During the 46th session of the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, published her report on the impact of the use of anti-terrorism and countering violent extremism laws and policies on women, girls, and families.
The report showed that the rapporteur is aware that heightened security measures and an expanded counterterrorism scope have impacts on women-led civil society and women human rights advocates. The rapporteur invoked a report from the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in the case of Saudi activist, Loujain al-Hathloul, calling for the protection of women human rights advocates from the negative effects of ill-conceived and wrongly applied anti-terrorism laws and practices.
The report noted that women human rights advocates are being targeted at an alarming rate for challenging the root causes of conflict. The report stated that the expanding scope of anti-terrorism laws has led to the disruption of domestic and private life for individuals and groups, pointing to culturally inappropriate behavior of official agencies towards women and children in their homes, including removing clothing, insulting beliefs, and damaging dwellings.
Furthermore, the report indicated that the inclusion of women on terrorism lists within the context of combating terrorism makes them, like men, subject to an opaque political process fraught with concerns that affect their political, social, economic, and cultural rights.
The Special Rapporteur pointed out that the expanded scope of counterterrorism has led to intrusion into the regulation of family life and family law, and the intersection between the family and the state, for example, interrogation of relatives of terrorism suspects, revocation of citizenship, and so on.
ESOHR notes that the concerns raised by the Special Rapporteur apply to Saudi Arabia. In December 2017, the Specialized Criminal Court, supposedly charged with hearing terrorism cases, sentenced Naima al-Matroud to six years in prison for her rights work. Likewise, the Court threatened Israa al-Ghomgham with execution before reversing her sentence to eight years in prison. ESOHR has also monitored the detention of women and their children and the separation of families on the pretext of combating terrorism, issues raised by the Special Rapporteur.
ESOHR stresses that the misuse of anti-terrorism laws and measures is systematic in Saudi Arabia, and the impact on women and families, as well as the rest of society, is profound.