25/07/2020

UN Directorate for Counter-terrorism: ISIS women are a major reason for the failure to fight the terrorist organization

The policies of some western countries contributed to obstructing the mission of the international community in eliminating ISIS as these western countries did not allow the return of ISIS women who had traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the terrorist organization and have taken away their citizenship. According to the UN Executive Directorate for Counter-terrorism, this has led to insufficient information and evidence for their conviction.

Activists have long wondered why the international community has failed to eliminate the terrorist organization ISIS and bring them to justice. According to the UN Directorate for Counter-terrorism in a recent report, a major reason for that is the difficulties in bringing ISIS women to trial as several Western countries have refused to take back their nationals who traveled to Iraq and Syria to join ISIS. Countries such as Britain, Germany, Denmark, Australia and Indonesia have stripped the ISIS-joiners of their citizenship and refused their return, according to the report released last Thursday by the United Nations Executive Directorate for Counter-Terrorism. The report named 80 member states of the United Nations.

The report emphasizes the urgent need for training in gender-sensitive methods in investigations and prosecutions and points out that it is difficult to determine the number of women who can be accused of committing crimes, since there is little information about returning women.

The report concludes that some countries consider ISIS women only traveled to the Caliphate to join their husbands leading to low rates of conviction. This was especially the case in Western Europe and North America where women are more likely to obtain lighter sentences than the men who joined ISIS. Some may not receive any punishment at all as their participation in the fighting is difficult to prove because of the lack of sufficient evidence.