Vladimir Voronkov, Head of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, said the global coronavirus crisis underscored the challenges involved in eliminating terrorism, as he presented the UN Security Council with the latest report on ISIL’s impact on international peace and security. 

“This pandemic environment raises several strategic and practical challenges for counter-terrorism, which we discussed during the Virtual Counter-Terrorism Week organized by my Office last month,” he told Council members during video-teleconference briefing. 

Since the start of this year, the threat has grown in conflict zones, as seen by the regrouping and increased activity of ISIL and some of its affiliates in Iraq and Syria, he explained. 

ISIL expands ‘opportunistic propaganda’ efforts amid pandemic 

In non-conflict areas, the threat seems to have decreased in the short term, with COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions apparently lowering the risk of attacks.   

However, “opportunistic propaganda efforts” by ISIL could be fuelling an ongoing trend of attacks by individuals and small groups, he said. 

Unclear, he added, is how the pandemic is affecting ISIL’s recruitment and fundraising efforts, or whether there is a change in strategic direction under its new leader, Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla. His predecessor, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed during a US military operation in Syria in 2019. 

Putting a spotlight on regional developments, Mr. Voronkov said that ISIL continues to consolidate its position in some parts of the Middle East previously under its control, “operating increasingly confidently and openly”. 

More than 10,000 ISIL fighters are estimated to be active in Iraq and Syria, moving freely in small cells between the two countries, he said, adding that 2020 has seen a “significant increase” in ISIL attacks in both States compared to 2019. 

COVID-19 and suspected terrorists  

The COVID-19 crisis has further complicated the already dire and unsustainable situation of several thousand people – especially women and children – with suspected links to ISIL. Some countries are still repatriating children, but there has been only limited progress on overcoming legal, political and practical hurdles to repatriation, he said. 

“The global threat from ISIL is likely to increase if the international community fails to meet this challenge,” Mr. Voronkov warned, calling for decisive action from Member States on humanitarian, human rights and security grounds. 

Turning to Africa, he described Islamic State in West Africa Province and its 3,500 members as a “major focus of ISIL global propaganda” as it reinforces its links with Islamic State in the Greater Sahara – “the most dangerous group in the tri-border area of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger”. 

While ISIL has only a few hundred fighters in Libya, it is exploiting tensions between ethnic groups and represents a portent threat capable of broader regional impact, he said, adding that ISIL could potentially expand its activities if the conflict in the North Africa nation escalates. 

In Europe, the main threat comes from Internet-driven homegrown terrorist radicalization, he said.  Acute concerns surround the release of prisoners with terrorist background and connections, while the rise of right-wing violent extremism means that intelligence services in some European countries are shifting their priorities away from ISIL. 

Looking towards Asia, he said that ISIL’s affiliate in Afghanistan, Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant-Khorasan, remains capable of high-profile attacks – despite territorial losses and the arrest of its leaders – as it seeks to use the country to spread its influence across the region and to attract fighters who oppose the peace agreement between the Taliban and the United States. 

“As a female traditional leader, my aim is to be a role model within my chiefdom. I want to ensure that we collectively challenge social and traditional norms and practices that negatively affect our women and girls”, said Kawaza, chieftainess of the Chewa people.

Leading more than 650 villages with some 100,000 inhabitants, she is one of many traditional and community leaders throughout Eastern Province who are contesting these dangerous practices. 

“Many girls are forced to drop out of school in order to undergo initiation rites”, which often include inaccurate information about sexual and reproductive health, the chieftainess noted. 

And in some cases, young people are encouraged to “practice” sexual activity that can lead to sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, as well as unintended pregnancy.

“[I] instructed the traditional counsellors who conduct the initiation rites to revise the curriculum to focus only on progressive topics and cultural practices that promote respect for human rights” Chieftainess Kawaza said. 

“I have also issued a directive for all traditional ceremonies to take place only during school holidays”.

Changing minds

The Chieftainess has seen a transformation in perceptions around these practices, and not just in Zambia. Similar efforts are helping to change beliefs and practices all around the world, a new publication shows.

How Changing Social Norms is Crucial in Achieving Gender Equality demonstrates how this approach has successfully helped to end harmful customs in different regions of the world. 

It also highlights common steps that can be applied to changing all kinds of discriminatory norms to achieve gender equality.

A recipe for change

“The second element is discussion, value deliberation and education. It can take place in girls’ schools, among parents groups, through television and radio, or in open spaces,” said Nafissatou Diop, UNFPA’s chief of gender and human rights, who spearheaded the new publication. “Diverse forces and ideas and positions need to be confronted and need to come together in that discussion”.

The key, experts say, is empowering community members to deliberate on how their practices relate to their own deeply held values. And this leads to transformation. 

The steps – the identification of a harmful norm, advocacy by prominent individuals, the exchange of experiences and perspectives within the community, and finally calls for change – can arise organically or be applied deliberately, the new publication notes. 

Stemming female circumcisions 

The approach has successfully driven collective action around the world, reaching millions. 

“One of the successful interventions has been the public declarations of the abandonment of female genital mutilation”, said Lacina Zerbo, who works for UNFPA in Burkina Faso. “More than four million people have publicly abandoned FGM”.

Supported by the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of FGM, similar efforts have reached more than 34 million people in 16 countries and have led to a raft of new laws and policies.

The process, Mr. Zerbo said, depends on “creating trust between community members and influencers or decision-makers”.

‘Influencers are key’

“Influencers are key to transforming norms”, said Ms. Diop. 

She maintained that they can be traditional, religious or political leaders, depending on the context. 

Discussing together

Community members should be encouraged to listen to and reflect on new ideas.  

“The second element is discussion, value deliberation and education. It can take place in girls’ schools, among parents groups, through television and radio, or in open spaces,” Ms. Diop said. “Diverse forces and ideas and positions need to be confronted and need to come together in that discussion”.

Marketplace of ideas

Abandoning detrimental norms is a normal part of progress. 

Ms. Diop pointed out that “from foot binding to different types of gender violence”, over the last few centuries communities have gradually and collectively halted discriminatory social standards.

Virtual world

Recently, with digital platforms and social media, new ideas are never more than a click away and marginalized voices around the world are being amplified.

“With social media, people are able to galvanize and activate change in any part of the world, especially among those battling discriminatory norms,” said Ms. Diop, emphasizing the importance of empowering marginalized groups raise their voices.

“Social media has given communities, and youth, in particular, the power of unity to drive collective change. And this is what we need: collective behaviour to make changes that make the world a more equal place”, she concluded.

By Robin Gomes

A group of civil society organizations in India has called for support for a two-week campaign to remember the victims and survivors of the anti-Christian violence 12 years ago, saying many of them are still awaiting justice and compensation.

Hell broke loose on the Christians of Kandhamal on August 25, 2008, with Hindu extremists making them scapegoats for the August 23 murder of Hindu leader Swami ‎Lakshmanananda Saraswati, even though Maoist rebels ‎claimed his assassination.

The National Solidarity Forum (NSF), a network of 70 civil society and rights organizations, among them activists, priests, religious, lawyers, Christians, Hindus and people of other faiths, has called for a fortnight of commemoration of what they describe as the largest organized communal attacks on Christians “in the history of India in the past three centuries.”

Upholding India’s democratic and pluralistic values

In a press release, NSF said the commemoration is in support of the victims and survivors, whose freedom of conscience and religion has been violated. Organizers intend to promote India’s democratic and pluralistic values seen as best practices and as envisaged by the Indian Constitution. 

Due to the restrictions of Covid-19 health protocols, the forum encourages people to organize webinars, issue declarations, hold candle-lit memorials at home for justice, peace and harmony. It also recommends screening of films, videos, photo and art exhibitions on the Kandhamal atrocities, utilizing the social and mainstream media, to spread awareness and information on the event and related issues. 

“We are sure that if all humanitarian forces join hands to build peace, justice and harmony in this country,” the NSF press statement said, “we will be able to achieve results in these dark times and protect the values of Indian Constitution so that no such violence takes place in India.”

Toll of violence

The NSF statement also recounted the heavy loss of property and life in the 2008 anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal. As many as 395 churches and places of worship of Adivasi (indigenous) and Dalit (low caste) Christians were destroyed. Some 6,500 houses were destroyed. More than 100 people were killed, 40 women were subjected to rape, molestation and humiliation and several educational, social service and health institutions were destroyed and looted.

While more than 75,000 people have been displaced, several cases of forced conversion to Hinduism have also been reported.

Justice denied

Of the more than 3,300 complaints filed with the police during the 2008 communal violence, only some 820 were registered. Of these 820, only 518 cases were chargesheeted, while others were declared false. Only 247 of the 518 cases were disposed of. The rest of the cases are pending before the sessions and magistrate’s courts. Many of the accused have been acquitted. 

“None of the criminals responsible for destruction are in jail today,” the NSF pointed out. “The murderers, rapists, looters and destroyers are today running scot-free.” Instead, 7 innocent persons in jail for 11 years with fabricated cases, are now on bail.

The National Solidarity Forum also drew attention to the Dalits, Adivasis, minorities and other marginalised sections of India, saying they continue to face violence and injustice. Of the 122 cases of violence against Christians, only 23 were registered as of June 2020. The NSF noted that attacks on Christians have “increased consistently” since 2014.