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The Department of Gender Studies will be hosting a public lecture entitled 'The Role of women in fighting violent extremism'. The speaker is Dr Elona Prroj

The public lecture will be held in the Erin Serracino Inglott Hall (LT 1), University of Malta Msida Campus on Friday 5 May from 16:00 till 18:00.

The general public is cordially invited to attend. For enquiries, contact Ms Samantha Grima on +356 2340 3808 or sending an email to samantha.grima@um.edu.mt.

Abstract

When we think of extremism we immediately think about religion extremism. What is happening in the Middle East gives us a clear view where the consequences of violence and hatred has taken human beings out of the human limits.

Different terrorist groups are becoming increasingly creative in their strategies by also including women to take a more active role in their criminal enterprise. Until recently, terrorism and extremism has been viewed predominantly as a patriarchal problem, but in reality, terrorist organisations are gradually using women to recruit other women including women to act as suicide bombers. Between 2003 and 2014, around 14,000 women in Iraq were killed. Many women have committed suicide due to the absence of safety, human rights and institutions to seek care.

But we all know that there are other types of extremism and those types which seem to be hidden are more dangerous. Different kinds of cultural extremism have kept many communities living under primitive mentality in a modern world of the 21 century.

These types of wars and troubles that the world is facing today differ from the first two World Wars in that today we do not really know who the real enemy is.

At the public lecture, Dr Projj will talk about a phenomenon that is 500 years old and is still active in the north of Albania, the place where she lives and works. The blood feud phenomenon is a type of violence, extremism and self-sufficiency that is taking innocent lives every day. It works as a parallel law with the constitution of the country and it is stronger that the state’ instances. It is viewed as a male problem but the hidden role of women is inevitable. They can be the promoters of peace and forgiveness, but they can also induce their families into hatred and revenge circles. It is a choice, she says, that does not come about accidentally but deliberately, needing to be positively fed and strategically encouraged.

In fact the cradle where the violence and extremism are nurtured is first within family, the heart of society.

More attention is to be given to women so as to empower them to rise up and to actively help counter terrorism and violent extremism around the world, in all its aspects.

Dr Elona Prroj is the founder and the director of No Blood Feud - Yes to Life Foundation, a foundation that is very active in the fight against blood feud and active to provide holistic care for the families that suffer from this phenomenon in the north of Albania.

After the killing of her husband, a pastor of a church in Albania, Elona found strength to forgive the killer and to break the ongoing chain of revenge. She is now also leading as the only woman pastor in the whole country, the church that her husband used to pastor.

Elona is a public speaker nationally and internationally. Her presentation spoken from her heart and from the experiences of her life motivate, inspire and encourages others to recognise and use their ability to make a change today in the world they live.

She is also an Advisory Counsel of World Vision Albania and Kosovo. Formerly she was the vice general secretary of the Evangelical Alliance of Albania. She holds a master degree in counselling and a Ph.D. in Psychology. Elona is a mother of two teenage children, Gabriel and Sarah.