Women quite often assaulted online found in Asia but find small recourse: UN Women study
Civil society activists say that women commonly face online violence in Asian countries but for many victims, fear and distrust make reporting these attacks to authorities “often the last resort,” a fresh UN Women study has found.
Countries should respond by strengthening prosecutions and sanctions against perpetrators and increasing attempts to correct the gender inequality and misogynistic norms found in society that get the violence, the report says.
The report, Online Violence against Women in Asia, centered on the scenarios in India, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Republic of Korea. It had been funded by the federal government of the Republic of Korea.
It was to come to be released on Tuesday at the web Violence against Women in Asia Cyber Café function, organised within the United Nations Secretary-General’s annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence (November 25 to December 10).
The report was done before the COVID-19 pandemic but is even more relevant now that lockdowns have pushed so a lot of communication, business and services online, possibly increasing the risk of online attacks against women.
The report says the violence includes digital voyeurism, morphing of women’s bodies into composite images, harassment of women over costume and behaviour deemed “inappropriate,” dissemination of rape video, and live-streaming of child sexual abuse.
It says persons with limited digital skills - mostly women and females - are more at risk. Also at risk of sexual exploitation, it says, are schoolchildren who are now spending additional time online.
Civil society activists interviewed by the researchers said victims recommended to confide in friends, work colleagues and civil society organisations and “rarely or never” report attacks to the authorities.
“Concern with reprisals from perpetrators, insufficient confidence in law enforcement, the high cost of civil legal actions and too little confidence found in the judicial process are significant barriers to complaining to authorities,” the report says.
The report says that according to activists, online violence against women “is a minimal priority for the police and prosecutors, and there is an unhealthy degree of victim blaming.”
“It is critical to restore confidence found in the legal process so that women and girls might gain access to justice,” it says.
The report says specific legal provisions are had a need to respond to online violence against women, including specialised courts and especially trained investigators and prosecutors.
It says civil world teams favour expanding legal sanctions to add ordering perpetrators to really have the online content removed and delinked from queries, along with fines and restitution, where possible.
Governments also have to do more to educate people about proper Net etiquette, toxic online behaviour, and the prohibition of online violence against girls, the report says.
“Online presence, an important during the COVID-19 pandemic, is vital for obtaining and maintaining a job, accessing information, performing exercises democratic rights, having a voice, buying an education and conducting professional transactions,” said Sarah Knibbs, UN Girls Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific.
“However, with online violence against ladies and women, the transformative potential of the Internet and digital technology and freedom of expression is within threat.”
“For the survivor, reporting the attack requires courage and confidence that the system will protect and support to see her through the process. It really is imperative that over the internet violence have the same legal treatment as different varieties of violence. If offline sexual harassment and stalking will be crimes, on the web harassment and cyberstalking should in the same way be criminalised.”
