The gender perspective in the fight against organised crime

Women representatives from 13 Latin American countries and 5 from the European Union have met within the framework of EL PAcCTO, a European cooperation programme, to address the role of women in the fight against organised crime.  

The meeting has highlighted the need to create networks of women who can work, discuss and face the next security and justice challenges together with the aim of articulating a more effective fight against organised crime where a feminine perspective has the same prominence as the masculine. 

 In the presentation, FIIAPP Director Anna Terrón spoke and she highlighted the importance of having women in the security field: “a gender perspective not only increases justice but also the effectiveness of what we do.” In addition, she explained that security is not the same for men as for women since there are elements that affect women in a specific way: “The fact that there are women leading means these elements are not going to escape us,” she stressed.  

For his part, Martin Seychell, Deputy Director General of the EU Directorate General (DG) of International Associations (INTPA), explained that “ the participation and leadership of women is part of the EU’s new Gender Action Plan for the period 2021 to 2025”. Seychell has stated that “women are key to fighting organised crime, preventing and resolving conflicts and promoting security and peace”.  

Seychell has recognised that “the Member States are joining forces in #TeamEurope and with our partners in Latin America we want to seek programmes and strategies that transform security and justice in the coming years. To this end, the European Union is committed to ensuring that 85% of the new actions promoted incorporate gender characteristics and women’s participation”.  

In addition, the event included participation by Alexandra Jour-Schroeder, Deputy General Director at the DG for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA), Beatriz Rodríguez, Director of Criminal Studies at the Ecuador Public Prosecutor’s Office, Rosa Icela Rodríguez from the Mexican Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), Cecilia Pérez, Paraguayan Minister of Justice and Luísa Proença, Deputy National Director of the Judicial Police in Portugal.  

The general secretary of the IILA, Antonella Cavallari, closed the event concluding that it is essential to highlight the ldistinctive contribution made by women in the fight against organised crime. What’s more, she recalled that COVID-19 has hit women especially hard and pointed to the pandemic as an opportunity to reflect and to overcome some problems such as violence against women: “We must take advantage of the economic resources and political support that may come out of the pandemic to improve the situation of women,” she said.