Discrimination against women and girls, and violence as its gravest manifestation, remains alarmingly high in every sphere of their lives, across physical and digital spaces alike. Each year, 245 million women and girls aged 15 and older experience physical and/or sexual violence perpetrated by a current or former intimate partner.
This crisis persists, despite decades of progress in global commitments, the adoption of laws, expanded services, and scaled-up prevention efforts. Together, a growing global backlash and the misuse of rapidly evolving digital technologies are amplifying violence against women and girls. Studies show that up to 58 per cent of women and 20 per cent of girls face some form of digital violence, though the true scale remains under-reported and insufficiently recognized. Its consequences are far-reaching and grave, eroding trust in information systems and contributing to the spread of hate, polarization, anti-rights backlash, and being linked to violent extremism.
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools and other digital technologies are amplifying existing patterns of violence and creating new forms of abuse, including image-based sexual exploitation, deepfakes, and coordinated online harassment. Girls and adolescents are especially vulnerable, facing cyberbullying, online dating abuse, and grooming in online spaces. Disturbingly, 90 to 95 per cent of all deepfakes online are sexualized images of women, with verified AI-generated child sexual abuse material seeing an 380 per cent increase in 2024 from 2023.
Digital forms of violence know no borders and occur across all settings. From schools, workplaces, and homes to refugee camps, across humanitarian, crisis, and developments contexts, online abusers hide behind anonymity to act with impunity. The impact of their actions stretches far beyond the online world, causing real world harm, with devastating and lasting psychological, social, and economic harm. Online violence often escalates to physical and sexual violence and, in the gravest cases, to femicide.
Women in public life-including journalists, politicians, human rights defenders, and activists-face heightened exposure to digital attacks with deeply damaging consequences. Attacks can silence women's and girls' voices in public life and deter their participation in political and democratic processes, leadership, peace processes, and decision-making. Women facing intersecting forms of discrimination-such as girls and women with disabilities, of colour, rural women, and girls and women of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities-are disproportionately targeted and at risk of digital economic exploitation and abuse.
The growing "manosphere" and related online ecosystems that glorify misogyny are entrenching harmful norms that justify and perpetuate violence-both online and offline. These spaces often target boys and young men, shaping negative perceptions of gender equality and fueling real-world harms. Men and boys therefore have a vital role for long-term change as allies in countering digital violence, challenging harmful online behaviours, and speaking out and promoting respect.
Progress remains slow, impeded by structural inequalities, harmful gender norms, and chronic underfunding. Less than half of the countries globally have laws addressing online abuse. Even where laws exist, enforcement is weak. Effective response is further cramped by the absence of human rights principles in digital governance and AI regulation.
We have a shared responsibility to create a safer and inclusive digital future. Feminist advocacy, including the work of women-led organizations, has been critical in driving the recognition of digital violence as a violation of women's and girls' human rights, propelling international and regional action and prompting 117 countries to adopt targeted measures.
Technology companies also have a vital role in creating and maintaining safe and equitable spaces online, including through promoting accountability and reporting, deleting, or blocking harmful content of their platforms. Prevention must start right from the initial design of safe and ethical technology and ensuring digital platforms protect users rather than expose them to harm.
In solidarity under the Secretary-General's UNiTE campaign this year, we call upon governments, civil society, and technology companies inter alia to:
- Ensure accountability for perpetrators of online and offline violence through robust, rights-based legislation aligned with digital governance frameworks such as the Global Digital Compact;
- Strengthen law enforcement and justice systems with enhanced cross-sector and cross-border cooperation;
- Guarantee specialized support and comprehensive reparations for all victims and survivors;
- Protect and amplify women's and girls' voices and leadership online, and build digital literacy and resilience across all sectors;
- Embed safety, privacy, and security-by-design principles in all stages of technology development;
- Leverage digital tools to address misogyny and promote positive masculinities; and
- Secure sustained, flexible, and core funding for women's and children's rights organizations to strengthen digital resilience and advocacy efforts.
Today, we call upon everyone to UNiTE in reclaiming digital and physical spaces for equality, freedom, and justice, and to end digital violence against all women and girls, everywhere.
- CEDAW
- GREVIO
- MESECVI
- Rapporteur for Women's Rights of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
- Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa
- UNDP
- UNFPA
- UNOPS
- UN Women
- Working group on discrimination against women and girls
