’16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence’ campaign started

Every year, from 25 November to 10 December, the world participates in the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence event. This awareness campaign aims to draw the attention of all those who care about violence against women and girls, raise awareness and provide tools to overcome this challenge.

This year in Ukraine, the campaign focuses on online violence against children, particularly girls. The campaign’s goal is to help social media users (including minors), website visitors, and messaging app users identify, understand, and combat signs of violence in the digital space.

For the Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen Global Platform, cybersecurity has been one of the key topics, highlighted during the Fourth Summit in September 2024, with a focus on children’s safety. During the event, experts discussed the protection of children in the digital dimension, shared case studies of countries and companies, and explored the risks and benefits of AI for children.

According to statistical data, every tenth girl aged 6 to 17 in Ukraine has been asked to send intimate photos of herself, the NGO Stop_Sexting reports. Based on an analysis of nine meta-studies, the WHO notes that, on average, 11.5% of adolescents aged 12 to 16.5 years worldwide face sexual harassment online.

In the case of adults, the study by the Economist Intelligence Unit found that 85% of women surveyed across 45 countries, including Ukraine, have experienced or witnessed online violence. Moreover, 38% of women reported personal experiences of such abuse.

The most common forms of online violence include cyberstalking, cyberharassment, domestic violence using online tools, blackmail, manipulation, insults, and the dissemination of intimate materials without the victim’s consent.

Psychological violence often has the most severe consequences for victims. This includes cyberbullying (harassment aimed at humiliation), sexist hate speech (derogatory or discriminatory comments based on gender), body shaming (mocking or criticizing the appearance of girls or women), outing (disclosing private information about sexual orientation, personal life, or other details without consent), among others.

Sexual harassment online is also a significant concern. This includes sexting (sending intimate messages or images) and cyberflashing (sending unsolicited sexual images through dating apps or messaging platforms).

Another dangerous form of online abuse for women and girls is technology-facilitated stalking (cyberstalking). This encompasses threats (sexual, economic, physical, or psychological), reputational harm, surveillance, and collecting private information about the victim.

That is why, given the large number of online threats that spread rapidly, a unified legal framework is being developed at the international level aimed at regulating violence in the digital dimension.

In particular, on 14 May, 2024, the EU adopted the Directive on Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. This directive mandates the criminalization of stalking, harassment, and incitement to violence or hatred in the online space. It obliges all EU member states to criminalize cyberviolence.

The campaign is conducted at the initiative of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, in collaboration with the National Police of Ukraine, the Cyber Police of Ukraine, and the Coordination Center for Legal Aid Provision, with the support of the Government Commissioner for Gender Policy, as part of the ’16 Days of Activism Against Violence.’