Violations of women’s rights while countering terrorism as a threat to collective survival

As nations around the world develop and review their strategies to counter terrorism, they are expected to comply with international human rights law (UNSC, 2015, PP. 9). Policy makers are also supposed to gain enough public approval to legitimize these strategies (Buzan et al., 1998). While counter-terrorism measures are often sanctioned by the general audience, women’s right to participation is rarely viewed as a critical aspect of counter-terrorism by both policy makers and their audience (Hansen, 2000; Jamal, 2013). Applying a theoretical framework comprised of Securitization Theory (Buzan et al., 1998; Waever, 1993; Huysmans, 2010) and feminist contributions (Tickner, 1992; Hansen, 2000; Huckerby, 2016), this study argues that violations of women’s right to participation in the context of counter-terrorism is not only a human rights problem but is also an issue of international security. More specifically, this study provides theoretical and empirical explanations of the ways in which the lack of a women’s rightssensitive perspective in counter-terrorism discourse creates barriers for developing effective counter-terrorism strategies and often contributes to the emergence of additional security threats.