A delegation from the European Parliament’s Committee on Gender Equality and Women’s Rights (FEMM), led by its chair, Lina Gálvez (S&D, Spanish) attended the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) from 17 to 20 March, and organised a side event on Tuesday 18 March devoted to achieving the objectives of the Beijing Declaration, the UN resolution which thirty years ago set out a plan of action for equality between women and men.
During a first panel entitled ‘Combating gender-based violence in the digital age’ the speakers agreed on the urgent need to combat these forms of violence, which range from online harassment to the dissemination of non-consensual content.
“We know that digital platforms have become sites of systematic violence against women, including female politicians, journalists and activists” said UN Under-Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, Kirsi Madi.
The latter reported that – according to UNESCO figures from 2021 – 73% of women journalists have been victims of cyber-violence, while 58% of women parliamentarians in Europe have suffered online attacks, according to a study published in 2018 by the Council of Europe.
French MEP Mélissa Camara (Greens/EFA) shared her personal experience: “I had to leave Twitter because of the incessant flow of sexist, racist and homophobic insults. This reality discourages women from getting involved in public life”.
In the course of the presentations, collective action involving institutions, civil society and technology companies emerged as the way forward.
And with good reason, as Eleonora Meleti (EPP, Greek) pointed out, “cyber-violence is not just a virtual problem; it has real and systemic consequences for freedom of expression and democracy”.
To curb these scourges, the European Union is seeking legislative solutions. The 2024 directive on combating gender-based violence makes cyber-violence an offence in its own right.
In addition, the Digital Services Act (DSA) now imposes obligations on the major digital platforms to limit the spread of hate content and sexual deepfakes.
“What is illegal offline must also be illegal online”, said Lina Gálvez. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)