Technology-facilitated violence against women and girls, or TF VAWG, is an act of violence perpetrated by one or more individuals that is committed, assisted, aggravated and amplified in part or fully by the use of information and communication technologies or digital media against a person on the basis of gender.

In 2025, UN Women advanced a comprehensive response to technology-facilitated violence against women and girls (TF VAWG), strengthening legal, policy, research and advocacy frameworks while consolidating its global leadership in this rapidly evolving area.

Key achievements included the development of the first corporate strategy on TF VAWG, alongside the production of model legal frameworks through global guidance resulting from extensive global and regional expert consultations and the development and adoption of the Inter-American Model Law on Digital Violence by the States Parties to the Belém do Pará Convention, as well as police guidance, global surveys and analytical tools to support Member States in integrating TF VAWG into national legislation and policy frameworks. This work was reinforced through engagement in global processes such as the Global Digital Compact and through partnerships with governments, civil society and the private sector, including by acting as the policy lead of the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse. 

These efforts built on comprehensive analysis and evidence-generation, notably on global and regional normative frameworks, government efforts to tackle TF VAWG, and emerging practices globally from relevant stakeholders. UN Women also spearheaded critical research including on AI-enabled violence and a global study on online violence against women in the public sphere. These efforts contributed to advancing standardized definitions and measurement, strengthening the global knowledge base on digital violence.

Through programmes such as the EU-funded ACT initiative, UN Women also strengthened the capacity of feminist movements and civil society actors to address online violence and counter backlash. Prevention efforts included global advocacy campaigns, engagement with men and boys, and partnerships targeting online misogyny and harmful digital norms.

Concrete results included capacity-building and awareness-raising at scale, such as over 10,000 girls trained on digital safety in Nigeria and Kenya, and expanded outreach through global campaigns, with the UNiTE campaign reaching 3.5 million web users (+467%) and generating 7.9 million impressions. 

At country level, a few examples include:

• in Bolivia, UN Women supported the national response to TF VAWG by developing a participatory national policy and toolkit, generating new evidence through the first nationwide survey and digital analysis, training over 500 officials with specialized guidance and materials, and implementing a wide-reaching, culturally grounded communication strategy to raise awareness and prevention;
• in Mexico, UN Women strengthened the national response to TF GBV by generating new evidence through a scoping study, co-developing a Strategic Roadmap with the Secretary of Women, and advancing policy recommendations for prevention, access to justice and platform accountability. It also led the “Es Real. #EsViolenciaDigital” campaign, which reached 38.4 million views in Mexico and expanded access to safety and reporting resources.

Overall, these efforts strengthened global standards, enhanced institutional responses, and advanced integrated approaches to preventing and responding to technology-facilitated violence against women and girls.

Technology-facilitated gender-based violence is a rapidly growing form of abuse that disproportionately affects women and girls, including human rights defenders, journalists, and politicians, and increasingly intersects with offline harm. Spotlight Initiative engages with this issue through knowledge-sharing, capacity building, and support to country-level programming responses. 

In 2025, the Initiative supported UNFPA-led global work on TF GBV through participation in the UNFPA TF GBV Advisory Board and the Third Global Symposium on TF GBV in March 2025, where findings informed updates to the Initiative’s guidance on best practices in addressing TF GBV. In Zambia, Spotlight Initiative and UNFPA co-hosted a public webinar reaching over 100 participants, including government and civil society representatives, designed for accessibility through sign Zambian sign language interpretation and an in-person viewing session, developed in direct response to anticipated risks of increased TF GBV during national elections. In Liberia, the #SafeDigitalLiberia campaign engaged 17 digital influencers during the 16 Days of Activism, reaching over 155,500 followers with messaging on digital safety and women’s rights. 

Engagement with TF GBV reflects the Initiative’s commitment to ensuring that its comprehensive model remains responsive to emerging and evolving forms of violence, particularly as digital spaces become increasingly central to how violence is perpetrated and experienced. 

Since the publication of the foundational 2021 Making All Spaces Safe report, UNFPA has spearheaded the UN movement to define and address TFGBV, moving the global discourse from awareness to systemic action. Key achievements in 2025 include: 

• In 2025, UNFPA held its Third Global Symposium on TF GBV, under the theme “Intersectional Challenges and Collective Action in a Shifting Digital Age”. This multi-sectoral forum, including member states, private sector tech entities, and feminist technologists aims to harmonize global policy and discourse and is now replicated in several regions (Latin America, Asia Pacific, Africa).
• UNFPA has served as a Lead Coordinator on the Steering Committee and co-manages the Advisory Group for the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse since 2022. As the only multilateral, intergovernmental platform dedicated to TFGBV, it unites 16 member states with civil society to drive innovative solutions and coordinate high-level advocacy across global forums like the G7, AI Summit and CSW.
• UNFPA has participated in the Interagency working group on Gender in the Digital Coalition (GiDC), as well as in the UCL Tech Abuse Conference and RightsCon.
• UNFPA made major progress in 2025 in developing and establishing the Global Response Hub - a platform connecting frontline service providers with cybersecurity and security experts.
• In 2025, UNFPA rolled out the Global Training Package for Frontline Responders - a 13-module package with slide decks, facilitator guides and handouts aimed to equip health, social service, law enforcement, justice officials, educators and other non-specialised sectors with strengthened skills and tools to respond to TFGBV cases. The package has been rolled out to 406 GBV service providers and actors across seven regions and countries, including Arab States, Asia-Pacific, Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Somalia. Participants from three countries (Azerbaijan, Indonesia, and Madagascar) implementing the Women at the Centre programme attended the initial global piloting of the package.   
• The MASS programme is supporting Benin and Kenya to revise existing GBV SOPs to integrate TFGBV, and will inform the development of a global Guidance on integrating TFGBV into case management systems under Women at the Centre (WAC), drawing on lessons learned from WAC countries. TFGBV knowledge and skills have been included in the national GBV case management curriculum in Azerbaijan, El Salvador, Indonesia, and Madagascar. The definition has been introduced in Zimbabwe’s curriculum. The WAC programme will additionally develop a global GBV case management curriculum as well as a standard set of global GBV case management forms inclusive of people with disabilities and LGBTIQ+ survivors in 2026 where key competencies on TFGBV will be included.
• UNFPA has engaged a consultant to develop a roadmap for integrating TFGBV into the GBVIMS, which will complement other work in the WAC programme in integrating disability and LGBTIQA+ considerations.
• WAC and MASS countries have established national level Community of Practices (CoPs) where TFGBV is a topic of discussion and technical assistance and tools are provided to support quality case management involving TFGBV, inclusive of marginalized groups.
• Through the WAC programme, the Zimbabwe Country Office is developing the ‘MobiSAFAIDS App’ to enhance the efficiency of GBV referrals. The application is designed to improve survivors' access to critical GBV services by facilitating two-way communication with service providers. The roll-out is scheduled for 2026.
• Following the 2024 global launch of the Safety Showcase: Reimage Gender in Tech with partners FCDO, eSafety, Numun Fund and UNFPA, this initiative continues to spotlight safe, ethical technology designed with gender equality and survivor experiences from inception.
• Under EmpowerED, UNFPA is integrating digital literacy, online safety and healthy relationships into CSE curricula across 10 countries, as well as developing a Digital Redirection Programme for gendered SRHR disinformation, a platform/tool that will divert adolescents from misleading content that reinforces harmful gender norms about masculinity, femininity, relationships, and sexuality to vetted CSE resources.
• UNFPA promoted rights-based law and policy frameworks that are survivor-centred and prioritise platform accountability.In partnership with Derechos Digitales, UNFPA released Guiding principles for law and policy reform to address Technology-facilitated Gender-based Violence: Towards a system of accountability at the end of 2025. These principles are based on a comparative analysis of eight global jurisdictions, predominantly from the Global South. UNFPA and UN Women, facilitated by Equality Now, are consolidating two similar documents set to be released in 2026, as well as exploring CSW opportunities.
• UNFPA launched "TFGBV: Considerations Across the Lifecourse" in 2025 with UNICEF and Save the Children, mapping how harm manifests from childhood through older age, emphasizing the need for a life-course approach that reflects the distinct needs of children, adolescents and adults.
• UNFPA supported the development of a global conceptual framework with Save the Children (published in 2025) based on participatory workshops with 219 children across five countries to understand the online-offline continuum of violence.
• Upcoming research includes a Feminist AI Learning Series with briefs designed to equip GBV practitioners with the tools to engage in AI discourse and advocate for Feminist AI governance, as well as the intersection of TFGBV with Extended Reality (XR).
• Since the production of a discussion paper around measurement in 2023, UNFPA has supported several country offices such as Bangladesh and Vanuatu to integrate TFGBV into VAW Prevalence Surveys.
• Together with WHO and UNWOMEN, UNFPA is developing a Guidance note on Measuring Technology-facilitated Violence against Women including a repository of TF-VAW data collection practices and methods.
• Together with WHO and UN Women, UNFPA is a convener of the Global Expert Group meeting on a statistical framework for measuring TFVAW and is currently involved in the development of a TFVAW statistical framework that builds on country-level surveys and small-scale in-depth research.
• Building on pilot programming, UNFPA is currently developing a global measurement framework for TFGBV programming indicators.
• UNFPA ASRO led the regional Training of Trainers (ToT) on TFGBV in Cairo, bringing together 34 participants from 15 countries[1] across multiple sectors. The training significantly increased technical knowledge (from 43% to 84%) and strengthened capacities to respond to GBV across health, psychosocial, legal, and case management services. Building on this progress, the training is cascaded across the region by trained focal points, with replication already initiated in Somalia and Morocco in 2025. Beyond individual capacity gains, the training established a strong foundation for scaling up responses to TFGBV in the region.
• UNFPA ASRO, in partnership with UN Women and UNHCR, led the call for action, Jointly LAS on TFGBV, during the 16 Days of Activism, securing political commitment from LAS to advance coordinated prevention and response measures.

[1] Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, GCC (Oman and Bahrain), Egypt, Palestine, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti, Libya, Yemen

In June 2025, UNODC organized an event in Brussels on “Tech-enabled Threats and Solutions: The Two Sides of a Coin” for officials from the European Commission and EU Member States. The discussion included a focus on technology-facilitated gender-based violence and the ways in which technologies are exploited to cause harm, as well as technological and policy innovations to prevent and address such violence.

UN Trust Fund’s SHINE hub, a multilingual (100+ languages) virtual exchange and convening platform, was leveraged to host a global consultation with civil society partners on technology-facilitated gender-based violence, and practitioners shared their prevention and response strategies and their experiences in tackling this specific form of violence.