Middle East & North Africa – Women Peacebuilders from the MENA Region Discuss Shrinking Civil Society Space Due to Counter Terrorism Financing
Author: WUNRN
Date: December 12, 2017
“Women Peacebuilders from the MENA Region Discussing Shrinking Civil Society Space Due to Countering Terrorism Financing”
At the national and international level, there is growing policy recognition that women’s civil society engagement is vital for sustainable peacebuilding. More recently, it is also framed as an important component of preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) and countering terrorism (CT). However, in practice, aspects of States’ P/CVE and CT policies, including Countering Terrorism Financing (CTF) policies, are negatively affecting the operating space of women civil society organizations (CSOs) globally. On the ground, women activists and their organizations are increasingly facing restrictive CSO legislation and financial restrictions. This constrains their peace and human rights activism, as it undermines their ability to receive and process the funds that sustain their work.
“The terrorism law in my country is terrorism itself, when it ends up being used to stifle civil society organizing. People in my country have suffered from human rights violations, hunger, and poverty. Some of the women who have escaped Daesh say they wish they could go back, because when they escaped there was no one to provide them with shelter or support.”
– WPP Consultation Participant
In recent years, many of WPP’s partners from across the world – including from the MENA region – have voiced growing concerns about the declining space for their peace and women’s rights activism. In response, WPP started to address the impact of CT and P/CVE measures on women’s civil society organizing in its capacity building programming and advocacy efforts. During March 2017, WPP, together with Duke Law’s International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) , published an elaborate follow-up research, entitled “Tightening the Purse Strings: What Countering Terrorism Financing Costs Gender Equality and Security” . This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the gender and human rights dimensions and impacts of countering terrorism financing rules. It consists of several components, including a survey of approximately 60 women’s rights organizations, as well as a series of interviews with government, inter-governmental, and non-governmental organizations (including women’s funders groups). The goal of the study was to comprehensively and concretely document how countering terrorism financing impacts are felt amongst different actors within civil society, particularly grassroots women’s rights organizations, as well as to identify policy recommendations.
“Donors are also part of this [increased demands on civil society] – in the name of security, they are increasingly telling us what to do and try to control us”
– WPP Consultation Participant
In preparation for the launch of WPP-Duke IHRC research, WPP and ABAAD organized a regional consultation in Lebanon during January 2017. The consultation brought together representatives of twelve civil society organizations from Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Tunisia. All of the organizations represented are active in the field of peacebuilding and women’s rights; working on a local, regional and/or international level. The consultation also included the following resource persons: Duke University’s IHRC Director and Clinical Professor of Law Jayne Huckerby, Lecturing Fellow and Supervising Attorney Sarah Adamczyk, and Lia van Broekhoven, Executive Director of the Human Security Collective . This consultation report provides the reader with brief background information on the issue of countering terrorism financing (CTF); its impacts on women’s civil society organizing in the MENA region; and key recommendations formulated by the participants during the consultation.
Direct Link to Full 31-Page 2017 Report:
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