Understanding the role of women in illegal activities is key to reducing the likelihood of being associated with violent extremists.
The involvement of women in illegal economic activity in West Africa is nothing new. However, in areas where terrorism is prevalent, such behavior, like men, is at risk of becoming associated with violent extremist groups.
Research from the Security Institute (ISS) shows that women contribute to the intelligence networks of these groups, support recruitment efforts, and promote logistics supply chains among other activities. Their involvement has strategic and operational benefits. This is because they attract less attention than men and are less likely to be searched by primarily male police and soldiers.
ISS studies in northern Benin, Northern Ivory Coast, and Togo have documented the involvement of women in several illegal activities, including gold bread and trading in drugs and counterfeit drugs. The study also reveals the role of terrorist groups in illegal gold bread and hunting, the livestock economy, and fuel and cannabis trafficking.
Even indirect participation in such activities can help maintain violent extremist groups by providing them with food and medicine. Illegal transactions of fuel, phones and SIM cards allow operations, and sales from illegal gold bread provide a source of revenue.
Terrorist groups are generally trying to establish relationships with traders (men and women) who are used to traveling from town to town across borders. Traders can inform them of their community and the environment they pass through, allowing extremists to source and transport a variety of goods.
Understanding the role of women – and why and how to engage are key to reducing the risk of participation in illegal activities and relationships with terrorists.
Women are key links in the supply chain that allow illegal activities. Their involvement dates back decades and stems from individual choices related to unemployment, limited financial ability, and little or no education.
In most cases, involvement provides income to support yourself and your family. Revenues are faster, more profitable and higher than those achieved through traditional activities such as subsistence agriculture and small-scale livestock breeding.
In the case of counterfeit drugs, some women are usually involved in meeting community needs for health services that are costly and not provided by the government. Others are introduced to these activities by their mothers, sisters, friends and peers.
Illegal gold panning is a major economic activity in many parts of West Africa. For example, in parts of Burkina Faso east and southwest, and northeastern Ivory Coast, rebels were able to fund themselves and partner with people already involved in the activities.
Women perform a variety of important functions in artisan gold panning, from extraction, processing and trading to rarely funding. Most are washing machines that wash the stones, supply water, transport tile rubs to the sorting area, and if you’re lucky, recover gold particles from the clergy and the washing water. These challenging tasks provide women with a variety of income, depending on their experience.
Women sometimes get involved in the transport of money, and bypass police control in bags of other goods such as clothing and hide it to avoid highway robberies. He has become an investor, bringing together washing machines and miners, leading artisan businesses that help resell gold.
ISS research shows that these women are the most thriving in business. They buy raw gold directly from miners and resell it to intermediaries and buyers, including neighboring countries.
It is difficult to determine the origins of gold mining financing and the use of destinations and termination of revenues from gold sales. As a result, financing and selling illegally mined gold could include money laundering or be used to fund terrorist attacks.
Illegal gold bread leads to women playing a major role and other socioeconomic ecosystems. They are particularly active in the trade of food, clothing, drugs and drugs (such as tramadol, meth, aphrodisiacs, cannabis), saying that it helps workers overcome the physical constraints of gold mining.
According to an ISS investigation, extremists are recruiting women who work in gold pots in northern Ivory Coast to launch catering businesses and try to cook.
When it comes to trading counterfeit drugs and drugs such as tramadol and its derivatives, women are generally involved at the end of the sales chain. They work as retailers in local markets, camps, villages and even gold mining sites. Some act as semi-wholesalers or wholesalers, working or buying for larger wholesalers, if not primarily men.
Women involved in the counterfeit drug trade usually don’t need capital to get started. Some wholesalers offer products based on an agreement that payment will be made when the product is sold. This allows women with limited financial resources to engage and thrive through gradually increasing economic autonomy.
However, the lack of capital can be exposed to some women unconsciously receiving funds from people associated with terrorist groups. And maintaining links with people involved in counterfeit drugs for human trafficking could help extremists get the medicine for their own treatment.
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An ISS investigation found female traders involved in cannabis trafficking. Some of it is grown in the Atacola and Donga departments of Benin. The woman, considered to be the wife of extremists, helps to transport cannabis from the Materi Commune market to the Wangchuan River, a region frequently visited by violent extremists. Cannabis is presented as moringa – herbs used as vegetables or traditional medicines in West Africa and beyond – or hidden in items and foods.
Women’s involvement in illegal activities stems from the complex dynamics that must be perceived by governments and stakeholders involved in preventing terrorism. Suppressing these activities without addressing the root causes of community involvement is unlikely to lead to stability. Interventions must combine social protection with economic alternatives that provide viable and sustainable solutions.
The government must continue to fight against illegal activities and the factors that enable them, including corruption. If possible, it is necessary to formally regulate artisans’ activities such as gold mining. This approach may reduce the risk that women are associated with violent extremist groups.
William Asambo, Senior Researcher of the Regional Office and Sahel in West Africa
Jeannine Ella Abatan, Senior Researcher at Regional Office in West Africa and Sahel Regional Office
