IGF 2024 WS #230 Digital Solutions for Gender-Responsive Peace

    Organizer 1: Hakansson Schmidt Alexandra, UN Women
    Organizer 2: Mohamed Rashid Norul, UN Women
    Organizer 3: Gaelle Demolis Ebassa, UN Women

    Speaker 1: Liza Garcia, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
    Speaker 2: Kirthi Jayakumar, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
    Speaker 3: Caitlin Williscroft, Intergovernmental Organization, Asia-Pacific Group
    Speaker 4: Hakansson Schmidt Alexandra, Intergovernmental Organization, Asia-Pacific Group

    Moderator

    Mohamed Rashid Norul, Intergovernmental Organization, Asia-Pacific Group

    Online Moderator

    Gaelle Demolis Ebassa, Intergovernmental Organization, Asia-Pacific Group

    Rapporteur

    Hakansson Schmidt Alexandra, Intergovernmental Organization, Asia-Pacific Group

    Format

    Theater
    Duration (minutes): 60
    Format description: The session will offer a panel discussion following a talkshow-like format with active participant engagement through hybrid facilitation tools (see next section). The theater format will allow for participants to center their focus on the panelists and a live Q&A board which will be projected behind the panelists and inform the discussion. A 60 minute session is proposed to allow time for the 3-4 panelists to share their perspectives on the topic, while keeping the discussion focused and to the point.

    Policy Question(s)

    A. How can the Women, Peace and Security agenda be applied to the digital world in order to safeguard persons in all their diversity on digital platforms to ensure their full and equal participation in public debate and change-making processes?

    B. What are some promising practices across Asia of using ICTs and emerging technologies to make peace processes more inclusive?

    C. What implications do biases, including along the lines of gender, have on the potential of using AI-based solutions to facilitate peace efforts?

    What will participants gain from attending this session? Participants will learn more about gendered risk on digital platforms and how the weaponization of ICTs is systematically used to silence the voices of women leaders and gender rights movements, particularly in conflict affected and politically volatile contexts. They will also walk out of the session with examples of how technological solutions can be used to counter these risks while being used as tools to advance inclusive peace, social cohesion and gender equality. The session will draw from diverse perspectives, including from regional policy experts, women peacebuilders and civil society, to take stock of grassroots-led and home-grown digital solutions to advance gender-responsive peace from Asia.

    Description:

    Digital security is an increasingly recognized priority area for international and national security policies. While the Internet has provided new venues for civic engagement, digital peacebuilding and conflict prevention — particularly for women, young women and marginalized groups who have struggled to access traditional decision-making spaces — online harms, misogyny, hate-speech and disinformation is systematically deployed to silence the voices and discredit the work of women peacebuilders and other public figures. Moreover, with the rapid advancements of AI technologies and their intrinsic gender biases, alarms are sounded on the ramifications this is having on women’s and human rights at large.

    Following the 67th session on the Commission on the Status of Women, which focused on the priority theme “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”, the Commission formally recognized “the contribution of digitalization to the full, equal and meaningful participation and involvement of women in peace processes, conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding”.  The WPS agenda has for more than two decades guided approaches to gender-responsive peace efforts. While there has yet to be references to cybersecurity or security in digital spaces in any of the related UNSC resolutions, the momentum is growing to push for the recognition of emerging security issues and opportunities for peace, including those facilitated by technology, under the WPS agenda. 

    This session will offer a panel discussion which will delve deeper into practical and policy solutions to disproportionate and gendered online harms, while exploring alternate means of supporting inclusive peace processes which are better adapted to our increasingly digitized world. While Asia is leading in digitization and innovation, much of the policy dialogue is still centred on the Global North. This session therefore seeks to garner local perspectives from Asia.

    Expected Outcomes

    UN Women will summarise the outcomes of the discussions into a public brief, seeking to garner good practices and recommendations for gender-responsive digital peacebuilding. This will inform advocacy on the topic and be used along with other advocacy tools, such as the Advocacy Brief – Cybersecurity in the Context of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda (WPS), which has been used to inform the development of the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action for WPS and National Action Plans for WPS in the Philippines, Viet Nam, Timor Leste and other national dialogues.

    Hybrid Format: Interaction between onsite and online speakers and attendees will be facilitated by active moderation by two focal points (one which will be in-person, and one online) to ensure equal engagement with on-site and virtual participant. The event will also use a hybrid approach to speaker engagement with some panelists online and some in the room to further allow for more cohesive hybrid engagement. The organizer also intends to have a live Q&A notice board (tentatively through Mentimeter) running in the background during the panel discussion, to allow on-site and virtual participants to submit and upvote each other’s questions during the discussions. Top-voted questions will be incorporated into the panel discussion, allowing for active participant engagement regardless of means of attendance.