Although technological advances have brought enormous benefits, they have generated disadvantageous situations for certain vulnerable groups, such as women. This is due to the fact that dangerous behaviours towards women have been replicated and established using technological tools, systematically violating their rights and leaving them unprotected. The risk is greater in a digital context, because harassers are protected by anonymity. The situation of digital gender violence suffered by women is worrying because it restricts their digital freedom.
The issue of digital gender violence is important to address, and has been acknowledged by the United Nations General Assembly
WHAT IS DIGITAL GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE?
This violence is a type of discrimination that women suffer throughout their lives for gender reasons. Therefore, digital gender violence is another manifestation of the negative treatment of women from, largely, men, through technological means.
According to the Spanish Government Delegation against Gender Violence, in large part, digital gender violence is perpetrated by men towards their female partners, for example when they (i) control their partners' interactions on social networks, (ii) restrict their partners' publications on social networks, and (iii) force their partners to send them sexual content, among other behaviours.
The typical practices of gender-based violence suffered by women have been remodelled with the new information technologies, causing psychological, physical, sexual and/or economic harm to women.
Now, digital gender-based violence can not only be exercised by women's partners, but also by people who do not necessarily have or had an affective bond with their victims, and who anonymously harass women, a situation that has increased with the growing use of digital platforms. Thus, for example, at the First International Congress on Digital Gender Violence it was mentioned that cases of digital gender violence had increased significantly during the pandemic.
DIGITAL GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN PERU
The Government of Peru has been implementing regulations to curb digital gender violence. In 2018, through Legislative Decree No. 1410, the crime of harassment through technological means was incorporated into Peruvian criminal law.
However, in the country the statistics of digital gender violence perpetrated by men towards women continue to be alarming, as proven by the information provided by the National Observatory of Violence Against Women and Family Group Members, which recorded that, between the months of January to August 2021, 89% of the victims of harassment committed through technological means were women, while 64% of the victimizers were men.
RIGHTS VIOLATED BY DIGITAL GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
Restricting women from leading a healthy life through digital media systemically violates their freedom to develop themselves on digital platforms, violating their right to intimacy and privacy, and constitutes an attack against the “human rights that every woman possesses”.
More precisely, the human rights violations in this context would be: (i) the right to privacy because this type of violence is limiting women to have a life free of interference from third parties; and (ii) the right to data protection, when their information is disseminated without the consent of the person, affecting their most intimate sphere. These violations are very serious, especially taking into account that article 17 of the General Comment No. 16, Right to privacy of the United Nations Human Rights Committee provides for the right to privacy which prohibits unlawful intrusions into the intimate life of individuals.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS AGAINST DIGITAL GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
Faced with such circumstances that threaten the human rights of women in a digital environment, it is imperative that States commit to adopting measures in order to protect the right to privacy of women, as established in Recommendation 15/2019 (Human Rights Commission of Mexico City). The lack of measures to curb the existing rates of violence, as in the case of Peru, will trigger a possible revictimization.
In Spain, the Spanish Data Protection Agency has implemented an electronic system to restrict the circulation of sensitive content that affects the dignity of women (such as images of sexual acts against women, or aggressions of any kind against them). This measure should be taken into account by other countries.
It has also been suggested that educational programs in schools can contribute to the eradication of digital gender violence. In addition, special legislation directly targeting digital gender-based violence would need to be established in Peru, as it does not yet exist. Finally, there would have to be a follow-up of the complaints relating to digital gender-based violence, as was done with The United Nations Joint Global Programme on Essential Services for Women and Girls Subject to Violence in Peru, but this time with a specific focus on acts of digital gender-based violence.
Brenda Isabel Murrugarra Retamozo is an attorney at law in Peru and an independent researcher, her practices focus on labor law, corporate law and personal data protection. She holds a Licentiate degree in law with distinction from the Cesar Vallejo University. She holds a certificate in arbitration in contracting with the state from the Esan Graduate School of Business.