Thank you, Your Excellency, Ms. María del Carmen Squeff, Permanent Representative of Argentina to the United Nations,
Under-Secretary-General, Ms. Virginia Gamba,
Distinguished guests and participants, both online and in person,
A warm welcome to the ninth commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict.
Every year since 2015, we have marked this occasion through expressions of solidarity with survivors and those working to support them on the frontlines, often at great personal risk. Yet despite increased international awareness, the global trendlines of conflict-related sexual violence are worsening. The world is facing the highest number of conflicts since World War II, while the number of people forced to flee their homes has reached a record of 110 million. Arms proliferation, increasing militarization, and shrinking civic space continue to exacerbate sexual violence and challenge safe reporting and response. At the same time, new threats are emerging from the largely ungoverned digital space, compounding the patterns and trends of conflict-related sexual violence. The profound ramifications of misogynistic hate speech and incitement to violence are amplified on digital platforms.
Technology-facilitated sexual violence is not a new phenomenon. For instance, in 2014 in territories under ISIL control, women and girls were routinely trafficked, sold and traded through online platforms such as Telegram. Sex traffickers have long used the internet as a tool to carry out the grooming and recruitment of women and children and to advertise exploitative services. Digital currencies such as BITCOIN have been used to trade victims, rendering it even more difficult to track and trace the financial flows that fuel this illicit trade.
The human trafficking business model has largely shifted online, particularly for recruitment and advertisement of victims for sexual exploitation. In Ukraine, after Russia’s full-scale invasion, there are reports of huge spikes in online searches-across multiple languages and countries-for explicit content and sexual services from Ukrainian women and girls. According to Thomson Reuters, global search traffic for “Ukrainian porn” increased 600% since the start of the humanitarian crisis, while searches for “Ukrainian escorts” increased 200%.
Digital technologies also shape the way individuals experience violence, by preserving images of assault, intensifying and prolonging trauma. In Haiti, in a context of collapsed rule of law and corruption, gangs have regularly kidnapped women and girls, in some cases filming victims being raped to put pressure on relatives to pay ransoms. Communications tools and social media can now spread content instantly across the globe creating a problem so widespread that online platforms themselves cannot address through the currently existing safeguards. The ramifications of sexual violence are not new in terms of stigma, risks of reprisal and socio-economic isolation, yet these devastating effects can be amplified by technology on a scale previously unthinkable. The circulation of these violent images, films and internet memes magnifies the psychological and emotional harm and socioeconomic isolation experienced by survivors.
Frontline service providers are also increasingly facing online threats. These rarely remain online as the frontier between the digital world and the physical one is permeable. Social media-enabled hate speech can lead to physical violence. The increase in online gender-based hate-speech and harassment as a deliberate tactic to silence human rights defenders and political activists through the incitement of sexual violence is unacceptable. Myanmar is one such example, where online gender-based hate speech were directed at politically active women.
Digital platforms are also being misused to spread disinformation and fuel insecurity. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, inflammatory rhetoric against MONUSCO, including violent demonstrations, narrowed the operating space for human rights monitoring and delivery of humanitarian services.
In conflict-affected settings, digital tools are increasingly weaponized. Telecommunications and Internet shutdowns have been used to punish and isolate populations as in Ethiopia and Sudan. Internet restrictions impede the ability of survivors to access information, and frequent telecommunications shutdowns hinder access to helplines and other essential services.
Nonetheless, the inexorable march forward of technology also offers unprecedented possibilities. Technological innovations hold potential that has not been fully realized. They open the way for new types of response to conflict-related sexual violence and for innovative tools for survivors and frontline service providers. They could be instrumental across the gamut of intervention to eradicate conflict-related sexual violence, including prevention, response, documentation and accountability efforts.
Over the past year, I have led a system-wide effort through the UN Action network, to develop a comprehensive prevention strategy, based on our enhanced understanding of the problem and the lived experience of survivors. This framework is intended to serve as a “road map” for more tailored, timely, and effective interventions. Strategically harnessing technology must be a central consideration as we pilot the framework.
Technology-driven approaches can enhance prevention through predictive models which could strengthen early warning. Sexual violence does not occur in a vacuum; it is often planned, and at times preceded by hate speech or troop movements. Early warning is key and digital technologies can be an essential element particularly where connectivity, social media use and mobile phone ownership are widespread. Some organizations have already developed Apps to register reports through safe self-reporting in streamlined questionnaires which also assist in training health professionals in the collection of data.
Technological innovation may extend and shore up service responses. In many conflict-affected settings there are few health professionals, especially those specializing in acute trauma resulting from sexual atrocities. Internet-based interventions using mobile and smart phones may enhance treatment of trauma survivors and extend the geographic reach of scarce healthcare resources. The advent of Telehealth for virtual urgent medical care offers tremendous possibilities to reach more survivors. Other support interventions have used online platforms. In Ukraine, the Government with the support of the United Nations, established an online platform focusing on specialized assistance. In Iraq, the Government has approved a budget of 19 million USD to finance reparations pursuant to the Law on Support to Female Yazidi survivors, with some 2,000 applications submitted since 2022 including through an online platform.
Safe digital platforms provide the space for survivors to receive assistance, speak out and share their stories. For example, the Digital Book of survivors’ testimonies that my Office launched in 2021, entitled ‘In Their Own Words: Voices of Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence and Service-Providers’, is a living repository of the experiences of survivors the world over, and serves as a ‘moral compass’ for my mandate. In better understanding and disseminating the experiences of survivors and the solutions they themselves advocated, there is the possibility of meaningful change.
Digital platforms also increasingly serve practitioners. My Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict pursued initiatives to enhance the evidence base for effective accountability measures, by partnering with the Journal of International Criminal Justice in the publication of a landmark special issue of the Journal on accountability for sexual violence in conflict. This partnership launched a digital dialogue series that reached thousands of academics, policymakers and rule of law practitioners, fostering a community of practice that transcends national borders and institutional divides.
For any of these solutions to be successful, digital literacy and universal access is critical. Unless the most vulnerable populations are able to access these tools, their potential will remain limited. It is a matter of concern that women and girls who constitute the majority of victims are disproportionately affected by the lack of access to digital tools and resources, hindering their access to life-saving security and public health information and networks. Bridging the gender digital divide in addressing conflict-related sexual violence is crucial. Any intervention must be rooted in the survivor-centered approach and technology-based interventions are no exception. This includes working directly with survivors, not as passive beneficiaries but as the co-creators of solutions, ensuring their participation, engagement and input. The Secretary-General’s policy paper on Information Integrity and Digital platforms, a part of Our Common Agenda, provides a roadmap of good practices for Member States.
In today’s increasingly interconnected world, access to digital technologies and the internet is essential for survivors to exercise their rights, fully participate in society, and access information and resources. We cannot allow the digital divide to become the new face of inequality. We must ensure that survivors are empowered, rather than victimized, in digital spaces. We must not only bring to bear all political and diplomatic tools to end the scourge of conflict-related sexual violence, but also adapt these tools to the digital evolution. It has become clear that business as usual is not an option — digital threats must be met with technological solutions.