- Extremism targets the vulnerable – Across the Indo-Mediterranean, women and children face indoctrination, abductions, forced restrictions, and systemic denial of rights.
- The threat crosses borders – Practices in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and beyond reverberate in Europe through radical networks, grooming gangs, and cultural pressures on girls.
- A moral test for Europe – Complacency by elites and institutions enables abuse; defending women and children must be central to human rights, not an afterthought.
The Indo-Mediterranean is today one of the most unstable regions in the world. From Yemen to Somalia, from Syria to Pakistan, wars and crises generate waves of violence that travel across borders and reach far beyond their origin. In this volatility, the weakest pay the highest price: women and children.
Radical ideologies do not remain confined to their territories of origin. The echoes of extremism reverberate across Europe and South Asia, manifesting in terrorism, anti-Semitism, and the systematic indoctrination of the young. These are not abstract risks. They are daily realities for millions—and as women we feel them in our bodies, our freedoms, and our futures.
At the United Nations Human Rights Council’s 60th session, speakers sought to frame this challenge clearly. Himanshu Gulati, a member of Norway’s Storting, underlined how interconnected the threat has become. “Rising Islamic extremism is a worrying trend, be it in South Asia or in Europe,” he said, reminding us that terrorism rooted in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Syria, or Yemen does not stay contained. It reshapes the rights and futures of vulnerable groups elsewhere, including women and children in Europe.
The examples are stark: indoctrination of children in Bangladeshi madrassas, abductions of minority girls in Pakistan, the suffocating restrictions on Afghan women under the Taliban. These practices do not stop at national borders. They travel, shaping diaspora communities, influencing family dynamics, and too often constraining girls and women in European cities.
Anna Maria Cisint, a member of the European Parliament, emphasized the consequences of political Islam where it gains ground. “In countries where political Islam holds power, fundamental rights are systematically denied: equality between men and women is erased, and political and civil freedoms are restricted.” Her warning, however, was not confined to distant regimes. She pointed to the explicit project of imposing Quranic law in Europe, undermining democratic institutions and freedoms. “The signs,” she said, “are evident in the subjugation of girls we witness every day in our cities, forced to live inside invisible cages.”
These are not exaggerations. As women, we recognize the subtle but persistent pressures: the grooming gangs uncovered in the UK, the radical networks operating in France and Germany, the control exerted within families that limit girls’ education and social freedom in the name of tradition. Too often, authorities have turned away—out of hesitation, fear, or misplaced political correctness.
That complacency was called out most sharply by Erik Selle, a European advocate for women’s and children’s rights. “We cannot tolerate grooming gangs in Europe and threats to our women and children,” he insisted. “We cannot any longer tolerate complacent elites, police and media trading safety and security for multiculturalism. We cannot tolerate extremists in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan or any other country treating women worse than animals or oppressing minorities.”
His words point to the core issue: extremism thrives where institutions fail to defend the vulnerable, where elites hesitate to confront abuses, and where women and children are treated as collateral damage.
The debate in Geneva underscored a truth that as women we have long understood: this is not only a foreign policy challenge, but a moral one. Europe cannot claim to be a continent of liberty while tolerating practices that strip away the dignity of half its population. The international community cannot claim seriousness about human rights if it treats the suffering of women and children as secondary.
Every forced marriage, every silenced girl, every child deprived of freedom is a direct test of our resolve. To ignore these realities is to abandon not just the victims, but the very principles of dignity and equality that we say we defend.
