CYBER VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS

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