G77 and Emerging Partners Ministerial Roundtable: "Addressing Technology-Facilitated Violence Against Women & Girls"
Meetings & Events
Date: 22 September 2026
Language: English
Transcript: https://transcripts.un.org/en/asset/k11/k11kucbne2
Transcripts available through this tool are created by using automatic speech recognition and are not official records nor official documents of the United Nations. Official records and official documents are available on the Official Document System of the United Nations.

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UN Women · Director of Strategic Partnerships · Megan Gilgen [0:02]:

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, if you could take a seat, please. We will start shortly. Very good. Excellencies, distinguished ministers, esteemed delegates and guests, good afternoon. My name is Megan Gilgen. I am the Director of Strategic Partnerships at UN Women, and it is my distinct honor to moderate this roundtable. Can I just say I am also extremely excited about the energy in the room. I think it bodes well for a very vibrant discussion. On behalf of UN Women and the Government of the Republic of Croatia, I'm delighted to welcome you to the G77 and Emerging Partners Ministerial Roundtable on Technology-Facilitated Violence Against Women and Girls. We will commence with remarks from His Excellency Mr. Andrej Plenkovic, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia, followed by an opening address from Dr. Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women. His Excellency, Mr. Gordon Gerlich Radman, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia. And we will also hear from Charlena Arapora, a survivor, advocate and founder of the Little Girl Project. Next, we will transition into our centerpiece segment, the high level ministerial dialogue featuring distinguished representatives from Turkey, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Croatia, and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. We will conclude with an interactive dialogue bringing together government representatives, youth delegates, private sector leaders, and academia. I take this opportunity to express UN Women's sincere gratitude to the Republic of Croatia for co-hosting this critical and timely dialogue. We are exceptionally honored by the presence and leadership of Prime Minister of Croatia, His Excellency Mr. Andrej Plenkovic, today. Without further ado, it is my privilege to invite His Excellency the Prime Minister to deliver his opening remarks.


Croatia · Prime Minister · Andrej Plenkovic [2:35]:

Thank you very much. Good afternoon. First of all, let me greet the distinguished Under-Secretary-General and the Executive Director of UN Women. Madam Seema Bahus, thank you, Minister Gerlich-Radman, for co-hosting this event. Madam Raputo, thank you for your presence. Madam President, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, nice to see you again in the United Nations, where you feel like at home. I would like to use this opportunity, first of all, to address you. on behalf of the Croatian government and thank the entire team of the foreign ministry, of our ministry of justice, as well as the permanent representation here for close cooperation with the UN Women in many aspects and for many years. This has been a longstanding, fruitful cooperation from both sides. We know that Croatia is participating here in order to make a difference, in order to help and to respond. For us, gender equality and the protection of women and girls are core values guiding both our domestic policies and our international engagement. Croatia is one of few countries in the world that introduced femicide. as a standalone criminal offense in our national legislation. We promoted this step and our policies in relevant United Nations bodies, including through the Commission on the Status of Women. Commitment to gender equality and protection of women and girls is also readiness to respond to the challenges of our time, unfortunately. New and emerging technologies are rapidly transforming our societies. They have contributed to creating unprecedented and positive opportunities for women and girls. However, technology is also misused, even weaponized. Today, we gather here for an urgent challenge: technology-facilitated violence against women and girls. Online violence is not simply a digital problem. It causes profound and prolonged psychological, social, economic, and physical harm. Very often, what begins online does not remain online. Such criminal behavior is later often a fertile ground for new generations of offenders and, unfortunately, new generation of victims. Artificial intelligence is adding a new dimension to this challenge. Its rapid development offers enormous opportunities, including for bringing down criminals and offenders. But it can make abusive content easier to create, replicate, and disseminate at unprecedented speed and scale. Our response must therefore be equally ambitious. First, we need strong laws and effective enforcement. Technological innovation moves faster than our ability to protect fundamental rights. So we need to step up our cooperation. Second, we need greater accountability from technology companies and digital platforms. Innovation and freedom of expression must go hand in hand with responsibility. Appropriate policies accompanied by robust and adaptable systems are a must. Third, we need more data and research accompanied with stronger international cooperation. Technology-facilitated violence crosses borders by its very nature. No country can address it alone. At the same time, we need to establish better interaction with the industry. And fourth, we must invest in prevention and education. We need to equip young people with the knowledge and necessary values, including how to use technology responsibly. Finally, digital transformation must advance human rights, equality, and human dignity. The digital space should be a space in which every woman and every girl can participate freely, safely, and equally. It must remain a tool for empowerment, opportunity, and equality. Let us therefore use today's discussion to identify challenges and possible solutions and to strengthen our collective determination to act. Thank you very much for this opportunity.


UN Women · Director of Strategic Partnerships · Megan Gilgen [7:47]:

Thank you very much, Your Excellency, for the opening remarks and for Croatia's continued leadership on this vital agenda. I am now pleased to give the floor to the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UN Women, Dr. Sima Bahous.


UN Women · USG and Executive Director · Sima Bahous [8:04]:

Thank you, Excellencies, colleagues and partners, all protocols observed. I warmly thank the Republic of Croatia for co-hosting this ministerial roundtable with UN Women, and I also thank Prime Minister Plenkovic for bringing us together here today. I thank the G77 for its sustained support for gender equality in multilateral spaces. By taking up this issue during the General Assembly's high-level week, you are bringing the safety of women and girls online to the highest level of political discussion, and we thank you for that. I also thank Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Gordan Grlic-Radman, for your support, Excellency, and allow me to also welcome Ms. Charlena Irupa, founder of The Little Girl project for raising awareness and for strengthening the protection of children. Digital technology, Excellencies, has opened new doors for women and girls. It connects them to education, to work, services, and public life. We want those doors to remain open and to open wider. Yet, many women and girls face threats and abuse when they step through them. Technology can be used to harass, survey, and silence. The harm can follow them offline into their homes, their work, and their communities. And we all lose when women are pushed out. We lose a journalist's reporting, a candidate's leadership, a girl's idea. This is happening on a scale we cannot ignore. Seven in 10 women surveyed by UN Women in the public sphere has faced online violence linked to their work. Four in 10 reported related harm offline. Our gender snapshot this year shows how often women are shut out of decisions that affect their lives. Digital spaces are now part of public life. we must remove the barriers that keep women from participating safely and from shaping the technologies of the future. Yesterday, the Secretary-General reminded the General Assembly of the promise of artificial intelligence and the need for accountability as it advances. That call speaks to our work here. Generative AI can create new opportunities It can also be used to fabricate intimate images, impersonate women, and spread disinformation. As technology advances, so must the protection of women and girls. We do have a shared commitment to build on. At the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, Member States called for zero tolerance of violence carried out or amplified through technology. We agreed on the direction. Now, together, we can show what that commitment delivers: stronger prevention, protection for survivors, and greater accountability from those who build and govern digital spaces. Women's rights organizations helped put this issue on the international agenda. Their knowledge continues to lead us towards solutions. As technology changes the lives of women and girls, they need a strong voice for gender equality at every table where its future is being decided. If we do not do that, we will be embedding more inequality in the future of technology, actually in the current present of technology. This is the role of UN Women, and this is the role that UN Women was created to play. UN Women works with them, with member states, with technology partners to prevent abuse, to strengthen protection and access to justice, to improve the evidence and to support survivors. This roundtable is an important chance to bring those efforts together. Let us share what works. Let us make technology safer from the start. Let us invest in the women leading this work. Together, we can build a digital future in which every woman and every girl is free to participate, free to lead, free to thrive, and free to shape what comes next. I thank you.


UN Women · Director of Strategic Partnerships · Megan Gilgen [13:04]:

Thank you, Executive Director. I now have the pleasure of giving the floor to the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia, His Excellency Mr. Gordon Grlic-Radman. Thank you, Excellency.


Croatia · Minister of Foreign and European Affairs · Gordan Grlic-Radman [13:23]:

Thank you so much, and Mr. Prime Minister. Distinguished Under-Secretary-General, Madam Sima Bahous, distinguished ministers, my dear colleagues here, and also the Shalena Erapuru, survivor, advocate, and founder, Little Bear Project. I welcome you. Dear colleagues, and of course, our Madam President, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic. Ladies and gentlemen, it's really my pleasure to welcome you to this ministerial roundtable, co-hosted by Croatia and UN Women. It was just a year when we also had a similar meeting here. That means Croatia is really ready to be a trustful partner on this. I am sure that so there will be also next year as well here. It's anger, as you mentioned, and it's a very important project and very important topic for ISAI dedicated to. This event is dedicated to a challenge that touches every society represented in this room, technology facilitated violence against women and girls. As Prime Minister of Croatia and Mr. Plenkovic said, digital technology has opened extraordinary opportunities for women and girls to learn, to connect, to lead, to be heard, and to be heard. Yet the same tools are increasingly being turned against them. Various online harmful practices are imposing damage on real lives globally. Millions of women and girls still lack legal protection from these harmful practices. These are not abstract figures. Behind every number is a woman silenced, a girl afraid to go online, a journalist, activist or leader pushed out of public life. Croatia takes this challenge seriously, both at home and on the international stage. Gender equality is enshrined in our Constitution, in our legislation and other strategic documents. The elimination of violence against women remains among our top priorities. In 2024, we amended our criminal code to explicitly define gender based violence. As also Prime Minister mentioned, as an aggravating circumstances and to introduce a criminal offense of femicide. Furthermore, our government criminalized the misuse of sexually explicit recordings, including their non-consensual distribution. Our newest act also set clear, coordinated procedures across police, justice, health, and social welfare systems. We also recognize that legislation alone is not enough. Prevention must begin as early as possible. Our schools now embed digital literacy, online safety, and respectful, non-stereotype relationship across curriculum. Also, National Media Literacy Portal equips children, parents, and teachers to recognize and respond to online violence. In addition to that, our welfare, and labor laws work together to ensure that no woman is left without protection or support, whether the violence she faces begins online or offline. One lesson stands out clearly. Technology-facilitated violence is not virtual. Its consequences are entirely real. They may escalate into physical violence. That is why our actions cannot be confined to a single government institution, a single sector or a single country. That require governments, technology companies, educators, justice system and civil society working together. This is precisely why Croatia gladly joins the UN Women in convening this roundtable. We hope that today's exchange will strengthen our collective political commitment, generate practical partnership, and help build digital spaces that are safe, inclusive, and rights-based for every woman and girl worldwide. Thank you so much, and I look forward to our discussion. Thank you very much.


UN Women · Director of Strategic Partnerships · Megan Gilgen [18:37]:

Thank you, Your Excellency. And I now have the honor to introduce Ms. Sharlina Arapuro, survivor, advocate, and founder of the Little Girl Project.


Survivor, Advocate, Founder of Little Girl Project · Sharlina Arapuro [18:49]:

Thank you so much all for being here. And thank you so much, UN Women and the Republic of Croatia, for giving me this immense honor. My name is Sharlina Arapuro, and I am an artist, survivor, and founder of Little Girl Project from Finland and Sweden. When I was being sexually abused as a child, I wrote speeches like this one to survive. I wrote about the things that I wanted to say and change. And when I wanted to die, I promised to stay alive so that I could be in rooms like this in front of people like you, telling you what needs to change. But unfortunately, I am not alone. I stand here today on behalf of every single woman and every single girl who might never have the privilege to speak in rooms like this, and every single survivor who have never received justice, and every single survivor who have not lived long enough to tell their story. I am speaking here on behalf of all of them on this global crisis. The global research estimates that every single second, 10 children are being sexually exploited and abused online. That is 300 million children every single year. This is not happening somewhere else. This is happening right here and right now on all of your cell phones and laptops right in front of you. And we need to stop treating online violence as though it has less harm, because it doesn't. Also, research tells us otherwise. A clear research has found that survivors from childhood sexual violence, which included an online element, reported more long-term and worse consequences than every category measured compared to survivors whose abuse did not have an online element. And it makes sense. I know it might be hard to comprehend because technology is new, but listen to me when I tell you that I understand that, not only as an advocate, but as a survivor. Because the abuse I survived did not end when the act itself ended. It just got worse. It followed me and it still follows me. It shattered my sense of self. It shattered my rights to my own body. And like I sing in my music, it stole pieces of me that belongs to me. Technology makes this abuse last forever and it never goes away. A few months ago, I sat in the European Parliament as a survivor, listening to a woman who lost her child to online sexual abuse. And that child could have been me. Luckily enough, I wrote these speeches. But when I was a child, shame convinced me that I somehow was alone and that it was my fault. Because even when I spoke and reported, I wasn't believed, helped, or supported. When we fail to make this a political priority, we are adding another layer to that silence and to that shame. We fail every single girl and woman out there with that silence, and we are all as a collective failing right now. Today, technology is creating new ways to silence women and girls every single second. They are being exploited and abused. And AI generated abuse does not make the harm artificial, although the technology might be. The violation is not. I did not come here just to tell you about what happened to me. I came here to ask what we are going to do next. Just like the Prime Minister said, we have to make this a political priority. We need clear and stronger laws. What is illegal and accepted offline must also be illegal online. It has the same consequences, if not even worse. AI generated child sexual abuse material and non consensual, non consented sexual deepfakes must be explicitly addressed and removed immediately because technology crosses borders like we just heard. Our response must also. Hold tech companies accountable. We can create safety by design, not when the harm has already happened. We need to prevent, detect, and remove this abuse. Governments, tech companies, and countries must work together because no single country can solve a problem alone that crosses all of these borders. We need to build justice with survivors and give survivors accessible long-term help and support. Because survivors' knowledge can be learned from things that doesn't even include in a policy paper. That's why it's such a great honor to speak here as a survivor on behalf of all the survivors. But do not ask what happened to us. Ask what would have protected us. Whilst I've been speaking here today, an estimate of over 3,000 children have been sexually abused online. Every one of them, a child just like I was, a childhood broken and a pieces of them stolen. We have survivors in every single country, in every single language, in every single community. This is not somebody else's crisis. It is all of ours together. So I hope you listen, but more importantly, I truly hope that you finally act. Because I was a little girl and I luckily stayed alive, hoping that I could be here in this room today to make a change. And today, I was lucky enough to keep that promise. But there are many who didn't. Thank you so much. Please act so that no other child and no other women has to make the same promises and the same speeches that I just did.


UN Women · Director of Strategic Partnerships · Megan Gilgen [25:12]:

Thank you so much, Ms. Arapura, for those very impactful remarks. I think the executive director must leave to another engagement, but we very much thank you for being here. And we We look forward to commencing the panel discussion. I will first turn to Her Excellency Ms. Maniher Ozdemir Goktas, thank you, Minister of Family and Social Services of the Republic of Turkey. Turkey has taken important steps in recent years to recognize and address the growing risks that women and girls face in digital spaces. The inclusion of digitalization and artificial intelligence as a cross-cutting priority in the fifth National Action Plan on Combating Violence Against Women demonstrates a strong commitment to responding to these emerging challenges. As your ministry moves from policy commitments to implementation, what concrete measures are envisaged through the Fifth National Action Plan to prevent and respond to emerging forms of technology facilitated violence against women and girls while ensuring coordination with technology companies and public institutions? Your Excellency.


Türkiye · Minister of Family and Social Services · Mahinur Ozdemir Goktas [26:38]:

Honorable ministers, dear participants, it's an honor and privilege to address you today. Digital technologies are transforming our lives while expanding women's access to employment, education, the knowledge economy, and decision making. However, this technology can also enable new forms of violence against women and girls. Platforms that disregard their safety can become tools of discrimination and abuse. They are just online threats, harassment, stalking, intimate intimate image abuse and misuse of personal information are urgent global concern. AI generated fake images are also used to threaten and humiliate women and girls. We must take swift, decisive and effective action to prevent victims from being subjected to ongoing harm and threats. We need comprehensive action to prevent victims to protect victims, ensure access to justice, and empower women and girls. Technology companies must have clear responsibilities, sanctions for non-compliance, and effective complaint and response mechanisms. Safety and human rights must guide digital services, while our laws keep peace. Illegal content must be removed without delay. Perpetrators must face legal consequences, while victims need secure channels that protect privacy and provide rapid support. We must strengthen the judiciary, law enforcement, and social services to address technology-facilitated violence. Dear participants, in Turkey, we combat all forms of violence against women with zero tolerance, strong legislations, and updated policies. digitalization and artificial intelligence from a cross-cutting pillar of our 5th National Action Plan. The Turkish penal code criminalized the unlawful disclosure of private images or recordings and stalking with heavier penalties for sexual harassment through electronic means. Under our law 6284, we protect women regardless of the means used to commit violence. Our Violence Prevention and Monitoring Center support victims and use technology to strengthen protection. Since 28, women under threat have been able to use CADES. This is a mobile application to request help from the nearest law enforcement team with a single tap. We monitor high risk victims and perpetrators through electronic monitoring bracelets in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior. Turkish National Police has established a unit specifically dedicated to combating cybercrime. Our national action plan includes new guidelines on digital violence and rights protection, as well as digital safety and media workshop for women and children who are victims of violence. We are also developing a module to help young women and girls recognize and respond to digital violence. dear guests, stronger digital literacy and awareness are essential for women, girls, children, families, educators and professionals. Digital violence knows no borders. We must try and on international cooperation, international standards, and we must share good practices and cooperate with all relevant stakeholders. Turkey stands ready to expand. international cooperation and share its experience so that together we can build a safer and more equal digital future for all women and girls. I thank you.


UN Women · Director of Strategic Partnerships · Megan Gilgen [30:42]:

Thank you, Excellency, for outlining the actions taken by your government. I now raise a question to Her Excellency, Ms. Hajja Iman Suleiman Ibrahim, the Minister of Women's Affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Nigeria has taken important steps to strengthen violence against its response to violence against women and girls, including through the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act and the Cybersecurity Act, providing legal foundations to address forms of abuse that also occur in digital spaces. Excellency, as Nigeria strengthens its response to technology facilitated violence against women and girls, what lessons have emerged from applying existing cybercrime and gender based violence frameworks? And what are the government's priorities for ensuring effective prevention, survivor centered support and accountability in digital spaces?


Nigeria · Minister of Women's Affairs · Hajja Iman Suleiman Ibrahim [31:40]:

Thank you very much, moderator. May I start by extending courtesies to the Prime Minister who is here and the ED of the UN Women. I would like to thank the Government of Croatia and the UN Women for this convening. I would like to recognize my colleagues, Turkey, Bangladesh and other countries that are present. I would also like to recognize the survivors. Without survivors, we will not know how better to do stuff. And I hope that we'll leave this room with better reasons to be able to collaborate and do more around cyber crimes on our women and girls. Nigerians experiences have established a fundamental principle that the digital space may be new, but the violence is not. Technology has changed the tools used to perpetuate abuse on our women and girls. It has not diminished the state's responsibility to protect the women and girls. Technology also has further reinforced the need for government, the private sector, the tech companies, also the NGOs and civil societies and communities to work together in ensuring that we address this critical challenge that we face. Accordingly, the ongoing review of our Nigerian Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act of 2015, the Child Rights Act of 2003 is of critical importance to us. This effort is to ensure that our protection framework reflects contemporary realities, including cyberstalking, online harassment, impersonation, sextortion, image-based abuse, and the online exploitation of our children. This review closes legal gaps. It defines offenses and jurisdiction clearly and more strongly. It establishes duties of service providers It will help to strengthen remedies and deliver a framework that fits the future that we see. However, legislations alone will not protect our citizens. Government must fund and coordinate a national system for prevention, early warning reporting, survivor center services, institutional coordination, effective investigation, and accountability. Our ministries, departments, and agencies will continue to publish clear mandates, designate focal points, and establish time-bound referral pathways, maintain secure case management systems, and report measurable results. Our law enforcement and justice institutions continue to investigate complaints promptly, preserve digital evidence, protect survivors from retaliation, and prosecute offenders in accordance with the law. Ladies and gentlemen, in Nigeria, we continue to strengthen the capacity of frontline institutions to identify, to investigate, and to respond to technology-facilitated gender-based violence. We also continue to strengthen and expand our social workforce so our survivors are able to access psychosocial support, legal, medical, and referral support promptly, confidentially, and without re-traumatization in the process. Recent responses to technology-facilitated abuse of our children have demonstrated the urgent need for a whole-of-government, whole-of-system approach, and whole-of-society approach that speaks to rapid coordination amongst women affairs authorities, our law enforcement agencies, our child protection actors, and all other relevant institutions. These bodies must designate responsible officers, active joint response protocols, and share information lawfully and securely, and conduct risk assessment and place the safety and dignity of survivors at the center of every response. Prevention must begin before the first click, not after the first crime. Government and development partners have continued to finance nationwide digital safety education, require age-appropriate safeguards in schools and public services, and support accessible reporting channels. The private sector, the tech companies, must take ownership and full responsibility and rise to the occasion in addressing this critical challenge that we face as a people. Institutions must train the teachers, health workers, social workers, and community leaders to recognize warning signs, document incidents safely, and refer survivors without delay. Speed and safety should penetrate at the same level and get the same attention. Communities must challenge victims blaming. They must support survivors, protect children's privacy, and report abuse through trusted channels. Technology platforms must meet their responsibilities by applying safety by design, strengthening accessibility reporting, and rapid takedown mechanisms, notifying users about risk and decisions. preserving evidence for lawful investigation, and disrupting repeat offenders, and cooperating fully with competent authorities while protecting users' rights and privacy. Ultimately, what is violence offline does not cease to be violence because it occurs online. Women and children are entitled to the same dignity, safety, justice, and support in the digital space as it is in the physical world. Government must continue to set and enforce standards, fund services, and hold perpetrators and neglect actors accountable. Institutions must operationalize those standards through trained personnel, coordinated procedures, and transparent monitoring. Technology platforms must prevent abuse, respond quickly to reports, and provide lawful access to evidence, and communities must promote safe, digital behavior, support survivors and report harms. We must also, for Nigeria, just like the rest of the world, the task to regulate technology is not simple, but it's urgent and is very, very important. We'll continue to ensure that our laws, our institutions, our social protection systems evolve as rapidly as the technologies used to perpetrate these harms. Strengthen clear implementation plans, dedicate resources Regular public reporting, independent oversight, and sustained engagement with our survivors, civil society and communities, and the tech companies. This is the direction of our current reforms, and all responsible actors must contribute to delivering it. Nigeria stands ready to continue to collaborate with our sister countries to ensure that we have a strong response to this challenge. Thank you so much.


UN Women · Director of Strategic Partnerships · Megan Gilgen [38:52]:

Thank you so much, Excellency, particularly for your emphasis on coordinated systems that connect protection, survivor support, justice, and frontline responders, and for your call that prevention must begin before the first click. I now turn to Her Excellency, Ms. Shama Obeid, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh. Bangladesh has brought strong national attention to digital violence against women and girls, including through the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs leadership in convening a national dialogue under the 16 days of activism. Minister, building on Bangladesh's national dialogue and its commitment to stronger laws, coordinated institutional responses and public awareness, What are the government's priorities for moving from recognition of digital violence to a survivor centered, multi-sectoral response? Thank you.


Bangladesh · Minister of State for Foreign Affairs · Shama Obeid [39:51]:

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I truly thank Croatia and UN Women for convening this so important roundtable today. Violence against women takes many forms, while many cases remain under-recognized and unreported. We must therefore continually strengthen policies and practices to protect women and girls from both persistent and emerging threats. Technology-facilitated violence is one such threat. Women and girls are increasingly targeted through digital harassment as AI tools are used to harass, defame, impersonate, and endanger them online. Mr. Chair, Bangladesh has a strong legacy of addressing violence against women. Our first female prime minister, Begum Khaleda Zia, advanced policies promoting women's participation across all spheres of life and strengthening their protection. Building on this legacy, the present government under Prime Minister Tariq Rahman is strengthening legal and institutional responses, including coordinated action for faster investigation and trials of violence against women and girls, alongside stronger accountability and deterrence. A dedicated women only pink bus service has also been launched recently with female drivers and conductors to provide safer public support on the streets. In addition, we have strengthened coordination on legal and social protection, rehabilitation, safe shelter, psychological support and skills development for women and girls. We are we all review our national cybersecurity laws, but I truly believe that laws are not enough. We believe that a consolidated, a collaborated global effort is needed to combat this situation. When we listen to strong voices like Ms. Arapora, we know that we need to do more. Our response also addresses emerging digital threats. We recently convened the Dhaka Dialogue to develop voluntary guidelines for states on preventing, investigating, and remedying digital harassment against women and girls. We will establish a Friends of the Dialogue and a technical working group to develop a reference document on definitions and standards. I, to say not the least, I would like to talk about our peacekeepers who continue to support peace and recovery in post-conflict settings. And a lot of them are also women, where the risk of sexual violence remains acute. Our peacebuilders support justice, reform, and women's participation in peace processes. furthermore providing shelter to Rohingya women and girls reflect our commit commitment to protecting women afflicted by conflict and persecution. We invite all the member states to partner with Bangladesh in the initiative of of preventing this digital harassment against women and children for all. Thank you.


UN Women · Director of Strategic Partnerships · Megan Gilgen [43:24]:

Thank you so much, Excellency. As we move to the European space, across Europe, there is a growing attention being paid to the rise of online harassment, cyberstalking, image-based abuse, and other forms of technology-facilitated violence. We know that Croatia has recently strengthened its broader legal framework on violence against women, including through reforms to criminal legislation. while also participating in national and European discussions on digital violence and efforts to align with the EU Directive on Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. I would now invite State Secretary, His Excellency Ivan Cernich. Your portfolio sits at the intersection of justice and digital transformation. From your experience, how can governments leverage digital innovation to improve reporting, survivor support, and access to remedies for women and girls experiencing online abuse?


Croatia · State Secretary · Ivan Cernich [44:26]:

Thank you for the great question. Yes, indeed, I do believe that my ministry is very interesting, very unique within European Union, and I assume, I guess, also broader, because this combination of justice and digital transformation is definitely, I would say, the justice system has a lot of benefits from it. To answer maybe your question in a way, you know, digitalization and means that we are now investing into digitalizing our judicial system is also helping, I think, in the context of our specific today's subject. Because simply, you know, we have in Croatia one system which is called e-communication. which is allowing communication of not only institutions, but also parties within judicial proceedings with the courts online. And this is definitely increasing the efficiency of the whole judicial process. So here for the victims of violence against women and domestic violence and sexual violence, this is definitely beneficial because simply the justice will be rendered faster. Yes, you mentioned some of the things that we have recently done. Prime Minister and Minister have also been mentioning our separate specific criminal offense of femicide, which we have introduced two and a half years ago, which makes us also quite unique because we are just one of four out of in total 27 European Union member states which has this kind of crime offense. And it is defined as a gender-based murder of a woman. So killing a woman simply because she is a woman. We have here imposed the harshest sanctions there are in Croatia. And also there is no statute of limitation. Regarding the criminal offense of abuse of sexually explicit content, or sexual explicit recordings. This has been done more than five years ago. So I think we were kind of pioneering there also. And it is, of course, the perpetrator here is misusing the relationship of trust by simply, you know, using this sexual explicit recording, which was made for personal use and making it available to the third party. And so it's basically what we know as revenge ****. And also within this criminal offense, we have a deep fake ***********. So when you are misusing someone's image again and replacing it with someone else's image. And also we have as a, as a co-qualificatory elements for this offense, if it has been made available to the larger number of persons. And then, of course, typically through social networks. And then, of course, the sanctions are much harsher, much stricter. We also have a security measure of a ban on use of internet, or a ban on internet access. And that is happening, of course, when the criminal offense is being conducted online and there is a risk that it can be repeated. So we have done a lot and we are still doing a lot. You have mentioned the EU directive. We are right now transposing directive and it includes some, let's say, new offenses, but most of them we already do have within our criminal legislation. So the revenge **** the cyberstalking, cyber harassment, cyber incitement to hatred or violence. Also interesting, right to be forgotten, the victim's right for the erasure of the sexually explicit content. We have all this, but still, by transposing the directive, we do believe that we will achieve even a greater level of protecting of women against violence. And one other thing that I also wanted to mention and conclude with it is also that, in fact, last week we had a proposal by the European Commission of the EU Kids Act. And this is something what Charlena was talking about, what we do believe that we will have assurance, we will have greater responsibility for online services. And of course, as some of the previous speakers have mentioned, legislation is not enough. Implementation is crucial. Also, technology is not enough. I would say that digital literacy is essential here. So I would simply concluded by saying that protecting children requires a combination of effective regulation, responsible technology, and informed families. Thank you.


UN Women · Director of Strategic Partnerships · Megan Gilgen [49:51]:

Thank you, Mr. Sernich. And I think all of our speakers on the panel speaking for government are showing the demonstrable progress, but also some of the challenges that remain. I would now have the pleasure of introducing Ms. Sasha Hevlechic, founder and CEO of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, who is the last speaker for this panel. We know that there is growing awareness of the so-called manosphere ecosystem that radicalizes young men and boys into worldviews that normalize and exacerbate violence against women and girls. What does your analysis tell us about the current landscape of threats that are facing women and girls online? And drawing on your extensive experience working with policymakers, regulators, and civil society, what are the most effective solutions to counter the growing influence of online misogyny?


ISD · Founder and CEO · Sasha Havlicek [50:47]:

Thank you so much. moderator, thank you for your partnership, for your leadership. Indeed, thank you to all of the countries sitting around the table highlighting this unbelievably important issue. My organization has been working to detect and analyze all forms of online hate, abuse, extremism. And we know this, of course, sitting around this table. Ask any girl, ask any woman in public life. The scale and extent of online harassment, abuse, violence has gone through the roof with the rise, of course, of digital technologies. And now we have a whole new set of challenges that present themselves with generative AI. We have worked together with UN Women, with Equimundo on some research, as you've pointed out, of the manosphere, where we've seen the combination of certain subcultures online and the algorithmic processes and capabilities of social media amplify mainstream certain cultures that were hitherto really stuck in the fringes where they needed to stay. And so I'd love to come to a little bit of what we do about those types of problems that we're facing. And I give you just a little bit of a snippet from that research very quickly. You're all fully aware that this has become an entirely global challenge. And It manifests, of course, differently in different cultural and geographic contexts. It's adapted to the local context very effectively. But they are transnational online ecosystems that we can now articulate. They share from each other the tactics, the aesthetics, the tools. And it isn't just random young men involved in this. This has become a tactic of hostile state actors, of authoritarian state information operations. It is the through line, if you like, the common ideological thread across all forms of extremist movement that we track, again, across the ideological spectrum. It is more than just a problem of a bunch of boys behaving badly. So giving you a sense of just a sample of the scale of the kind of problems we see. In just the work we did in Brazil, a sample of 30 YouTube channels within an ecosystem of 309 Manosphere content creators operating 600 and something profiles across five platforms, they generate such an enormous amount of content on a daily basis. They're reaching billions of views. This isn't just hundreds of thousands of people, the kinds of numbers of people that politicians only dream of reaching. Billions of people just in Brazil, billions of impressions and engagements online by this manosphere ecosystem. So the scale is enormous, and again, the manosphere, we have to understand, it's just a tiny piece of the problem. In fact, when you look at misogynistic content and ideas, they're embedded across a much wider ecosystem now online. And so if you are looking for content about masculinity or money or fitness or religion or you're interested in gaming, pick your thing, culture, politics, you're very likely as a young man to be led to manosphere content. The algorithmic system will take you from something completely innocuous, and often this is for minors, this is boys, not men, will take you into an environment that normalizes rape, that normalizes gender-based violence and abuse, the kinds of things you wouldn't believe are being served to children. So, again, the rise in TGBV, I mean, quite naturally a result of this sort of wild west that we've enabled to happen over the last decade. The normalization of misogynistic views, again, a function of these algorithmic systems. Now, with generative AI, we've just done a piece of work with the UK AI Security Institute identifying about 181 nudification websites attracting more than 40 million unique visitors every month. And these are tools that explicitly give you the opportunity to abuse women that you know. The connection between that and identifiable people, people that are being attacked with this kind of content, real women, real people in the world, of course, is very clear. We also need to understand what those environments are doing to men and boys. Obviously, women are at the sharp tip of the experience of those harms, but men and boys are also being manipulated into environments that lead them to very harmful outcomes, not least with boys. work that we've done with organizations like Movember, who are looking for sort of upstream interventions, healthier, healthier trajectories for young men, we found that 63% of young men surveyed watched man and masculinity influencers. That's the majority today. And 27% of those watching them actually reported feeling feelings of worthlessness by engaging with them. And they're being preyed on. Their senses of loneliness and inadequacy, their nervousness about their financial futures, their ability to raise a family and so on, all of these vulnerabilities, like with most extremist content, are being exploited very effectively by these grifters. And I'll come to the final point, which is monetization. There is an entire economy that's been generated off the back of information operations, disinformation writ large, but particularly targeting young men and boys, the money being made here is the beast that we really need to be looking at. And if it is in fact also cheap and ultimately profitable to be engaging in this kind of activity online, why not? Why not? Even if you're not ideologically committed to it, why not? So I think that we have, in many ways, heard everything that we need to hear from Ms. Arapuru. Thank you so much. You are so brave. We really should just follow your lead on this. As you have said, we have done a lot of work on response. I would say that the burden of safety cannot continue to sit with women and girls themselves. For so long, we have heard from you know, platforms and and and many that, you know, women should be blocking and reporting and disengaging and doing whatever it is that is simply unacceptable. The we're in a good place in that we're making real progress with legislation. We've seen so many developments. We've heard this from from the previous speakers. I think the EU's Digital Services Act and the directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence, the UK's Online Safety Act, I mean, The US Take It Down Act, for everybody that says nothing is moving from a legislative standpoint in the US, this has. And again, I think that there is real progress being made, really where it counts. Now, the challenge is enforcement. And enforcement isn't being supported and resourced well enough. It really needs much more resourcing, and I hope we can get there. Platforms, yes, safety by design and should be held account and their feet should be held to the fire. And I think your voice is the kind of voice that can ultimately do that because the virality of this stuff is absolutely shocking. And then finally, I think there's two things. The institutional silos that currently exist need to be broken down. And it's violence against women and girls, men's health, online safety, child protection, education, extremism. All of these issues are dealt with in quite segmented ways. They are part of one ecosystem. I believe we need to bring a public health approach to this issue. A real public health approach requires us to find a way to put all of this into one system. We've worked now with the Christchurch called Catalyst program to develop a taxonomy for practitioners at the front line. We hope to share this with all of your governments and the practitioners within your countries, but essentially enabling each and every one of these sectors to to access what they need in this very complex ecosystem from the perspective that they come at it from. And then I would just say finally, there's all sorts of ways we must and we can reach people where they are online. We're working with gaming influencers to get into those environments, but there are thousands of ways in which we can do that. And it can't be us. It needs to be credible influences and voices within those ecosystems. There is a lot that we can learn from the extremism interventions landscape for that kind of work. And again, I hope we can scale that work that requires resource.


UN Women · Director of Strategic Partnerships · Megan Gilgen [1:00:04]:

Thank you, Ms. Havelicka. I just wanted to give a huge thank you to all of our panelists. There is no way to summarize, I think, the wealth of what has been shared, but perhaps just three points. I think we have heard that the scale of the threats are daunting, that real progress is being made, and what I have also heard is that the resolve to do more is real and tangible. So I thank all of the panelists for those interventions. And it is now my great pleasure to introduce Ms. Kaliope Mnjiru, who is the director of Ending Violence Against Women in UN Women, and who will be moderating the second part of our interactive dialogue. Over to you, Kaliope.


UN Women · Director of Ending Violence Against Women · Kaliope Mnjiru [1:00:46]:

Thank you so much, Megan, and your excellencies, distinguished guests, our partners, friends, civil society organizations, survivors, that they really make us really keep us knowing how real the work we do is and behind all the data and the impact we heard about in this amazing panel before that there are real women, real children, and they have a real story to share. And you shared a little bit, we heard a lot. There is indeed a great political momentum in order to address digital violence, online violence against women and girls. And we heard a lot about strengthening laws, strengthening policies. We heard to a certain extent, strengthening capacities of the judicial and police forces. And also what we heard, it's also that some governments, they did use technology in order to support survivors and digitalizing they justice responses in order to support survivors. I think this is very, very important progress. And we really... would like to to acknowledge as well the great partnerships that UN Women has with so many governments that they are in this room and around the world in order to address exactly these gaps that all of you have identified so far. And based on these gaps, what UN Women came up with, it's a very specific strategy on how to address technology-facilitated violence against women and girls. First, how we can support the governments and our partners in order to strengthen laws and policies to address this huge issue that with the technology ever rapidly evolving, then we have gaps that we need to address every day and we need to respond really fast. But laws and policies are not enough as we heard from all of you. We really need to strengthen the capacities of judicial and police sectors in order to address and enforce the legislation, but we cannot stop there. And that's why having stronger social norms, that they do not normalize violence against women and girls, as we heard, that we work with institutions and we really address men and boys' mentality about normalizing such violence, including in online spaces. It's very important for us working with you. And we have been doing so much work with all of you on how to and data and research, especially on emerging forms of digital violence, because we heard very clearly today and yesterday how much these different forms of digital violence are evolving. So we're very, very excited to implement this strategy with you all. We're going to hear more from more governments and partners in the room. So I would like now to invite the additional speakers we have in the list. in order to share one key message, experience, commitment or recommendation through the different across the spectrum of the different measures that we have heard so far. So I would like maybe we can keep it to one or one, one minute or two minutes maximum so we can give all the all the panelists to have an opportunity for intervention. So I would like to go to the first one to His Excellency Mr. Ervin Ibrahimovic, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro. The floor is yours.


Montenegro · Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs · Ervin Ibrahimovic [1:04:34]:

Distinguished colleagues, the violence against women and girls stands in the face of humanity as the most widespread and systemic human rights violation globally. Its magnitude is unparalleled. an estimated 736 million, which is approximately one in three women, have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence. It is grounded in deeply rooted structural inequalities, reinforced by discriminatory social norms and power imbalances. Nowadays, it goes even beyond. The technology-facilitated violence is an emerging phenomenon that often goes unrecognized and unreported, while its prevalence remains of the highest concern. Let us be clear, the online violence does not exist in isolation from offline violence. It is part of the same continuum. What happens online can have serious consequences for women's physical and psychological well-being, economic opportunities, and participation in public life. Montenegro, therefore, strongly supports addressing technology-facilitated violence through a human rights-based, survivor-centered, and intersectional approach. Effective action requires strong and enforceable legal and regulatory frameworks. Legislation should keep pace with technological developments and provide effective protection and remedies. Responses should be coordinated across borders, as technology-facilitated violence does not stop at national boundaries. The technology sector has a particular responsibility. Safety, privacy, and human rights should be built into technology from the outset. Companies should assess the gender and human rights impact of their products, algorithms and business models. This is particularly important in the development and deployment of artificial intelligence, where existing gender biases can be reproduced or amplified at scale. Finally, accountability must go hand in hand with prevention and survivor support. Civil society organizations, women's rights organizations, and relevant regulators play a critical role and should be adequately supported. Montenegro remains committed to work with all partners to ensure that digital transformation advances rather than undermines gender equality and the full enjoyment of human rights by all women and girls. Thank you.


UN Women · Director of Ending Violence Against Women · Kaliope Mnjiru [1:07:12]:

Thank you so much, Your Excellency, and particularly for really focusing and emphasizing the role that the government has to play in partnership with civil society organizations and also the safety by design, very important principles. Thank you very much. And now we would like to give the floor to Her Excellency, Mrs. Laura Risannen, Minister of Social Security from Finland. The floor is yours.


Finland · Minister of Social Security · Laura Rissanen [1:07:39]:

Thank you, and thank you for organizing the event, and a special thank you for Charlena for sharing your experience. I'd like to start by saying that I think we have to admit to ourselves that for more than a decade, we have been running a massive uncontrolled experiment on our children with social media and the digital world, and I'm really, truly sorry that we have been doing this. Preventing and eliminating technology-facilitated gender-based violence is a priority for Finland. The EU GBV survey shows that 48% of Finnish women, so half of the Finnish women, reported avoiding their participation in online or social media conversations, compared to 28% of men. And of these women who have experienced online harassment, 39% reported reducing or limiting their participation in conversations. So we see that online-based violence also reduces our participation and therefore also is a threat to democracy. I'd like to just bring one point, as we are limited on time. In Finland, our government has set up a working group on protecting children and young people from the harms of social media, and it began its work in March last year. As a part of its work, we conducted a consultation to gather young people's perspectives on social media. We wanted to hear from themselves. The consultation found that girls spend more time on social media than boys and identify a broader range of risks associated with online environments. These include sexual harassment, bullying, and exposure to violent content. Young people identified becoming a victim of sexual violence online as one of the most significant societal problems requiring action. So young people, they want us to do something. And I think this is a message that we adults and politicians have to hear. So Efforts to improve children's and young people's online safety can also contribute to preventing violence against girls. I was very happy to hear last week of the EU Kids Act, as my Croatian colleague already said, and we are looking forward to implementing that. As digital technologies continue to evolve, there is also a need to better understand the emerging risks. We really have to listen to the victims and the young people themselves and to strengthen online safety, promote digital literacy. This is really important and share good practices on protecting women and girls from online abuse. And this is something that the government of Finland is committed to. Thank you.


UN Women · Director of Ending Violence Against Women · Kaliope Mnjiru [1:10:28]:

Thank you so much, Your Excellency. And bringing the youth perspective in consultations in order to make sure that we have the real experiences in order to develop all these laws and policies is significant. Thank you very much for sharing. And now, I would like to give the floor to Her Excellency, the Honorary Miss Alaa Talabani, Iraqi Prime Minister's advisor for women's issues. The floor is yours. Thank you.


Iraq · Prime Minister's Advisor for Women's Issues · Alaa Talabani [1:11:37]:

Can you hear well? Yeah? Sorry, thank you again. I'm pleased to be among you. In our government program, our new prime minister program, there's a big article on protecting women from all forms of violence and, of course, digital violence. In the parliament, there's a law now called Cyber Crimes Law. We believe it's very important. We had lots of discussion with them. but there is ongoing discussion with the civil societies as well, because there is so many rejected to this law. They think that this is against freedom of expression, but I think it's going to be passed soon. It takes time in our kind of parliament. I was a member in parliament for 16 years, so I know such a law takes time. But at the executive level, we establish a high level committee to examine the issue of harassment against women and girls, including, of course, technology-facilitated violence. We held many, many consultative meetings attended by key security agencies like Ministry of Interior and National Security, and, of course, so many meetings with the civil society and private sector as well. We are collecting data. and doing statistics and lots of studies on that one. We discovered that the digital violence, if not addressed well, it leads to some other crimes like human trafficking and also drug-related offenses. I have an example. I would love to share it with you. someone from our security, National Security Council or secretary, he said that he was received a notification from a high school, a girl high school, that there is a girl she wants to assassinate herself. So when he reached there, and during investigation, they found out that it started with sexual harassment. lead to this digital violence by blackmailing her through photos. And it ended up the same guy to threaten her that, okay, I will stop threatening you if you work selling drugs for me among the girls in the school. That's a real example in a high school in our capital city in Baghdad. So I will not take up too much of your time, but we are here to learn from other countries' experience and to change ideas and experience as we are looking for solution. Our solution may be creating a dedicated platform or an app through mobile as we learn from some other countries, but we look for a good solution which can reach women and girls everywhere, not in the cities, in the rural areas, and how to report digital violence. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. I'm so glad to be here. Thank you. Of course, we need UN Women's support in Iraq. Thank you.


UN Women · Director of Ending Violence Against Women · Kaliope Mnjiru [1:15:02]:

Thank you so much. And you raised an issue that we see in other parts of the world as well, the tension between regulating and criminalizing digital violence with freedom of expression and privacy issues. So thank you for reminding us. And also the second issue, we shouldn't forget that digital violence intersects with so many other forms of violence. And we have growing evidence that also sometimes it starts from digital violence, it can even end up to femicides. And I had a lot of discussion around femicides. Thank you for reminding us these important issues. And now we would like to give the floor to Dr. Moza **** Tanoun Al-Nayan, advisor of the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Foreign Affairs.


UAE · Advisor [1:15:50]:

Excellency, colleagues, I thank Croatia and UN Women for convening this important discussion. And technology facilitated violence against women and girls. Technology has created significant opportunity for women and girls, expanding access to education, economic empowerment, financial inclusion, and social connectivity. Yet, it can also expose them to mistreatment, abuse, and threats. remarkable speed and skill. According to the Secretary General, most recent report, many girls first experience online hostility between 14 and 16. This harm can extend beyond the digital space into surveillance and physical violence while this encouraging women's participation in public life. So international frameworks affirm that rights protected offline must also be protected online. In 2021, the UAE reinforced its laws to criminalize treatment online threats through technology. The UAE believe in the potential of emerging technologies and the responsibility to ensure their safe use. The safety of women and girls must be considered from the outset. We will continue working with member states, second, UN agencies, third, the technology sector to build digital future where women and girls can participate fully and safely. Thank you.


UN Women · Director of Ending Violence Against Women · Kaliope Mnjiru [1:18:21]:

Thank you so much for this very comprehensive intervention. And now I would like to give the floor to Ms. Kemi Williams, Deputy Director and Head of Women and Girls Department of the United Kingdom. Ms. Williams, you have the floor.


United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland · Deputy Director and Head of Women and Girls Department · Kemi Williams [1:18:38]:

Thank you, Alina. I think I'll address my words to you, if that's okay. You've told us that technology facilitated violence against women and girls is one of the fastest growing forms of violence we face today. In the United Kingdom, we are meeting this challenge with unwavering political commitment. For the first time, the UK government has set a mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, with clear commitments to tackle online and technology facilitated abuse as part of that effort. We are making changes to our laws to provide stronger protections. In the UK, it is now a criminal offence to create or request the creation of an intimate image of another person without consent. I am sorry that that did not exist when you were a child, but we are learning and hearing from survivors like yourself. That ensures that those who set out to create synthetic intimate images of individuals without their consent face the full force of the law. It is now also a criminal offence in England and Wales to create or supply nudification apps and other tools designated to create non-consensual intimate images. The nudification tool ban is the first of its kind in the world and targets the developers and suppliers who profit from the profound distress and victimisation of others, particularly women and girls. But regulation alone is not enough. Technology must also be part of the solution. The UK-hosted Global Clearing Centre for Non-Consensual Intimate Image Abuse is a powerful example of what that looks like. Its StopNCII.org technology helps prevent, detect, and remove non-consensual intimate images before they spread online. The UK has been supporting its use internationally, including through partnerships in Nigeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Pakistan and the United States. This reflects a simple principle: no country should start from scratch. We must learn from one another, share what works and build collective responses to a shared challenge. In that spirit, in March, at the UN Commission on the Status of Women, the UK launched a preliminary blueprint for a new model national framework of non-consensual intimate images. This work was co-created with the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse, UN Women, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and the UK charity Southwest Grid for Learning. The framework offers a practical and adaptable model that countries can use to translate best practice and shared principles into coordinated action, strengthening prevention, protection, support for survivors, law enforcement responses, and accountability. We want to work with governments and partners to make this a useful tool for all countries at all stages of digital preparedness. I'm delighted to share that the FCDO is funding a new UN-hosted desk for countries to access technical support to strengthen the systems to tackle technology-facilitated gender-based violence. I invite you all to be part of the global consultations being run by UN Women and Southwest Grid for Learning. Thank you for inviting me to be part of this conversation today. It is a privilege to be among such expertise and commitment.


UN Women · Director of Ending Violence Against Women · Kaliope Mnjiru [1:22:12]:

Thank you so much, Mrs. Williams, for the pioneering legislation that the UK has instigated. I think it's very important. And thank you for announcing the news that we are entering a partnership where we all stand ready, the UK government, other governments, the UN, and our partners in order to offer comprehensive technical assistance to governments and partners on non-consensually intimate images and beyond. So we're very excited and thrilled to enter into this partnership with you all. And now I would like to invite Dr. Payel Das, Principal, I'm sorry, I would like to invite Ms. Gabriela Barrera, First Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Guatemala to the United Nations. You have the floor.


Guatemala · First Secretary · Gabriela Barrera [1:23:06]:

Hello. Thank you for the floor. I would like to thank the Republic of Croatia and the UN Women for convening this meeting, which allows us to address the increasingly urgent matter. Digital transformation offers important opportunities to expand access to education, information, employment, and public participation. However, it can also reproduce and amplify harassment, threats, identity theft, the dissemination of content without consent, and other forms of violence, with serious consequences for dignity, safety, and the full enjoyment of human rights. Our country has developed legal instruments, public policies, and institutional mechanisms to prevent and address violence against women. This includes the law against femicide and other forms of violence against women, the National Plan for Prevention and Eradication of Violence Against Women, and various guidelines and social protection models for victims and survivors. In the area of prevention, the Secretariat against Sexual Violence, Exploitation and Trafficking in Persons promotes the initiative Me conecto sin clavos, which means I connect safely, which combines digital tools, information, content and guidance to promote the safe use of Internet among children and youth. In coordination with the Ministry of Education, more than 30,000 teachers have received training in cybercrime prevention and the protection of children in digital spaces. These advances reflect a sustained institutional commitment. Nevertheless, we recognize the challenges remaining closing digital gender gaps, improving data generation, strengthening reporting mechanisms, and access to justice and developing greater capacities to prevent, identify, and investigate technology-facilitated violence. This response must take into account diverse territorial, cultural, and linguistic realities, as well as the particular needs of indigenous, rural, and young women. Therefore, Guatemala reaffirms its commitment to advising towards safe, inclusive, and violence-free digital spaces in which all women and girls can fully exercise their rights and development their potential. I thank you.


UN Women · Director of Ending Violence Against Women · Kaliope Mnjiru [1:25:37]:

Thank you so much. And I would like to give the floor to Dr. Payel Das, the principal research scientist and manager at the IBM Research AI. The floor is yours.


IBM · Principal Research Scientist and Manager · Payel Das [1:26:01]:

Thank you for convening this important dialogue. To prevent AI-facilitated violence against women and girls, we believe AI governance cannot be an afterthought. It has to be the operational backbone of how AI is built and deployed, especially in enterprise settings where these tools reach billions of users. At IBM, we have tried to put that belief into practice. We have open source Granite Guardian, a suite of safety guardrail models, purpose-built to detect and filter harmful content, including violence, harassment, sexual exploitation, and profanity, before it reaches user or gets amplified by AI systems. These aren't just abstract categories. These map directly onto the tactics used in technology-facilitated violence against women and girls. We have integrated the safeguards into Watsonx


UN Women · Director of Ending Violence Against Women · Kaliope Mnjiru [1:27:40]:

Thank you so much, Ms. Das. And now I would like to give the floor to Dr. Rossana Bellini, assistant professor of computer science at New York University. The floor is yours.


NYU · Assistant Professor of Computer Science · Rossana Bellini [1:27:52]:

Thank you. It's a real honor and privilege to be able to speak here today. So I'm sitting in this seat because I want to advocate that we really need to rethink cybersecurity in our design as to who we consider an adversary. too often, my field presumes that an adversary is someone that is a stranger to us, that doesn't have access to our physical devices or accounts, and is predominantly financially motivated. And we actually find this is very rarely true. None of these actually hold in cases of technology-facilitated abuse and intimate partner violence settings. Estimates within the US are one in three women one in six men, and one in two non-binary and transgender community will experience it across the space of their lifetime. But technology itself can't solve an inherently non-technical problem. And since about 2021, I've been the director of research at the Clinic to End Tech Abuse, which is an initiative that pioneered the clinical computer security model. which is a service design that pairs survivors of technology-facilitated abuse in intimate partner violence settings with experts in security and privacy and trauma-informed care like myself. In this work, we help survivors understand their concerns about their devices, investigate the compromise across their accounts and devices, and also advise on next steps. I have personally helped over 100 survivors with regain their privacy, security, and financial freedom. And as of this year, we have helped over 600. This model is spreading. And as of this year, over 10 clinics across the space of the United States, Europe, and Australia are adopting this model. But it cannot be the responsibility of survivors to continuously direct our attention to ways in which we can predict how technology might be abused. And we designed the clinic not just through working directly with survivors and advocacy groups, but also by adopting principles of threat intelligence directly derived from publicly available forums, perhaps the same forums like the Delicate as already described today. And this is where abusers are openly sharing tips, tricks, and encouragement for how to enact cyberstalking, monitoring, and harassment. And by disrupting these kind of networks, we can really cut up the resources to be able to enact this kind of harm. Cybersecurity plays a huge role in basically continuing to improve these initiatives, and especially in building connections across technical and non-technical disciplines. We have to ensure that these stories from survivors, such as the director from the Little Girl Project, that broke my heart. Let these go directly towards improving abusability testing for consumer facing tools that too often are launched onto the market to be imbued in ways that are entirely predictable to anybody that was paying attention. Technology has a huge role to play and we can actually make a change. And this isn't just a pipe dream because I have used frontline experiences from survivors of technology facilitated abuse to directly advocate for changes at big tech. including Google, Apple and JP Morgan, to make changes to their anti-stalking mechanisms, to their device identification systems and authentication. I really do think we do have the social responsibility to ensure it's not just survivors that are responsible for their privacy and security, and we can absolutely make a difference to ensure technology is safer for everybody involved.


UN Women · Director of Ending Violence Against Women · Kaliope Mnjiru [1:31:37]:

Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Bellini, and especially for emphasizing the need to shift the burden from survivors and women coming up with the violence and the abuse they have been suffering back to the tech platforms and to make sure that we have the adequate standards in place to detect such abuse even before it happens, but then all the right mechanism in place for reporting and for taking down the harmful content as soon as possible. And now lastly, I would like to invite Ms. Tania Soeriantyo, the youth delegate, CEO and co-founder of Generation Girl.


Youth Delegate, CEO and Co-Founder of Generation Girl · Tania Soeriantyo [1:32:20]:

Your excellencies, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for having me in this very important conversation. I come to this conversation from the perspective of a grassroots organization that I've been working with girls and young women across Indonesia who are learning to enter spaces that have not been designed with them in mind, technology, STEM, AI, entrepreneurship, and now increasingly public digital spaces. At Generation Girl, we have received more than 100,000 youths through our programs, with 86% of our beneficiaries being women and 61% coming from rural areas. But behind these numbers actually is a very simple journey. A girl first needs access. Then she needs the skill and the confidence to participate. And eventually, we want her to become someone who creates, someone who leads, and shapes technology herself. But imagine that same girl being more visible online, sharing her work, building a business, speaking more publicly, and finding that visibility comes with harassment, sexualized abuse, and predation, or intimidation. Suddenly, the question isn't only whether she can participate, but it's whether she feels safe enough to continue participating. So in our programs in Generation Girl, digital safety has been a core part of digital literacy from the very beginning. This includes understanding consent, privacy, digital rights, and how to recognize harmful behavior and where to seek help when it matters. But I also want to make one thing very clear, because this cannot be the responsibility of just girls and women alone. At Generation Girl, although the majority of our participants are women, we deliberately involve boys and men. And these boys and men are not participating simply as guests. They actually learn alongside the women in our community, contribute to discussions, collaborate on projects, and help create spaces where respect, empathy, and different perspectives are part of the culture. Because we don't want boys and men to just be bystanders in conversation about women's safety. We want them to be part of creating the culture that make these spaces safer. And I think that responsibility also extends beyond individuals. Governments, schools, platforms, technology companies, and civil society all have a role in preventing abuse and creating effective reporting mechanism and ensuring that when harm does happen, people can access meaningful support. And it is great to hear in this room how countries are taking action. And I hope my country of Indonesia also steps up to this call as well. So ending this, I firmly believe that if we want women and girls to participate equally in the digital future, safety cannot be something we ask them to carry alone. It has to be a shared responsibility. Thank you.


UN Women · Director of Ending Violence Against Women · Kaliope Mnjiru [1:35:09]:

Thank you so much. Miss Sorriento, for really a powerful intervention for digital literacy, for engaging men and boys, and having a really powerful space where everybody can express themselves freely without fearing that they are going to be abused. I think it was clear from our discussion today that your interventions have really underscored the urgency that we need to have in our actions in order to address technology-facilitated violence against women and girls. And also, we identified a lot of opportunities of how will we strengthen the multilateral system and international collaboration across borders since this crime transcends the borders and also collaboration across government, civil society organizations, and technology platforms, we may have the opportunity to really address technology-facilitated violence, online violence against women and girls. And now I have the pleasure to hand over for closing reflections to Mr. Sebastian Rogatsch, Director General for Multilateral and Global Affairs, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia. Mr. Rogatsch, you have the floor.


Croatia · Director General for Multilateral and Global Affairs · Sebastian Rogatsch [1:36:27]:

Thank you so much. And just to reflect on the last intervention, I want to be that man too, one of those men and boys. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much. Also on behalf of Croatia, again, I can only underline what Croatia's Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs said. And thank you really for the depth and the openness of today's discussion. Over the past 90 minutes, we have heard a clear and urgent message from you all. Technology-facilitated violence against women and girls is not a marginal or emerging concern. This is happening. It's one of the defining challenges of the digital age. Millions of women in all spheres of life have experienced online violence, while many still lack legal protection from it. These realities should concern us all. That's why we're here today. But today was not only about the scale of the problem. Today was about solutions. And this was also one of the reasons we convened this with the gracious help of UN Women. What unites us here are efforts in a shared recognition. No single government, company or organization can address this challenge alone. It requires a whole of society of approach and response. Governments, the private sector, civil society, international institutions working in genuine partnership and underlying genuine. Croatia is proud to have co-hosted this roundtable and generally speaking, women's issues If elected to the Security Council for the term 2030-31, we will bring it also into that noble chamber. We leave here today with renewed assurance to strengthen our own legal framework and to support victim-centered justice and to continue, of course, building partnerships. We thank all the speakers, especially, of course, UN Women, also our mission, Katerina is here, all the distinguished speakers. And we ask you to do something, and Croatia and UN Women, if I may, we ask you to carry today's exchanges forward into your capitals, your institutions, into the buildings and halls where it also matters, and then to come back, including through UN Women, ready to turn commitment into action. Thank you once again on behalf of Croatia, and hopefully I'll see you the next time around too. Thank you.