The significance of a gender-mainstreamed approach to P/CVE stems from recognition of the gendered drivers and impacts of VE, and UN Member States’ obligations to protect and seek women’s equality and security. As UN Under-Secretary-General and UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka stated in 2018:“Terrorists and violent extremists have increasingly targeted women and women’s rights as a tactic of terrorism.”
Terrorist and violent extremist groups also mobilize particular violent masculinities often in response to real, or perceived, violations of women’s rights and women’s security by state actors. Additionally, there is “deep concern that acts of sexual and gender-based violence are known to be part of the strategic objectives and ideology of certain terrorist groups and are used as an instrument to increase their power through supporting financing and recruitment and through the destruction of communities.” This further justifies the need for full consideration of gender and women’s rights in P/CVE design, implementation and evaluation.
Gender mainstreaming in PVE is grounded in international human rights obligations, and takes place within the context of a set of legal and policy commitments of States both individually, and through UN architecture and activities on countering terrorism and PVE. Gender mainstreaming incorporates women and girls and men and boys equally in gender-planning initiatives, modifies existing programmes to eliminate harmful masculinities and promote positive ones, and supports alliances between men and women in promoting and achieving gender equality.
This report offers guidelines and guidance for the UN in supporting Member States in their P/CVE efforts – with a primary focus on PVE. A model is proposed for gender mainstreaming across PVE efforts that is human rights-compliant. The objective of this document is not to provide a single template or one-size-fits-all approach for PVE – in part because a wide range of activities potentially falls under PVE – but more significantly because, to be successful, each context requires a human rights-compliant, gender-responsive, be-spoke, and locally-derived set of practices and policies.
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