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We live in an increasingly online world - this was true before COVID-19 became a reality, but the onset of the pandemic accelerated the adaptations of our lives to online spaces. Movement control orders, travel restrictions, and quarantines forced us to turn to the internet as a substitute for public spaces and for connection. Activists are even discussing access to the internet as a human right.
This has brought the problem of online gender-based violence (OGBV) to the forefront. OGBV includes acts such as trolling, sexual harassment, distribution of photos and videos non-consensually, doxxing, stalking, death/rape threats, disinformation, and discriminatory comments. These issues have been around as long as social media has existed, and are extensions of GBV that women and girls face regularly; but now, they are harder to avoid than they were before.
Existing measures to address OGBV often fall short. In Malaysia, there are laws that do criminalise OGBV, but gaps in the laws pose a barrier to survivors’ access to justice. Attitudes towards OGBV (and GBV writ large) from enforcement agencies further deter survivors from coming forward, as OGBV is not seen as harmful or secondary to actual harm due to the lack of physical violence. The lack of inter-agency cooperation to address OGBV also means that survivors often have to undertake the responsibility of communicating with various government agencies on their own. This often results in responses that are so delayed as to be ineffective at providing either protection or justice. There is an urgent need for a multi-stakeholder, inter-agency response to address OGBV.
The townhall on OGBV is envisioned as virtual event hosted on Zoom. The Townhall would be open to the general public. Participants would be able to share their experiences of OGBV, and their ideas for what the government can do to improve the response to OGBV.
This event is postponed until further notice.
Interested? Fill in your slot and join us for an insightful dialogue!