16 Days of Activism: Combating digital violence against women
UPR Info took part in this year’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign, joining organisations and advocates worldwide in calling for stronger action to end violence against women and girls.
Running each year from the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (25 November) to International Human Rights Day (10 December), this year’s campaign focused on ending digital violence against women and girls.
Throughout the campaign, UPR Info showcased how the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) has addressed digital gender-based violence to date and how States can use the mechanism more effectively in the future.
Our analysis of past UPR recommendations showed that digital gender-based violence has received little specific attention. While 1,960 recommendations address issues related to digital violence, only 47 explicitly mention women and girls — just 2.4%.
As part of the campaign, UPR Info also shared examples of good practices from countries that have participated in the UPR by both receiving and issuing recommendations aimed at eliminating online gender-based violence.
Among these, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Korea, and Chile were the focus of our research. Each of these countries received at least one recommendation through the UPR and has adopted policies to combat digital violence against women and girls. The Republic of Korea has received the largest number of recommendations to date, with a total of six, but the country has also given out the most recommendations with a total of three across all cycles. Iceland and Costa Rica also join them by giving three recommendations each.
National measures
The United Kingdom has amended the Crime and Policing Bill, protecting those who have had nude images of themselves circulated online, and this allows victims time to come forward up to three years after the offence.
In 2023, Chile amended the National Artificial Intelligence Policy (2021) to include measures that promote digital environments free of violence.
While these developments show that States are taking steps to address the issue through the UPR, more can be done. To encourage stronger engagement with digital violence against women and girls, UPR Info highlighted past recommendations that specifically addressed this challenge, including the creation of national action plans, legislative reforms to close implementation gaps, and targeted measures for particularly vulnerable groups of women, such as those involved in politics or those who are human rights defenders.
To conclude, UPR Info also shared practical guidance—drawing from UN publication entitled Tracking Countries’ Efforts on Technology-Facilitated Violence against Women and Girls—on the types of measures States can include in their recommendations to address this issue more specifically and effectively.
To see UPR Info’s full campaign, follow our social media accounts.