IWD2023: Showcasing Women¡¯s contributions to preventing and countering terrorism and violent extremism
Anzal Baig
Anzal Baig is a trainee lawyer with a keen interest in the power of using games for social impact. She has previously made games which addressed issues such as criminal litigation, the attainment gap in education and care. She is an alumna of the .
"I was part of Digital Games for Peace, which was an interdisciplinary project bringing together practitioners from game design, prevention of violent extremism, and social and emotional learning. The aim was to use games as a tool for developing social and emotional skills in order to prevent violent extremism.
As a game designer and developer, Digital Games for Peace has been extremely valuable as an opportunity to explore how I could develop my design practice to achieve outcomes for positive social action. It has also provided me with the skills and networks to pursue further opportunities.
It is extremely important for women to be a part of projects like this. If we want technology to serve everyone, then everyone needs to play a role in developing it. A lack of diversity involved in the creative process will result in a lack of diversity in the final product.
If innovation and technological change are going to lead to a positive impact on gender equality, then it cannot happen without the participation of women and girls."
Lauren Keiles?
Lauren Keiles is an alumna of the pilot project which equips young religious leaders and young media makers with skills to promote interreligious understanding, prevent sectarian violence, and counter terrorist narratives. Her campaign is an educational tool to identify and break down harmful stereotypes, to interrupt hate in its earliest form and to help build a more cohesive society.
¡°±õ³Ù&²Ô²ú²õ±è;is undeniable that online has become the new frontline in the fight against hate.¡± Lauren Keiles¡¯ Campaign, part of the UNOCT/UNCCT-UNAOC EDIN Project, ¡®Swipe Left On Hate¡¯, is empowering Jewish and Muslim women to lead conversations on the microaggressions and stereotypes they too often face. In the age of dating apps, we know that when we like we swipe right, and to reject we swipe left. Hate must be rejected in its earliest form.
¡®Swipe Left On Hate¡¯ is creating and sharing online content to break down harmful stereotypes, so that we can all build a more cohesive society. Although hate speech may appear harmless, when left unchallenged, it can become normalized and form the bases of increasingly explicit acts of violence, including from violent extremists.
This International Women¡¯s Day is rightly focused on the importance of using innovation and technology to work towards achieving gender equality. However, online platforms represent a convenient, far-reaching, anonymizing and secure feeling environment for those who wish to voice and incite hatred. Research has shown a consistent association between online hate speech and offline offences. For technology to further the empowerment of women, online platforms must ensure their users are safeguarded from hate.
Reports show that Antisemitism, Islamophobia and misogyny are increasing year on year.. It is therefore Jewish and Muslim women who are disproportionately impacted on social media which has become the new battleground for hate.
I am the granddaughter of a Holocaust Survivor, who was persecuted because of his Jewish identity. We cannot let history repeat itself. It¡¯s time to ¡®Swipe Left On Hate¡¯."
Sousan Suha
Sousan Suha is an alumna of the UNOCT/UNCCT ¡°Youth Engagement and Empowerment Programme¡± (YEEP) which engaged 39 young leaders from 9 Member States across South and Southeast Asia. Sousan is the Founder of Positive Bangladesh and also co-founded a youth-centric anti-extremism campaign- ¡®Think Twice, Act Wise¡¯, raising awareness among youth on P/CVE after the Holey Artisan attack in 2016. With 6 years of experience working in the field, she specializes in qualitative research with an evidence-based approach, campaign development and strategic planning, often based on the methodology of informal learning and discussions.
¡°Violent extremist ideologies and organizations are very much alive in Bangladesh and the greater Asian region. The gap in policy making, the toiling path to ensure proper implementation and the brazen lack of participatory spaces for young people, especially young women in such spheres motivated me to start Positive Bangladesh, through which a nexus among the academia, development intervention and online campaign was created.
Positive Bangladesh addresses religious extremism and social stereotypes, and working along those themes in Bangladesh can be tricky. Our initial messaging was a little too strong for our audience, as patriarchal, social customs are often mistaken for religious practices here, and the relation between culture and religion is strained. Incessant streams of threats came in every day. We eventually took a break to re-strategize the use of our online tools. This time, we focused on real life stories. It took some time to take off, but soon it was a success!
Young girls and women remain at the heart of our campaign- we want to empower those who suffer the most. It is essential that more women participate in such campaigns because of the insights they offer, the resources they share and the networks they build. Women are not alone in this fight. Participation helps women discover and amplify their voice. In the relentless fight against injustice and inequality to promote social cohesion, the strong presence of women in digital spaces, in tech can truly make a difference.
The biggest takeaway from the development of Positive Bangladesh is that behavioral changes take time, especially where digital literacy is low and critical thinking is not strongly encouraged. We are in a process of changing that, but support from the government in developing the tech infrastructure of the country remains an absolute requirement to ensure a visible impact.¡±