions and explores opportunities for civil society to support cooperative regional efforts to respond to terrorism and violent extremism. It draws largely from a workshop titled “Strengthening Rule of Law–Based Responses to Terrorism and Violent Extremism in South Asia: What Role for Civil Society?” which was organized by the Global Center in partnership with the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore and the Institute for Inclusive Security. Following an overview of the limitations and challenges faced by civil society actors in the region, this brief offers a set of recommendations for policymakers and practitioners with a view to informing the design and implementation of programming to prevent violent extremism and terrorism in South Asia.
Unlike traditional counterterrorism measures, which focus largely on law enforcement and military responses, countering violent extremism (CVE) programs span a broad cross-section of policy domains and has increased the range of actors involved to include those in development, conflict prevention and mitigation, education, culture, and diplomacy. Underscoring the importance of the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000, this brief explores the increasing roles for women in addressing conflict, violence, and extremism in South Asia.
This policy brief stems from discussions at a September 2013 workshop entitled “Strengthening Community Resilience Against Violent Extremism in South Asia: What Role for Women and Civil Society?” cohosted by CGCC and the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) and held at the National University of Singapore. The workshop provided a platform for regional experts and practitioners from a range of professional and national backgrounds to explore the gender dimension of the drivers of violence and extremism in the region and the lessons from experiences in addressing them.