UNITED NATIONS, New York – “When I was 16 I got rape threats for speaking up about feminism,” an 18-year-old woman in Syria told UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency.
In the course of their lifetime, 840 million women will be subjected to physical or sexual violence – nearly one in every three women in the world, according to a new United Nations report. And if that sounds like a number you’ve heard before, it might be because despite decades of advocacy, awareness raising and lobbying for legal and policy changes, this figure has barely changed in the last 20 years.
The report also shows that even this towering number is likely an underestimate, partly because new forms of gender-based violence are proliferating rapidly – particularly through technological advances – but aren’t being adequately measured or addressed.
UNFPA has been at the global forefront of identifying and addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence, and is preparing to release new research into the disproportionate harm this abuse inflicts on adolescent girls.
One report shows how digital violence affects women and girls at every age, starting as young as early childhood. Yet UNFPA-supported research, forthcoming from partner Save the Children, also highlights that adults often underestimate the dangers facing adolescents.
UNFPA and partner Derechos Digitales are shining a light on solutions in their upcoming publication Guiding Principles for Law and Policy Reform to Address Technology-facilitated Gender-based Violence, which represents the first-ever global guidance for rights-based law and policy reform on technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
Decision-makers need to catch up
Together, the evidence shows that lawmakers, law enforcers, teachers, parents and tech developers are all lagging behind the realities of young people – especially adolescent girls and young women.
UNFPA reached out to young people around the world to find out about their experiences online, whether they had been exposed to harmful content or behaviour, how it affected them, and what they want decision-makers to know.
Here is what they told us.
1- The online world is as real as the offline world. Digital tools and spaces are now essential to every part of a young person’s life – but these spaces are not safe.
“The internet is not a separate, imaginary world,” a 21-year-old woman in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, told UNFPA. “The abuse we experience online is real and harmful and affects our mental health, schoolwork, and future opportunities.” At the same time, she emphasized, “simply 'unplugging' isn't an option because digital spaces are where we socialize, learn and organize.”
In fact, adolescents’ social, emotional and sexual development increasingly takes place online, shaping their expectations and experience of intimate relationships, friendships and community. Dozens of young people expressed frustration that, to be fully safe from the dangers lurking online, they would have to forgo a whole digital world of opportunities and connection.
“Young people live a large part of their social lives online,” a 24-year-old woman in Chad said. “This virtual world can have real emotional impacts. It's not enough to say ignore it or log off.”
Adolescents are also increasingly targeted by deepfakes, sexual extortion and AI-generated “companions” designed to foster dependency.
While digital tools can offer access to a wealth of information, much of it cannot be trusted, a 26-year-old woman in Bangui, Central African Republic, said. “Rumours, conspiracy theories or fake news spread very quickly. Many people share without verifying, which can manipulate public opinion or put people in danger.”
2- Digital violence is often gendered and targeted at the most vulnerable and marginalized.
“I often do not feel safe,” the woman from Tashkent told UNFPA. “As a young woman, I am constantly worried about things like unwanted photos being taken or shared, receiving hateful or gender-specific abuse, and being followed or stalked across different platforms.”
The research bears out her observations. Adolescent girls are disproportionately at risk of experiencing technology-facilitated gender-based violence: Some 58 per cent of young women and girls have faced online harassment. Most report their first experience of social media harassment takes place around 14 to 16 years old. Sexual extortion can target both boys and girls, but for girls the risks are more likely to infiltrate their personal life and community. They are more likely to be pressured to send intimate photos, and to see those images shared or used for blackmail by someone they know.
The gender inequalities and sexual harassment that exist in everyday life are often amplified online, where perpetrators enjoy anonymity and impunity. As a result, girls and women can be forced offline, contributing to the gender “digital divide”, in which more men benefit from technology than women.
Marginalized groups also face heightened vulnerabilities. One study of more than 18,000 people across 18 countries found transgender and gender-diverse people experience the highest proportion of harmful incidents online.
A 20-year-old man in Syria told UNFPA he had experienced multiple harmful encounters because of his sexual orientation: “Someone used my pics on some dating app, another one used to threaten me with my pics, and another was threatening me because of my sexuality.”
3- Decision-makers often penalize survivors rather than perpetrators, either through victim-blaming or by seeking to protect survivors by limiting their access to digital tools and spaces.
Those in positions of authority often underestimate reported cases of online abuse, with many framing the problem as the survivor’s use of technology itself rather than poor safety protocols and lack of access redress and reparation.
“The safety settings don't stop people from being abusive, they just make it harder to report,” the woman in Tashkent added. “My parents tried to keep me safe by telling me to limit my screen time and 'just ignore' the trolls’… Ignoring doesn't stop threats or harassment. I wish they had learned how to report content properly and had taken the threats more seriously instead of just minimizing my feelings.”
The fear of victim-blaming or of having Internet access restricted is partly behind low reporting rates – meaning that although the abuse is widespread, data to back up survivors’ testimonies are not.
“What adults do to try to keep people safe: restrictions, not challenging or addressing the problem,” a 25-year-old woman in Turkmenistan said.
“For everything online, it's through the training courses and panels I attend that I've learned; otherwise, adults haven't guided me,” a woman in Togo, age 20, said.
Legal systems have also failed to keep pace with the proliferation of these abuses. Some fail to recognize digital violence at all. Others fail to recognize how women, girls and marginalized groups are disproportionately harmed. Still others recognize the heightened vulnerabilities of women and girls but apply child-protection standards to adult women, limiting their autonomy and reinforcing harmful norms. And some use laws against “immodest” or “indecent” conduct to punish survivors rather than perpetrators.
4- All spaces – online and off – must be made safe for all people.
Women and girls belong online. Young people belong online. LGBTQIA+ people belong online. Digital spaces should offer connection, community and opportunity to all people, but this will take commitment across the board.
Yet there are promising signs that some decision-makers and authority figures are catching up.
“My page was hacked, I was forced to do things against my will,” one 31-year-old woman from Liberia told UNFPA. In response, she said, adults in her life supported her “by teaching that online bullying or any form of violence online is a cybercrime and I have the right to report it.”
But much more must be done, the youth respondents told UNFPA.
“A teacher and a parent listened, advised me to block the perpetrators, secure my accounts, and not respond to provocations,” a 24-year-old woman in Chad said. “This helped, but in hindsight, they could also have reported the incidents to the school or encouraged a group discussion to raise awareness among other students. Their support was important, but a more visible response would have strengthened prevention.”
5- And there is a clear path forward.
The solution is no mystery, the young people surveyed said.
Technology design and data collection systems must be regulated, by both tech companies and governments, to prevent the spread and monetization of misogyny, discrimination and abuse.
“Strengthen laws against cyberbullying and online abuse. Require platforms to better moderate violent or harmful content. Support digital education in schools to teach young people how to protect themselves, and create accessible and responsive reporting spaces for victims,” the woman in Chad said.
A young woman in Syria echoed these comments: “Clearer laws and regulations to protect young people online, such as monitoring harmful content, preventing cyberbullying, and punishing those who spread hatred or exploit children… Support awareness programmes in schools that teach us how to use the Internet safely, how to protect our privacy and how to deal with difficult situations."
“Teach kids in kindergartens and schools about ethical use of the Internet and social media, safety measures and psychology,” a 25-year-old woman in Turkmenistan said.
UNFPA is leading numerous initiatives to help achieve these goals. For example the EmpowerED programme brings safe and ethical use of technology into comprehensive sexuality education curricula, alongside other critical lessons around gender equality, consent and bodily autonomy.
Early next year, UNFPA and partners will also launch a secure new platform to help frontline workers respond to the growing number of complex digital-abuse cases, providing much-needed guidance and resources for those working with survivors.
In the end, “young people need guidance and trust online, not just restrictions,” a young woman in Yemen said. “We want to explore, learn and connect safely, but also need support to navigate risks without feeling judged or controlled. Understanding this balance would help us use the Internet more positively.”
