CYBER VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS

ecome aware of its presence on their sites (New
Zealand). In South Africa, an individual within a company
as well as the company itself can bear criminal liability
for failing to comply with a court’s request to facilitate
the identification of an individual accused of online
harassment. 87 The Manila Principles on Intermediary
Liability, while not VAWG specific, provide useful
information and research.
Terms of Use in practice: There is no one-size-fits-all
solution for the complex set of challenges raised by Terms
of Use (ToU) enforcement. Platforms vary in terms of
history, mission, content hosted, size, and user base,
and no single set of practices will be an appropriate
fit in every case. Moreover, while the examples in this
report focus on platforms that host social media, the
recommendations are broadly applicable to companies
that host different types of user-generated content.
They should acknowledge that companies can have a
significant impact on user rights and user satisfaction by
being clearer and more consistent in how they implement
ToU and interact with users. And they are mindful that
costs associated with creating channels for customer
support, responses to user inquiries, appeals processes,
and similar mechanisms should not be underestimated.
Positive outcomes often rely on proactive and transparent
communications with users from the outset and at each
stage of interaction between the company and a user. It is
in this context that recommendations cover primarily the
following areas: Offer clear, consistent, and transparent
ToU and guidelines:
• Respond when a suspected violation of the ToU is
identified
• Provide opportunities for recourse: appeals, due
Process, and data export
• Embed human rights considerations into company
practice and platform design
• Recommendations for users.
Useful resources exist to help platforms design programs
and policies that are consonant with human rights
norms and practices. These include the Global Network
Initiative’s Principles on Free Expression and Privacy;
the Protect, Respect, and Remedy framework created by
John Ruggie, the United Nations Special Representative of
the Secretary General on transnational corporations and
other business enterprises; and the OECD’s Guidelines
for Multinational Enterprises—Recommendations for
Responsible Business Conduct in a Global Context. 88
APC has also created a checklist for social media
platforms based on the Ruggie framework titled: Ensuring
compliance with the UN Guiding Principles: A checklist for
addressing violence against women.
An interesting example of a “soft tool” used by
government to discourage violence against women
through ICTs is being proposed by the Government of
Sweden in the form of a “seal” that will indicate whether
video games are gender friendly. 89
4.3.2 On-line safety tools and apps
To date there are a few security tools for women 90 that
comprise innovative tracking, monitoring and reporting
methods; they represent civil society’s immediate
response to dealing with VAWG. There has been a wave
of safety technology developed for smartphone users:
whistles to get bystanders’ attention, GPS trackers to
lead people to your location, automatic video recordings
to capture proof of a crime, to name a few. For example,
bsafe and guardly are free downloadable apps. Other
examples include:
• HARASSmap is a mobile online technology that
uses interactive mapping to try to reduce the social
acceptability of sexual harassment throughout
Egypt by monitoring harassment. Reports are
mapped and appear as a red dot.
• SafetiPin is a map-based mobile personal safety
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