Advanced Training Course (ATC) Еvent “Gender Mainstreaming in Counter-terrorism Efforts in Western Balkans”– 3rd working day (18.05.2021)
The third working day of the ATC event started with another great presentation with Dr. Nina Wilen, Assistant Professor, Lund University; Director of Africa Programme, Egmont Institute for International Relations (Belgium). She was expounding upon how wars affect differently both women and men and about the dominant gender roles in conflict.
Another outstanding lecture was delivered by Dr. Carola García-Calvo, Senior Analyst in the Programme on Violent Radicalisation and Global Terrorism at the Elcano Royal Institute and Associate Professor at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC) presenting extensive research on the trends and facts of women participation in terrorist activities.
Dr. Anne Speckhard and Molly Ellenberg from the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism (ICSVE) spoke about the findings from a sample of 263 ISIS defectors, returnees, and imprisoned cadres, focusing on the importance of repatriation and assessing women’s guilt and innocence on a spectrum.
Ms. Klorenta Janushi, Women4Cyber Albania was speaking about Balkan perspectives on CVE and gender, particularly about the existing policies and programs in Western Balkans, as well as about the role of civil society in countering such practices.
The role of technology in function of recruitment of women and girls and in support of counter-terrorism was deconstructed by two excellent speakers:
– Dr. Mitko Bogdanoski, Vice Dean of the Military Аcademy General Mihailo Apostolski-Skopje (North Macedonia) spoke about the Perils of the New Technologies and the Methods for Protection and more extensively on the use of IT technology for terrorist purposes.
– Prof. Dr. Ashok Vaseashta, Executive Director for research with the International Clean Water Institute in Virginia (USA) provided some unique insights on “Using Duality of Technology Nexus in Combating Terrorism and Violent Extremism”.
The last lecture of the 3rd working day featured Dr. Travis Morris, Associate Professor and Criminal Justice Director, NU Peace and War Center, Norwich University (USA). He was speaking about the the nexus between counter-terrorism and gender, the etiology of female criminality and the current trends in radicalization and deradicalization of women.
