Session
Organizer 1: Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Organizer 2: Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Organizer 3: Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Organizer 2: Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Organizer 3: Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Speaker 1: Alexandra Robinson, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Speaker 2: Lourdes Barrera, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 3: Rachel Grant, Government, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Lourdes Barrera, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 3: Rachel Grant, Government, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Format
Classroom
Duration (minutes): 60
Format description: This session is best suited for a classroom seating arrangement and a 60-minute duration to encourage focused, interactive conversations. The 60 minutes will allow time for both a discussion by our global leaders followed by provision of constructive feedback, exploring solutions from the Safety Showcase and discussing how they can be implemented or improved. The Classroom set up also provides a chance for cross-sector collaboration, where diverse voices can come together to brainstorm, offer feedback, and build partnerships.
Duration (minutes): 60
Format description: This session is best suited for a classroom seating arrangement and a 60-minute duration to encourage focused, interactive conversations. The 60 minutes will allow time for both a discussion by our global leaders followed by provision of constructive feedback, exploring solutions from the Safety Showcase and discussing how they can be implemented or improved. The Classroom set up also provides a chance for cross-sector collaboration, where diverse voices can come together to brainstorm, offer feedback, and build partnerships.
Policy Question(s)
A. What policies, industry standards and advocacy platforms should incorporate rights-based and gender-centered design in shaping technology products and platforms to better protect women, girls, and gender-diverse groups from technology-facilitated gender-based violence, and what are the strategies for effective influence?
B. How can the various sectors engaged in addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence collaborate to develop ethical, inclusive, and transparent frameworks for regulating emerging technologies, ensuring they are safe and aligned with rights-based principles?
What will participants gain from attending this session? This workshop offers a dynamic, symbiotic platform where both speakers and participants engage in meaningful exchange and learn from each other. IGF has been consciously selected as a key platform for the Safety Showcase specifically for its multi-stakeholder platforms, globally diverse and active community, and we will aim to foster a collaborative space where participants can contribute valuable insights, offer constructive feedback, and deepen their understanding of emerging safety solutions to influence policy, standards and regulatory spaces. By featuring promising innovations, we invite participants to join the rights-based tech and innovations movement to ensure that tech products are comprehensive and robust in protecting women and girls from harm. Governments as well as experts in cyber and information security, privacy, and human rights will find this an invaluable opportunity to share expertise, support the development of impactful solutions including influencing standards and regulations, and strengthen their networks in the process.
SDGs
Description:
Technology is undeniably a force for empowerment, voice, and visibility. It opens doors to lifesaving services, connects people across the globe, and holds immense potential as a catalyst for equality. Yet, despite its promise, technology often mirrors offline structural inequalities, preventing women, girls, and gender-diverse groups from fully participating in online spaces free from harassment and abuse. Instead, technology has increasingly become a tool for perpetrating gender-based violence (GBV), marginalizing vulnerable communities and pushing women out of public and political spaces. Technology must not be an instrument of harm. Combating technology-facilitated GBV (TF GBV) cannot be achieved by a single sector alone. We are a global coalition of GBV specialists, technologists, and policymakers from across government, technology, civil society, and multicultural organizations working together to find and showcase the next wave of technology which centres gender and human rights in design and deployment as a key mitigation strategy to combat TF GBV. Building on the recent inaugural TFGBV Safety Showcase, hosted by UNFPA, FCDO, Numun Fund, Women’s Rights Online, and supported by eSafety Australia at the Commission on the Status of Women, this session will platform standout contributions to the TFGBV Safety Showcase that feature gender-centred design. Presenting innovative, human rights-grounded solutions, including the UNFPA Safe and Ethical Guidance for the Use of Technology to Address Gender-based Violence and Harmful Practices, participants will gain insight into the risks and harms of TF GBV. They will also hear from diverse thinkers sharing tech solutions to mitigate these risks. By countering the "move fast and break things" ideology, presenters and participants will contribute to the rights-based "slow-tech movement," exploring what standards, regulations, and civic spaces need to be influenced to create safer, more inclusive technology.
Technology is undeniably a force for empowerment, voice, and visibility. It opens doors to lifesaving services, connects people across the globe, and holds immense potential as a catalyst for equality. Yet, despite its promise, technology often mirrors offline structural inequalities, preventing women, girls, and gender-diverse groups from fully participating in online spaces free from harassment and abuse. Instead, technology has increasingly become a tool for perpetrating gender-based violence (GBV), marginalizing vulnerable communities and pushing women out of public and political spaces. Technology must not be an instrument of harm. Combating technology-facilitated GBV (TF GBV) cannot be achieved by a single sector alone. We are a global coalition of GBV specialists, technologists, and policymakers from across government, technology, civil society, and multicultural organizations working together to find and showcase the next wave of technology which centres gender and human rights in design and deployment as a key mitigation strategy to combat TF GBV. Building on the recent inaugural TFGBV Safety Showcase, hosted by UNFPA, FCDO, Numun Fund, Women’s Rights Online, and supported by eSafety Australia at the Commission on the Status of Women, this session will platform standout contributions to the TFGBV Safety Showcase that feature gender-centred design. Presenting innovative, human rights-grounded solutions, including the UNFPA Safe and Ethical Guidance for the Use of Technology to Address Gender-based Violence and Harmful Practices, participants will gain insight into the risks and harms of TF GBV. They will also hear from diverse thinkers sharing tech solutions to mitigate these risks. By countering the "move fast and break things" ideology, presenters and participants will contribute to the rights-based "slow-tech movement," exploring what standards, regulations, and civic spaces need to be influenced to create safer, more inclusive technology.
Expected Outcomes
This session will deepen participants' understanding of TFGBV from diverse sectoral perspectives. By hosting cross-sector dialogues, we aim to promote shared advocacy and collaboration to build a safer tech future for all. Featured solutions from the UNFPA TFGBV Safety Showcase will be at various stages of implementation and rollout, encouraging participants to engage and explore tech as a key strategy to prevent and mitigate TFGBV. The session will create opportunities for partnerships with innovators, support the rights-based tech movement, and generate interest in future Safety Showcases as the seed for rights-based, gender-transformative innovation.
This workshop is part of a broader global effort to identify technology solutions that ensure the safety of women and girls. It fosters cross-sector collaboration, knowledge exchange, and discussions among experts in cyber security, privacy, and human rights on developing ethical, inclusive regulatory frameworks to ensure emerging technologies align with GBV and Feminist principles.
Hybrid Format: In this hybrid session, we will facilitate interaction between online and onsite speakers and attendees by implementing a hybrid approach to the facilitation and execution of the session. The moderator will bridge the two audiences, ensuring that questions, comments, and insights from both groups are acknowledged and integrated into the discussion. We will leverage interactive tools such as Slido for live polls, quizzes, and word clouds, allowing real-time audience participation and for the discussion to be based on the insights and experience of those joining us. We will also ensure continued engagement for online participants through allowing virtual hand-raising and an open Q&A/chat. Following the event, we will send out an online form to gather feedback from both online and onsite participants into the development of a shared and common framework.