One day, the anonymous interaction turned into physical harassment. He texted her exactly what she was wearing.
“There is a specific terror in being watched by someone without a face,” Ms. Tesfai told U.N. officials, roving ambassadors and civil society representatives in New York to commemorate the tragedy. International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
This unwanted attention quickly escalated into explicit death threats. Ms Tesfai informed the police but they offered no protection.
“Legally, we can’t do anything,” he was told, since everything was digital and the foreigner had no name.
A femicide every 10 minutes
More than 80,000 women and girls were intentionally killed last year, according to a new report on femicide by UN Women and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
More than half of these femicides were committed by intimate partners or family members. This means a woman or girl is almost killed by a partner or family member. every 10 minutes. In contrast, only 11 percent of male homicides were perpetrated by intimate partners or family members in the same year.
This year campaign targets digital violence and calls on governments to implement laws ending impunity, tech companies to ensure platforms are secure, and donors to support organizations in eradicating violence.
Read our explainer on femicide here.
Growing digital abuse
“Almost every high-ranking woman in public life I have met in recent years, whether journalists, activists or politicians, is facing escalating digital harassment, sexualized abuse and threats of physical violence,” the UN said. President of the General Assembly Annalena Baerbock.
According to the report, increased access to digital tools has exacerbated existing forms of violence against women and girls while giving rise to new forms of violence such as non-consensual image sharing, doxing and deepfake videos.
Digital violence, which also includes cyberbullying, cyberstalking and sexual harassment, can result in physical, sexual, psychological, social, political or economic harm.
“The goal has always been the same: to intimidate, humiliate and above all to silence,” Ms. Baerbock said.
“With rapid advances in artificial intelligence, the scale and speed of this abuse is beyond anything we have seen before. »
End impunity
“The challenges are formidable,” warned UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous. “Survivors face disbelief. Attackers enjoy impunity.”
One of the main obstacles to combating digital violence against women and girls is the lack of legal foundations and regulations around the world to ensure safety.
Ms. Bahous proposed three solutions to end impunity. First, digital violence must be recognized as real violence; Second, justice systems need to hold tech companies accountable and, finally, there needs to be more investment in prevention and response.
“Until the law considers digital predation as harm, we are supposed to protect ourselves by becoming invisible,” said Tesfai, recalling the many cases of digital abuse she has encountered.
Echoing the UN’s push for digital violence to be treated as real violence, she added that “we deserve to be protected by laws that protect us while we are still alive.”
Publicado anteriormente en Almouwatin.
