UNESCO is co-vice-chair with ITU of the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, co-chaired by His Excellency Mr Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, and Mr Carlos Slim Helú. The event was led with Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women, and Ms Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, and high level speakers included Baroness Beeban Kidron and Ms Anita Sarkeesian.

“We know there’s a digital divide in terms of access to the Internet,” said the Director-General about the report. “Thanks to this Report, we know now more clearly that once girls and women get online, they face an onslaught of trolling, hate speech, hacking, surveillance, harassment, spamming and malicious sharing.”

The Director-General highlighted that this violence is especially pernicious, because it plays on core features of the Internet – on the ubiquity of devices, on the quasi-permanence of online data, on the anonymity of abusers, creating a climate where abuse goes unreported, deepening injustice, and joining with wider violence against girls and women in the real world.

The Report calls for action at three levels – prevention, safeguards and sanctions.

“This is about changing deep-rooted attitudes and norms, this is, fundamentally, about culture change,” declared Irina Bokova.

“This must start with education, relevant quality education for all, with focus on greater media and information literacy for girls and women. This must include work to strengthen national laws and regulations, stronger safeguards, tools and apps, as well terms of reference with industry. This calls for raising the profile of women in the tech sector, to ensure the quality of representation.”

“We must protect the human rights and dignity of every girl and woman. Stopping violence is about justice, about transforming our societies for sustainable development, for lasting peace,” she said. 

The event was co-organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)  Working Group on Gender and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).