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Blog Post

Croatia: ICITAP Advances Women in Policing Through Groundbreaking EMPoWER Program

From March 13 to 18, ICITAP’s Engaging Multinational Police Women on Equality and Rights (EMPoWER) program, with support from the ICITAP-Croatia team, held its first regional symposium with 24 participants from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Kenya in Opatija, Croatia. ICITAP recognizes the need to increase the participation of women in counterterrorism law enforcement by educating leaders, creating opportunities for networking, and connecting with professional colleagues. Additionally, inviting and including men from counterterrorism (CT) units as symposium participants is important to ensure they receive the same level of training that women are receiving. It is also important to provide them with an opportunity to see the significant role they play in supporting women in counterterrorism initiatives. The agenda for the symposium was developed from feedback received from focus groups conducted by the EMPoWER team in seven countries and included topics on CT and Leadership. ICITAP Subject Matter Experts and Attaches provided workshop sessions focused on: Utilizing Social Media in Terrorism Prosecutions, Forensics and Counterterrorism Investigations, Terrorism in Correctional Institutions, and Professional Development - “Positioning Yourself for Success.” In accordance with the U.S. Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security, the goal of the EMPoWER project is to assist partner governments with the inclusion of women in the fight against terrorism. For U.S. Department of Justice press release: www.justice.gov/opa/pr/departments-justice-and-state-launch-international-program-support-women-leadership-roles  For U.S. Department of State DipNote: www.state.gov/empowering-women-to-counter-terrorism/

Updated January 20, 2025