The online meeting on June 11 was held to present findings from BIRN’s monitoring of technology-facilitated violence against women and encourage discussion on emerging challenges, risks and opportunities for improving responses to such violations.
The consultation brought together representatives of civil society organisations, institutions, legal experts, media professionals and human rights activists working on digital rights issues, gender equality and gender-based violence.
Participants discussed trends in technology-facilitated violence against women, channels where such violations occur, and recommendations for future monitoring and advocacy efforts.
The meeting included a presentation of cases identified through BIRN’s monitoring activities, followed by an interactive discussion.
Participants highlighted challenges related to underreporting, insufficient public awareness, inadequate institutional responses, online hate speech targeting women and women’s rights advocates, identity theft, misuse of personal data, deepfake-related threats and other forms of digital gender-based violence.
The discussion heard the need for stronger cooperation between institutions, civil society organisations, victim support services and the media. Participants also focused on the importance of educating young people and the wider public about recognizing and reporting technology-facilitated violence against women, as well as improving media reporting practices on these issues.
This activity was organised by BIRN in the framework of the “EU 4 Gender Equality: Women’s Economic Empowerment and Ending Violence against Women”, funded by the European Union and implemented jointly by UN Women and UNDP.