“There is a specific terror in being watched by someone without a face,” Tesfai told UN officials, goodwill ambassadors and civil society representatives in New York to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
The unwanted attention soon turned into explicit death threats. Ms Tesfai informed the police, but they did not offer her any protection.
“Legally there is nothing we can do,” they told him, since everything was digital and the stranger had no name.
A feminicide every 10 minutes
More than 80,000 women and girls were intentionally killed last year, according to a new report on feminicide by UN Women and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
More than half of these femicides occurred at the hands of intimate partners or family members. That means that a woman or girl dies at the hands of her partner or family member almost every 10 minutes. In contrast, only 11 percent of male homicides were carried out by intimate partners or family members during the same year.
This year’s campaign focuses on digital violence, calling on governments to implement laws to end impunity, technology companies to ensure the safety of platforms, and donors to support organizations to end violence.
Read our explanation about feminicide here.
Growing digital abuse
“Almost every high-ranking woman in public life I have met over the past few years, whether journalists, activists or politicians, faces increasing digital harassment, sexualized abuse and threats of physical violence,” said UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock.
According to the report, increased access to digital tools has exacerbated existing forms of violence against women and girls, while giving rise to new forms of violence, such as non-consensual image sharing, doxing and deepfake videos.
Digital violence, which also includes cyberbullying, cyberbullying, and sexual harassment, can cause physical, sexual, psychological, social, political, or economic harm.
“The purpose has always been the same: to intimidate, humiliate and especially silence,” Ms. Baerbock said.
“With rapid advances in artificial intelligence, the scale and speed of this abuse is growing beyond anything we have seen before.”
End impunity
“The challenges are formidable,” warned UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous. “Survivors face disbelief. Abusers enjoy impunity.”
One of the main barriers to fighting digital violence against women and girls is the absence of legal foundations and regulations around the world to ensure safety.
Ms. Bahous proposed three solutions to end impunity. First, digital violence must be recognized as real violence; second, justice systems must hold technology companies accountable, and lastly, there must be more investment in prevention and response.
“Until the law treats digital predation as harm, we are expected to protect ourselves by becoming invisible,” Tesfai said, recalling the many cases of digital abuse he has faced.
Echoing the UN’s push for digital violence to be treated as real violence, he added that “we deserve laws that protect us while we are still alive to protect us.”