On 26 June 2023 Malta organised its first United Nations Security
Council Arria-Formula meeting on “Enhancing
the capacities of Member States to ensure a gender-responsive approach to
counter-terrorism” at the United Nations
Headquarters in New York. The event was co-sponsored by Costa Rica, Jordan, Mexico, Mozambique, New Zealand, Spain and the
United States. This meeting was also held in collaboration with the International Institute
for Justice and Rule of Law (IIJ), which is based in Malta.
During the meeting, the importance of building the capacity of Member
States to ensure gender-responsive, human rights-compliant approaches to
preventing and countering terrorism and violent extremism was discussed. In
this regard, the meeting identified the challenges experienced by Member States
in mainstreaming gender in counter-terrorism responses and the capacity needs
of Member States in this area. The event also provided an opportunity to share good
practices and information on the capacity building supports available to Member
States in ensuring gender responsive approaches to prevent and
counter-terrorism and violent extremism conducive to terrorism, including the
investigation and prosecution of terrorist crimes against women and girls.
The Permanent Representative of
Malta to the UN, HE Ambassador Ms Vanessa Frazier chaired the meeting. Briefers
were Ms Sarah Hendriks, Deputy Executive Director ad interim for Policy,
Programme, Civil Society and Intergovernmental Support, UN Women; Ms Aleksandra
Dier, Gender Coordinator, Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate; and
Mr Steven Hill, Executive Secretary, International Institute for Justice and
the Rule of Law. Ms Fauziya Ali, President, Women in International Security –
Horn of Africa, shared her perspective as a civil society representative working
at the local level. Ms Fionnuala D. Ní Aoláin, Special Rapporteur on the
promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while
countering terrorism, also participated and delivered a statement.
During the meeting Malta urged an enhanced focus on gender in the
implementation of the Global Counter Terrorism Strategy, by bridging the gap
between policy and practice to ensure a gender-responsive approach to
preventing and countering terrorism. In addition, Malta called upon the
Security Council to mandate Member States to mainstream gender as a
cross-cutting issue across all counterterrorism and Preventing Violent
Extremism activities. Finally, Malta drew attention to the importance of
addressing the disproportionate impact of sexual violence in terrorism contexts
on women and girls, and ensuring accountability for these heinous acts. In this
regard, Malta emphasised the importance of bolstering capacity-building to
ensure that criminal justice responses to counterterrorism are human rights
compliant and gender responsive.
Fifty one countries coming from different regions in the world attended
out of which thirty one actively participated in the meeting. Members from
civil society also attended. The meeting can be watched via the following link
