Accelerating Efforts to Eliminate Violence Against Women and Girls Preventing and Responding to Violence Against Women and Girls in Digital Contexts

A/HRC/RES/38/5No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2018.

What subjects does this mandate have?

14 topics

Access to Information Administration of Justice Anti-Discrimination Measures Corporate Social Responsibility Crime Prevention Digital Divide Digital Technology Gender Equality Gender-Based Violence Girls Internet Reproductive Health Right to Privacy Women's Rights

What does this mandate say?

34 operative paragraphs

Expresses outrage at the persistence and pervasiveness of all forms of violence against women and girls worldwide;

Condemns in the strongest possible terms all forms of violence against women and girls, including sexual and gender-based violence, perpetrated through the use of digital technologies;

Expresses deep concern that all forms of discrimination, intimidation, harassment and violence in digital contexts prevent women and girls from fully enjoying their human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, and the right to privacy, in accordance with obligations under international law, which hinders their full, equal and effective participation in economic, social, cultural and political affairs and is an impediment to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls;

Recognizes that the right of women and girls to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health includes having access to the information, education and means to exercise this right, both online and offline;

Also recognizes that digital technologies can offer access to information that enables women and girls to make informed and autonomous decisions in matters regarding their own bodies, lives and health, including their sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, in accordance with the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the outcomes of their review conferences;

Further recognizes that encryption and anonymity may contribute to individuals’ full enjoyment of human rights, including the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the right to privacy, in accordance with international law, and may empower individuals, including women and girls, to access information and ideas, to seek help, assistance and guidance and to freely explore and express ideas relating to their identity and human rights;

Draws attention to the fact that, in order to ensure the full participation of women and girls in the digital age, digital divides, which disproportionately affect women and girls living in rural or remote areas, need to be addressed by facilitating women’s and girls’ equal access to digital technologies, to science, technology, engineering and mathematics education and to a technological environment that is conducive to engagement by all women and girls, including through the use of assistive technologies, and promotes a safe and secure digital environment for women and girls, without discrimination or risk of violence and with particular focus on the needs of women and girls facing intersecting systemic inequalities;

Stresses that violence against women and girls may discourage them from using digital technologies, thereby depriving them of effective tools to fully enjoy their human rights, and could result in additional economic, social and psychological harm to them;

Recognizes that a proactive and reactive multipronged approach, working with all relevant parties, to eliminate violence against women and girls in digital contexts is required, including education and media campaigns, promoting a culture of respect and non-discrimination online and offline, and maintaining awareness of technological change in order to respond to new methods of violence against women and girls in digital contexts as they emerge;

Calls upon States to take immediate and effective action to prevent all forms of violence against women and girls, including in digital contexts, by:

Developing, reviewing and strengthening inclusive policies, including by allocating adequate resources to address the historical, structural and underlying causes, including unequal power relations, and risk factors of violence against women and girls, and ensuring that laws and policies are harmonized to address widespread violence against women and girls and are in compliance with their international human rights obligations;

Prioritizing the integration of gender perspectives, and ensuring the early, full and effective participation of women and girls in the development and implementation of national policies, legislation, programmes, projects, strategies and regulatory and technical instruments in the area of digital technologies and creating monitoring and accountability mechanisms to ensure implementation of gender-sensitive policies and regulations, as well as analysing the gender impact of such policies in consultation and collaboration with women digital technology specialists, civil society organizations and gender equality advocates;

Supporting initiatives taken by, inter alia, relevant international and non-governmental organizations, business enterprises, faith and community groups, religious leaders, parliamentarians, journalists, national human rights institutions, human rights defenders, including women human rights defenders, and indigenous leaders and groups, as part of their efforts to develop targeted and accessible responses, programmes and policies, including by allocating adequate resources aimed at promoting gender equality and at preventing, responding to and protecting women and girls from violence in digital contexts;

Encouraging digital technology companies, including Internet service providers and digital platforms, to strengthen or adopt positive measures, including internal policies, to promote gender equality in the design, implementation and use of digital technologies with a view to eliminating violence against women and girls, and to refrain from presenting women and girls as inferior beings and exploiting them as sexual objects and commodities, thereby empowering women and girls as key actors and contributors to and beneficiaries of sustainable development;

Promoting, supporting and facilitating the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and girls in digital technology conceptualization, development and implementation so that they can fully, safely and actively participate in decision-making, policies and institutions at all levels;

Developing and implementing educational programmes and teaching materials, including comprehensive sexuality education, based on full and accurate information, for all adolescents and youth, in a manner consistent with their evolving capacities, with their meaningful participation, with appropriate direction and guidance from parents and legal guardians, and with the active involvement of all relevant stakeholders, in order to empower them to safely use and navigate digital technologies, to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women of all ages, to eliminate prejudices and to promote and build decision-making, communication and risk reduction skills for the development of respectful relationships based on gender equality and human rights, as well as teacher education and training programmes for both formal and non-formal education;

Ensuring that women and girls are able to exercise the right to freedom of opinion and expression online and offline without discrimination, and do not experience violence or threats of violence while exercising this right;

Enacting and enforcing the necessary legislative or other measures, in cooperation with relevant stakeholders, including the private sector and civil society organizations, to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls in digital contexts;

Mainstreaming a gender perspective into their criminal justice systems and into efforts to prevent and combat crime, including digital technology-mediated and transnational organized crime, including by developing and implementing national criminal justice legislation, policies and programmes that take into account the important role and specific needs of women and girls and by promoting gender-specific measures in crime prevention and protection policies;

Also calls upon States to take immediate and effective action to respond to all forms of violence against women and girls, including in digital contexts, and to protect all victims and survivors by:

Holding perpetrators to account and combating impunity for all forms of violence, including violence used to intimidate women and girls who are exercising the right to freedom of opinion and expression;

Ensuring that legislation allows for the timely and effective investigation, prosecution, sanction and redress of violence against women and girls in digital contexts;

Publicly condemning all forms of violence against women and girls through media and information campaigns and providing women and girls with effective remedies for violence that takes place in digital contexts, including remedies that protect their privacy and avoid their secondary victimization;

Ensuring the promotion and protection of the human rights of all women and their sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences, including through the development and enforcement of policies and legal frameworks, and strengthening health systems that make quality comprehensive sexual and reproductive health-care services, commodities, information and education universally accessible and available, including in digital contexts, including, inter alia, safe and effective methods of modern contraception, emergency contraception, prevention programmes for adolescent pregnancy, maternal health care, such as skilled birth attendance and emergency obstetric care, which will reduce obstetric fistula and other complications of pregnancy and delivery, safe abortion where such services are permitted by national law, and the prevention and treatment of reproductive tract infections, sexually transmitted infections, HIV and reproductive cancers, and recognizing that human rights include the right to have control over and to decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free from coercion, discrimination and violence;

Removing gender bias from the administration of justice and enhancing the capacity and capability of law enforcement officials to address violence against women and girls, including by providing systematic gender-sensitivity and awareness training, as appropriate, for police and security forces, prosecutors, judges and lawyers, integrating a gender perspective into security sector reform initiatives, developing protocols and guidelines, and enhancing or putting in place appropriate accountability measures for adjudicators;

Ensuring that all actors involved in or attempting to commit violence against women and girls are held accountable and brought to justice, taking into account the multi-jurisdictional and transnational nature of violence against women and girls in digital contexts;

Encouraging business enterprises, in the effective implementation of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, to protect the private data of women and girls, to create transparent and effective processes for reporting violence and to develop policies that meaningfully protect women and girls from violence in digital contexts;

Encouraging and ensuring the participation of women and girls in the development and implementation of policies, programmes and other initiatives aimed at eliminating violence against women and girls in digital contexts;

Establishing a system to regularly collect, analyse and publish statistical data disaggregated by sex, age and disability status on complaints about all forms of gender-based violence against women and girls;

Encourages States and, as appropriate, the relevant funds and programmes, organizations and specialized agencies of the United Nations system, international financial institutions, civil society organizations, the private sector and other stakeholders:

To collect, share, positively recognize and widely publicize good practices to counter gender stereotyping, negative portrayals and the exploitation of women and girls in all forms of media and digital technologies as part of their efforts to eliminate violence and discrimination against women and girls;

To enhance, for the benefit of women and girls, international cooperation in support of national efforts to create an enabling environment to reduce the digital and information divides between developed and developing countries, and to promote, develop and enhance access to digital technologies;

Welcomes the panel discussion on violence against women and girls, held during the annual full-day discussion on women’s human rights at the thirty-eighth session of the Human Rights Council, and requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to present a summary report on the discussion to the Council at its fortieth session;

Decides to continue its consideration of the issue of the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences as a matter of high priority, in conformity with its annual programme of work.

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