University of Chicago Law School Chicago Unbound International Human Rights Clinic Law School Clinics 2020 Gender-Sensitive and Gender-Effective Strategies in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism University of Chicago Law School - Global Human Rights Clinic UniversityofChicagoLawSchoolGlobalHumanRightsClinic@chicagounbound.edu Mandel Legal Aid Clinic [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/ihrc Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation University of Chicago Law School - Global Human Rights Clinic and Mandel Legal Aid Clinic, "Gender- Sensitive and Gender-Effective Strategies in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism" (2020). International Human Rights Clinic. 15. https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/ihrc/15 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law School Clinics at Chicago Unbound. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Human Rights Clinic by an authorized administrator of Chicago Unbound. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Gender-Sensitive and Gender-Effective Strategies in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism Advancing Women’s Participation, Leadership and Equality in PCVE in Tunisia, Kenya and the United States Copyright © 2020 Global Human Rights Clinic All rights reserved. ISBN 978-1-7334730-5-7 University of Chicago Law School Mandel Legal Aid Clinic 6020 South University Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60637 https://www.law.uchicago.edu/ghrc CONTENTS Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction and Methodology ............................................................................................................................................... 10 Women’s Human Rights and PCVE Strategies ............................................................................................................. 11 General Framework: Theories and Definitions .............................................................................................................. 17 Defining Basic Terms ............................................................................................................................................................ 17 Identifying the Drivers of Violent Extremism ........................................................................................................... 17 PCVE Program Types ........................................................................................................................................................... 20 PCVE Programs Goals .......................................................................................................................................................... 21 The Impact of Violent Extremism on Women ................................................................................................................. 25 Women and Families ............................................................................................................................................................. 26 Women and Communities ................................................................................................................................................... 27 Women and Freedom of Religion ..................................................................................................................................... 29 Women Recruits ....................................................................................................................................................................... 30 Women Returnees ................................................................................................................................................................... 31 Women’s Livelihoods and Economic Well-Being ...................................................................................................... 34 Women and the Absence of Human Rights Protections ........................................................................................ 35 Gender Equality and Women’s Participation in PCVE Programming ............................................................... 48 Media Campaigns .................................................................................................................................................................... 49 Development Programs ........................................................................................................................................................ 51 Direct Interventions ............................................................................................................................................................... 52 Community Dialogue ............................................................................................................................................................. 55 Community Policing ............................................................................................................................................................... 56 Capacity Building .................................................................................................................................................................... 57 Returnee Assistance ............................................................................................................................................................... 58 Recommendations ........................................................................................................................................................................ 64 i General Recommendations ................................................................................................................................................. 64 Special Considerations by Program Type .................................................................................................................... 69 Tunisia Country Profile ............................................................................................................................................................. 73 History and Current State of Violent Extremism in Tunisia ............................................................................. 73 History and Current State of Women’s Rights in Tunisia ................................................................................... 76 Government Responses to Violent Extremism .......................................................................................................... 78 Non-Government Responses to Violent Extremism ................................................................................................ 80 Kenya Country Profile ............................................................................................................................................................... 92 History and Current State of Violent Extremism in Kenya ............................................................................... 92 History and Current State of Women’s Rights in Kenya ..................................................................................... 95 Government Responses to Violent Extremism .......................................................................................................... 96 Non-Government Responses to Violent Extremism ................................................................................................ 98 United States Country Profile .............................................................................................................................................. 106 Relevant International Obligations .............................................................................................................................. 106 History and Current State of Violent Extremism in the U.S. .......................................................................... 107 History and Current State of Women’s Rights in the U.S. ................................................................................ 110 Government Responses to Violent Extremism ........................................................................................................ 111 Programmatic Concerns of PCVE programs ............................................................................................................ 118 Opposition to PCVE Programs ........................................................................................................................................ 120 Programs Promoting Gender Equality and Involving Women as Stakeholders ..................................... 123 Program Profiles Mapping ................................................................................................................................................ 134 ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY For over two decades, the global community has endeavored to prevent and combat violent extremism. In that time, states and civil society partners have increasingly recognized women’s role in this effort as critical to its success. The effective engagement of women, representing half of the world’s population, is now understood as necessary to a “localized, credible, inclusive, and resonant strateg[y] to build resilience to extremism.”1 However, gender-sensitive and gender-effective approaches to