9 September 2015 – Increased attention needs to be given to women so they can be empowered to actively help counter terrorism and violent extremism around the world， a senior United Nations counter-terrorism official told a news conference in New York today.

“Terrorist groups such as Daesh， Boko Haram and Al Shabaab are becoming increasingly creative in their strategies by also including women， [who] take a more active role in their criminal enterprise，” said Jean-Paul Laborde， the Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate （CTED）. “I would even say ‘forcing’ women to take this active role， but this is my word.”

Mr. Laborde was briefing reporters ahead of a meeting of the UN Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee on the role of women in countering terrorism and violent extremism.

“Until recently， terrorism has been viewed predominantly as a male problem，” Mr. Laborde stated. “In reality， terrorist organizations are gradually using women to recruit other women […] including women to act as suicide bombers.”

He further explained that many do not even know they are recruited to serve this purpose.

Recently， thousands of women in Iraq， Kenya and Nigeria were abducted by terrorist groups. Three women from these countries were invited to the press conference to share first-hand stories and to speak about their work fighting this trend.

Among them was Hanaa Edwar， a women’s activist from Iraq who underlined how the absence of security and stability in her country since 2003 has created weak state institutions and chaos， as well as influenced the growth of local militias.

http：//www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp？NewsID=51835#.Vf-uTLmepIw