This summer, the United Nations (UN) Security Council adopted Resolution 2734 which, among other things, recognizes that sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is a tactic of terrorism and, as such, can be grounds for sanctions listings in the UN 1267 ISIL/al-Qaida regime.

“Recognizes that planning, directing, or committing acts involving sexual and gender-based violence including rape, enslavement of persons, and cases of abduction and trafficking in persons may be eligible for designation in the ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida Sanctions List on the basis of the criteria set out in paragraph 2 of this resolution, when such acts are being used by ISIL, AQ and associated individuals, groups and entities as a tactic of terrorism” –UNSCR 2734, Operative paragraph (OP) 3

This resolution is a critical step forward for the global campaign to end gender-based violence, and paves the way for greater accountability for conflict-related sexual violence. It is one of the only ways perpetrators of SGBV can be held accountable as it subjects them to asset freezes, travel bans, and arms embargoes. It builds on the achievement of similar recognition of SGBV in conflict areas and inclusion of SBGV crimes as listing criteria to promote accountability across various UN sanctions regimes, including those focused on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and, most recently, Haiti. But it has taken nearly a decade after the UN recognized the use of SGBV as a tactic of terrorism for it to be recognized as listing criteria in the UN’s ISIL/al-Qaida sanctions regime. At the ten-year mark since ISIL started its devastating assault, including horrific crimes of SGBV on the Yazidi communities of Sinjar, this achievement feels long overdue.

Impact on Broader Peace and Security Aims

As emphasized in UN Resolution 2744 (2024), “sanctions are an important tool in the maintenance and restoration of international peace and security.” The legal basis for UN sanctions is found in Article 41 of the UN Charter. Sanctions are a Chapter VII coercive measure, which means that all UN member states are obligated to implement any sanctions decisions made by the UN Security Council. The use of sanctions can establish and reinforce international legal precedents and strengthen international norms. Additionally, for many states and the relevant institutions within them, sanctions have served as an important policy tool to foster norms, facilitate accountability, capacitate states to pursue individuals and groups and impede the actions of adversarial actors, and facilitate peace processes.

The addition of a listing criteria referencing SGBV in the 1267 ISIL/al-Qaida sanctions regime serves a number of important purposes towards strengthening international counterterrorism norms and comprehensive approaches to preventing and countering terrorism, as well as protecting human rights, including those of women.

First, adding the possibility for designating individuals and groups under the 1267 sanctions regime for crimes of SGBV recognizes that terrorists’ use of SGBV constitutes a threat to peace, security or stability and reinforces the importance of accountability for terrorist crimes, ending the impunity for crimes that often has been associated with terrorist groups but not pursued as acts of terrorism.

Second, the new language strengthens efforts to foster the promotion and protection of human rights when countering terrorism, as highlighted in numerous Security Council resolutions as well as the UN Global Counterterrorism Strategy and its biennial reviews. The preamble recognizes that:

“…development, security, and human rights are mutually reinforcing and are vital to an effective and comprehensive approach to countering terrorism, and underlining that a particular goal of counter-terrorism strategies should be to ensure sustainable peace and security…”

For example, on February 20, 2024 the Council listed six members of the Allied Democratic Forces, an ISIL-affiliate in the DRC, for crimes including acts of SGBV to the 1533 sanctions regime concerning the DRC. The recognition that such crimes were committed and rights violated gives victims the possibility to pursue legal recourse for remedy.
Third, the adopted measures follow on resolutions that have called for more meaningful integration of the counterterrorism and women, peace and security agendas, including in relation to foreign terrorist fighters, as highlighted in Resolutions 2242 and 2396, for example.

Finally, by reinforcing norms against terrorist use of SGBV and accountability for terrorist crimes, such measures can help counterterrorist narratives and propaganda which have often sought to exploit grievances about human rights violations and impunity to recruit support. UNDP’s research in Africa has also confirmed that human rights infractions factor among the strongest drivers of radicalization and mobilization. Strengthening efforts to foster accountability for terrorist crimes and pursue justice for victims can therefore make important contributions to countering terrorist narratives.

The Road to Recognizing SGBV as Terrorism

Ten years ago, ISIL stormed Mount Sinjar, seeking to decimate the Yazidi community. They brutally inflicted SGBV against women and children to terrorize the entire community, including through the establishment of large and formal slave markets where women and children were separated from their families and bought and sold as sex slaves for ISIL fighters, often multiple times. The women and girls kept as slaves to ISIL fighters were subjected to repeated and brutal rape, as well as physical and psychological abuse. In his final briefing to the Security Council as Special Adviser and Head of the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/ISIL, Karim Khan highlighted their finding of “clear and convincing evidence that the group’s attacks against the group constituted genocide.”

In Nigeria, Boko Haram’s use of SGBV against young women and children, abductions of young female students and recruitment of children reflected a keen recognition of the deep societal fissures that would amplify their violence even beyond the immediate effects of an attack. In December 2020, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced that there was reasonable cause to believe that Boko Haram had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including rape and sexual slavery, including forced pregnancy and forced marriage.

The UN has recognized the use of SGBV as a tactic of terrorism, and UNSCR 2242 highlighted “that acts of sexual and gender-based violence are known to be part of the strategic objectives and ideology of certain terrorist groups, used as a tactic of terrorism, and an instrument to increase their power through supporting financing, recruitment, and the destruction of communities.” This is reaffirmed in UNSCR 2734 with regard to the 1267 sanctions regime.

However, accountability for SGBV perpetrated by terrorists has been slow to materialize. A recent UN report on accountability for terrorist use of SGBV noted three key reasons for this: 1) significant gaps in national expertise on the various legal frameworks that are relevant and applicable to SGBV linked to terrorism; 2) State difficulties in fulfilling their obligations to investigate and prosecute SGBV owing to limited institutional capacity and financial resources; and 3) the “prevailing emphasis on criminal justice has led to a slow recognition and implementation of alternative measures that could contribute to accountability for SGBV linked to terrorisms.”

This is not only in the counterterrorism space. A report from the International Peace Institute analyzes the relationship between the secretary-general’s annual reports on conflict-related sexual violence and UN Security Council sanctions designations; of the 614 individuals and 138 entities sanctioned by the UN, only 25 individuals and two entities are designated for SGBV.

Prosecutions for offenses perpetrated by ISIL for terrorism or core international crimes have been slowed by challenges in securing evidence from the battlefields, reconciling disparate judicial approaches and jurisdictional challenges, and limitations of resources and political will. Notably, though Security Council Resolutions 2331 (2016) and 2388 (2017) recognized that SGBV and human trafficking could be part of the strategic objectives and ideology of certain terrorist groups, and used to finance terrorism, no state has yet put forward a listing utilizing this criteria.

As terrorist groups and other adversarial actors adapt their tactics to emerging technologies, there has been increased concern about tech-facilitated gender-based violence. Groups like ISIL were adept at capitalizing on online resources to spread their propaganda and facilitate communications with supporters. In some cases, they also reportedly used platforms for operational and financing purposes, including to perpetuate the trafficking of minors for sex or the recruitment of children. Reports of violent extremist groups utilizing digital platforms to promote their ideologies and goals highlight the importance of fostering collaboration among experts, practitioners, and the private sector to mitigate the risks of terrorist groups utilizing digital platforms to perpetrate SGBV.

UN Women has fostered a research agenda and put forward a list of proposals that highlight inter alia the need to enhance cooperation between governments, the technology sector, women’s rights organizations, and civil society to strengthen policies; develop standards of accountability for Internet intermediaries and the technology sector to enhance transparency and accountability on digital violence and the use of data; and ensure that public and private sector entities prioritize the prevention and elimination of digital violence through human rights–based design approaches and adequate investments, for example.

How Different Stakeholders Can Leverage 2734

Key elements of Resolution 2734 and its predecessor resolutions encourage all member states to submit listing requests for sanctions for individuals and entities associated with ISIL, al-Qaida, and their affiliated groups involved in sexual violence, and the requirement that the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, which supports the work of the UN 1267 sanctions committee, include SGBV in its discussions with member states and in its reports. Going forward, there are a number of ways that states, international organizations, civil society, and the private sector can offer meaningful follow up to the updated criteria in UNSC 2734.

States and international actors, including the UN, should support efforts to raise awareness of Resolution 2734 and the updated listing criteria, with a view to enhance effective utilization of the sanctions regimes and foster greater accountability for terrorist crimes by encouraging usage of this listing criteria. To achieve these goals, there will be a need to reduce bureaucratic silos and enhance coordination across key stakeholders in various offices and agencies relating to sanctions, counterterrorism, SGBV, and other related areas, including regional offices. Although UNITAD is no longer operational, efforts may be made to support greater access to the evidence in its archives and facilitate improved means to utilize evidence collected from different contexts. Victims, survivors, and witnesses may require some special facilities or protections.

Within the UN system, the adoption of UNSCR 2734 underscores the importance of ensuring that the monitoring team has the resources and capacities required to report to member states (as highlighted in UNSCR 2331) and coordinate with relevant partners. The Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) should be encouraged in its dialogues with member states to help raise awareness of the linkages between terrorism, SGBV, the financing of terrorism, and implications for criminal justice practitioners, in line with Resolutions 2242 and 2734. A designated focal point may be identified to facilitate improved coordination among relevant UN entities and partners, such as between the monitoring team, UN Women, CTED, the Office of the Special Representative on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, the UN Office on Counter-Terrorism, and the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, for example.

Civil society organizations and practitioners, including victims and survivor associations, can incorporate the updated resolution in awareness-raising engagements with affected communities and support efforts to collect, preserve, and share the evidence required to support such listings. Civil society actors operating close to impacted communities are also key partners in supporting victims and survivors, and working with governments to ensure the relevant legal and policy frameworks take into account their needs.

Private sector entities, including, for example, tech companies, can also play a critical role in efforts to address these issues by enhancing awareness regarding the potential exploitation of their platforms for the perpetration of SGBV and related online harms by terrorists and violent extremists. For financial institutions and experts focused on countering terrorist financing, increasing efforts to target terrorist financing associated with SGBV and trafficking in line with Resolution 2331 will be an important reaffirmation of norms and measures fostering accountability for terrorist crimes.

Conclusion

The 1267 sanctions regime plays an important role in supporting international counterterrorism policy goals and norms and providing states and key stakeholders—including in government, the private sector, and civil society—a common reference point that reflects global consensus. Updates such as those reflected in OP 3 of Resolution 2734 are important to reinforce norms against the use of SGBV by terrorist groups and to promote accountability for terrorists’ crimes. Achieving these goals, including cross-sector and inter-agency collaboration and cooperation, will mean addressing challenges including bureaucratic silos, resource constraints, and limited data or training for key partners. Investing in the capacities of the monitoring team and fostering greater coordination among the UN Office of Counterterrorism, the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate, the Office of the Special Representative on SGBV, UN Women, and OHCHR, potentially through identifying a focal point for coordination, will be an important start.

Naureen Chowdhury Fink is Executive Director of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT). Previously she has been Executive Director at The Soufan Center; Senior Policy Advisor on Counterterrorism and Sanctions at the UK Mission to the United Nations; Policy Specialist at UN Women and UN CTED; and led work on counterterrorism and multilateral security issues at the Global Center on Cooperative Security and the International Peace Institute.

Cyndee Trinh is a career Foreign Service Officer with over 17 years of experience in multilateral and bilateral diplomacy, working on economic and security policy. 

The views represented in this article are solely those of the authors and not necessarily of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism or the US government. The authors accept all responsibility for any errors or omissions.