International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

  Africa's digital transformation is accelerating at an extraordinary pace. Internet access has grown at more than double the global rate and a new generation is connecting to opportunities their parents could never have imagined. But there is a dark side spreading just as fast as the connectivity itself – one that threatens to lock women and girls out of the very revolution they should be leading. This rising digital violence is more than a gendered threat; it is a challenge to sustainable development itself. When women and girls cannot participate safely online, Africa’s digital transformation cannot deliver the inclusive growth, innovation, and social progress needed to achieve the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals. Africa stands at an inflection point. With 70 per cent of sub-Saharan Africans under 30, this is the world's youngest continent as we experience the fastest technological transformation in history. Internet access in Africa has grown at 16.7 per c...

  Hybrid press Conference by Annalena Baerbock, President of the 80th session of the General Assembly, on issues including the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons and International Day of the Elimination of Violence Against Wome n. ----- The President of the General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock, announced the launch of the formal selection and appointment process for the next Secretary-General, and said “the world is looking to the next SG to provide strong, dedicated and effective leadership in delivering on the three pillars of the United Nations; peace and security, human rights and development, and in making the United Nations fit for the future.” Baerbock told journalists in New York that the President of the Security Council, Ambassador Michael Imran Kanu, and she, as president of the General Assembly, had signed the joint letter which formally initiates the process and said, “the selection of the next Secretary-General comes at a pivotal moment for our Uni...

  Last year, 83,000 women and girls were killed intentionally. Of them, 60 per cent – 50,000 women and girls – were killed at the hands of intimate partners or family members. This means one woman or girl is killed by a partner or family member almost every 10 minutes – an average of 137 every day . In contrast, just 11 per cent of male homicides were perpetrated by intimate partners or family members. “Femicides don’t happen in isolation. They often sit on a continuum of violence that can start with controlling behavior, threats, and harassment – including online,” said Sarah Hendriks, Director of UN Women’s Policy Division . Women and girls are subjected to this extreme form of violence in every region in the world, notes the 2025 femicide report. It is estimated that the highest rate of femicide by an intimate partner/family member was in Africa (3 per 100,000 women and girls), followed by the Americas (1.5), Oceania (1.4), Asia (0.7) and Europe (0.5). Though femicides are also...

  We already live in a world where at least one in three women experience physical or sexual violence. Enter a host of extremely powerful AI tools, trained on existing gender biases, now enabling tha t violence to spread further, faster, and in more complex ways. It’s a perfect storm. While technology-facilitated violence against women and girls has been intensifying – with studies showing  16 to 58 per cent of women worldwide impacted  – artificial intelligence is creating new forms of abuse and amplifying existing ones at alarming rates. The numbers are stark: one global survey found that  38 percent of women have personal experiences of online violence , and  85 percent of women online have witnessed digital violence  against others. This isn't just about what happens on screens. What happens online spills into real life easily and escalates. AI tools target women, enabling access, blackmail, stalking, threats and harassment with significant real-wo...

  AI-facilitated violence against women refers to  acts of digital abuse generated and spread by AI technology , resulting in physical, sexual, psychological, social, political, or economic harm, or other infringements of women’s rights and freedoms.   The scale, speed, anonymity and ease of communication in digital spaces create an enabling context for this violence. Perpetrators feel that they can get away with it, and victims often do not know if and how they can get help, and legal systems are playing catch up with the rapid changes in technology.    According to feminist activist and author Laura Bates, the best way to address the risk of digital and AI-powered abuse is “ to recognise that the online-offline divide is an illusion .”  

Yes. AI is both creating entirely new forms of abuse and dramatically amplifying existing ones. The scale and undetectability of AI create more widespread and significant harm than traditional forms of technology-facilitated violence. Some new AI-powered forms of abuse against women include: Image-based abuse through deepfakes:  According to research,  90 to 95 percent of all online deepfakes are non-consensual pornographic images , with around 90 percent depicting women. The total number of deepfake videos online in 2023 was 550 percent higher than in 2019.  Deepfake pornography makes up 98 percent of all deepfake videos online , and 99 percent of the individuals targeted are women. Enhanced impersonation and sextortion:  AI enables the creation of interactive deepfakes impersonating humans and beginning online conversations with women and girls who don't know they're interacting with a bot. The practice of "catfishing" on dating sites can now be scaled and rendered...