online GBV
Publication
Due diligence and accountability for online violence against women
This paper explores what online violence against women is; what can be done to stem and ultimately eliminate it; and whose responsibility it is to do so. It does this by building upon the issues identified in two research projects, namely the research on state accountability to eliminate violence against women by the Due Diligence Project (DDP) and the research on corporate and state remedies for...
Publication
Submissions to TO United Nations SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR: ONLINE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Here is a compilation of the submissions from different countries including Democratic Republic of Congo, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Bosnia-Herzegovina to the Special Rapporteur for Violence Against Women on online violence against women.
In depth
A technopolitical approach to online gender-based violence:
Technology is not gender neutral and this article shows how social media companies and tech corporations play a role in perpetuating online gender-based violence. What we need is a critical examination of the tools available and their underlying techno-politics so we can create community alternatives for feminist communication.
Column
[COLUMN] Sanitary Panels on facing threats online (COMIC)
Sanitary Panels is an ironic yet hard hitting series where social commentary masquerades as humour and makes us rethink many of our assumptions. This comic explores aspects of gender and technology including discrimination faced by women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education and careers. In this comic Sanitary Panels looks at how police and society react when women...
Feminist talk
Online violence faced by outspoken activists: the case from Egypt
Online violence and harassment mirrors the realities of persecution in the "real world" and extends the avenues for prejudice and discrimination. In Egypt, outspoken activists and Nubian people supporting the cause of Nubians to their own land and also speaking out about race and skin colour-based prejudice face virulent online attacks and are also banned by the Egyptian government.
Feminist talk
Toxic Twitter: Amnesty International report on social media and online violence
Twitter, in particular, can be a powerful tool for women to make connections and express themselves - from high-level female politicians to journalists, activists, writers and bloggers, to women who simply want to know what’s happening around them. It is allegedly the space where ‘every voice has the power to impact the world’. But as revealed by the report by Amnesty International, Twitter is...
We can be heroes: Towards public and legal recognition of online gender-based violence
Online violence, bullying, harassment, theft of identity, non-consensual circulation of intimate images - are now being recognised as offences in most countries, and acknowledged in public discourse as misogyny and attempts to silence women and gender-diverse people from participation in public life and denying them their rights to free expression and association, especially online. This...
Editorial
[EDITORIAL] Recognition of online GBV in international law: the highs and lows
Over a decade of consistent work around visibility of online GBV has led to finally a report by the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women that specifically addresses this phenomenon. Jan Moolman sketches out a brief timeline of the milestones towards the recognition of online GBV, and this has included advocating for inclusion of sensitive language within international law and...
In depth
Do we need new laws to address non-consensual circulation of intimate images: the case of Brazil
The choice between developing new laws and frameworks for cyber offences or to work with existing laws is a dilemma faced in many countries in the global South. In this article, the legal solutions to non consensual intimate images are examined from the perspective of women who have been victimised. What do we want and expect from our legal and judicial mechanisms? How can these be more...
In depth
Cyber violence against women: the case of Bangladesh
Violence against women online is shaped by historical, cultural and social factors and this article explores the specific context of Bangladesh. This includes specific targeting of public women and journalists online and the exploitation of women by those they have intimate relationships with. Far from being an "elite white country problem", this article shows how women in the global South...
