In a world wracked by humanitarian crises, women and girls pay a heavy price.
Whether natural or human-made, humanitarian emergencies usher in all forms of violence amid the chaos and breakdown of law and order. For women and girls, their bodies often become battlegrounds, with rape used as a tactic to humiliate or dominate, while the support they desperately need to survive is thin on the ground.
As we mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women this year, UNFPA strives to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, wherever and whenever it occurs – in both the real and online worlds.
In the virtual world, digital violence takes on many nefarious forms, including trafficking and sexual exploitation that disproportionately affects women and girls. Survivors feel fear, panic, anxiety, depression. They have suicidal thoughts. They see adverse effects on their relationships, studies, work and social lives. Perpetrators of digital violence, also known as technology-facilitated gender-based violence, largely target marginalized communities. Sometimes digital violence moves offline, threatening people’s physical safety. UNFPA knows the virtual is real.
Urgent investments are needed to fulfill the promise of a life free from violence for women and girls, both online and off. With nearly one in three women and girls on the planet estimated to have been subjected to gender-based violence, we must invest far more resources and garner more political will towards eliminating such violence in all its forms.
To that end, survivors and advocates are increasingly speaking up, sharing their stories and calling for change. And UNFPA is mobilizing partners, resources and programming with the goal of making all spaces safe for women and girls, everywhere.
“Violence against women and girls is completely preventable,” UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem has said. “We can stop this crisis by acting in solidarity with the growing numbers of people who are standing up and saying, ‘enough.’”
