CYBER VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS
cyber_violence_gender report
cyber_violence_gender report
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1<br />
WHY THE BROADB<strong>AND</strong><br />
COMMISSION FOR<br />
DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT<br />
NEEDS TO LEAD ON <strong>CYBER</strong><br />
<strong>VIOLENCE</strong> <strong>AGAINST</strong><br />
<strong>WOMEN</strong> <strong>AND</strong> <strong>GIRLS</strong><br />
1.1 Cyber-VAWG is a systemic societal<br />
concern and challenge<br />
Almost without exception, across national boundaries and<br />
jurisdictions, millions of girls and women are subjected<br />
to deliberate forms of violence because of their gender.<br />
The violence includes dehumanizing, aggressive and<br />
harmful acts that are in turn physical, psychological,<br />
sexual, and exploitative. These acts take place behind<br />
closed doors in the privacy of homes or workplaces, out<br />
in the open in public settings, and sometimes in the midst<br />
of communities and societies (such as the mob lynching<br />
of women, reported femicide 16 and the sex and human<br />
trafficking trades). The systematic targeting of girls and<br />
women is also a tactic used in war and conflict. 17<br />
Sexual harassment and domestic violence were broadly<br />
accepted as personal practices and private relational<br />
concerns up until four decades ago. Throughout the<br />
1970’s and 80’s, civil rights activists campaigned to have<br />
these private affairs and cultural practices recognised and<br />
treated as harmful societal problems. 18 As the table below<br />
illustrates, the United Nations (UN) acknowledged the<br />
issue in the early 1990’s. Twenty-five years later, however,<br />
efforts to address violence against Women (VAW) and<br />
5