Could you tell that she is experiencing violence?
Violence against women and girls is a known phenomenon, but its digital form is often neglected or unrecognized.
This year’s OSCE 16 days of activism against gender-based violence campaign urges to see that behind every seemingly trivial online action — consent, mute or delete — there could be a violent reaction. It is essential that this be recognized and addressed. It is urgent to “restart” the conversation about online violence and update the digital space so that it is a safe space for all including women and girls.
Eliminating violence against women and girls is one of the three pillars of the OSCE Women and Men Innovating and Networking (WIN) project. WIN promotes gender equality across all three OSCE dimensions of security. The project aims to increase knowledge of decision-makers, strengthen the role of women in conflict prevention and include gender perspectives in economic and environmental activities.
Online violence takes on many forms
With the COVID-19 pandemic drawing people online, gender-based violence is spreading even more into the digital space.
Non-consensual sharing of images online is just one of the forms of violence against women and girls. It is designed to threaten, shame and control, with a devastating effect on victims. At the Generation Equality Forum in Paris, the OSCE pledged to take concrete actions to tackle online violence against women and girls.
The marks it leaves
Although often invisible, online violence leaves very real marks on women and girls, causing physical, sexual, psychological and/or economic harm.
The OSCE-led Survey on violence against women has collected not only data on experiences of violence but also resources to help the survivors. Check the list of hotlines for the seven countries in which the survey was conducted, along with the recommendations on how a bystander can help.
Targeting women who are seen
Women in politics, human rights defenders, journalists and bloggers are particularly targeted by online violence.
With misogyny compounded by racism, women who belong to racial or religious minority groups are disproportionately targeted.
The 2021 OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) report sheds light on intensifying and widespread offline and online violence against women in two public fields – journalism and politics.
In “An Appeal to Act”, which is based on the report’s findings, the OSCE PA’s Special Representative on Gender Hedy Fry urges the delegates of the 57 OSCE participating States to address the unique challenges of violence in the online realm.
Tuning down women’s voices
Online abuse, threats, and harassment silence voices in the public sphere. Women journalists are particularly targeted.
Nearly two out of three women journalists have been threatened or harassed online. Threats of rape, physical violence and graphic imagery show up in journalists’ inboxes and on their social media platforms as they go about their workday.
In OSCE Ministerial Council Decision No. 3/18, the 57 OSCE participating States condemn publicly and unequivocally any attacks on women journalists, including in digital spaces.
The project Safety of Female Journalists Online (#SOFJO project), which was rolled out by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, put together a Resource Guide to improve the safety of female journalists online. It proposes 40 concrete actions to ten different stakeholder groups, pointing at a systemic approach to create a safe and enabling media environment for all.
Keeping quiet to keep safe
Online harassment and abuse often escalates, sometimes starting with micro-aggressions – more subtle slights and insults – and quickly intensifying into severe threats. Individual micro-aggressions, while seemingly non-threatening, can accumulate to create serious psychological ramifications, and they can even be harbingers of more harmful attacks.
When women activists and civil society leaders experience online violence, they may choose to self-censor in order to keep safe. Addressing online gender-based violence is essential to ensure voices of women as digital citizens are heard loud and clear.
Recruited and sold online
With over 90% of all identified victims being women and girls, trafficking for sexual exploitation is also a form of gender-based violence. Knowing that the internet has been increasingly used to recruit victims and to advertise their trafficking.
Traffickers use online tools to exercise control over the victims: by monitoring their movement and blackmailing them with the material recorded. The online exploitation market has been growing, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only aggravated services, the OSCE has been working to tackle technology-facilitated the situation. Over the past 15 years, profits of human trafficking increased fivefold.
The OSCE-led study on Applying Gender-Sensitive Approaches in Combating Trafficking in Human Beings confirms that patriarchy plays a crucial role in making the systemic exploitation of women and girls possible. We must invest in supporting gender equality to tackle the root causes of trafficking, such as gender-based discrimination and gender-based violence.
Not virtual but real impact
Online violence is real violence with a real impact.
The OSCE Ministerial Council calls on its participating States to take action, including through awareness-raising for law enforcement agencies on preventing and combating all forms of violence against women and girls.
When women’s reports of online violence are not treated seriously, victims may be reluctant to speak up for fear of being blamed or shamed. Recognizing that law enforcement often lacks the tools and knowledge to act upon online violence the OSCE is committed to developing specialized training to improve their response to the issue.
Addressing online violence against women
We may need to update and reload our spaces, so that women are safe, also when online. Digital platforms must counter online abuse and promote a culture of acceptance.
These external resources will help get acquainted with the various manifestations of online violence against women, its impact, and the prevention mechanisms and tools to counter it.
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