Preventing and combating online violence against girls and women will be a central priority of the upcoming Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Commissioner for Gender Equality Josie Christodoulou said on Monday. She noted that strengthening the European agenda to address emerging forms of digital abuse is crucial as technology evolves.
In a written statement marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Christodoulou stressed that safeguarding women and girls in digital spaces requires “effective cooperation with social media platforms” as well as broader “digital literacy at all levels.”
agenda to address emerging forms of digital abuse is crucial
as technology evolves.
Creating a secure online environment, she added, is a collective responsibility shared by institutions, technology companies, educators, and every member of society.
Christodoulou warned that as the digital world becomes inseparable from daily life, women and girls face an expanding range of online gender-based abuses. These include online sexism, intimidation, threats, coordinated sexist targeting, non-consensual sharing of personal material, digital surveillance, harassment, and sustained attacks on their professional and public presence.
“These forms of violence are no less serious because they occur in the digital space,” she said, emphasising that they have “real, harmful consequences for the lives, mental health and safety of women and girls.”
This year’s UN campaign for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women spotlights the fast-growing threat in the digital realm, underscoring that digital violence is real violence and there is #NoExcuse for online abuse. Violence against women and girls remains one of the world’s most pervasive human rights violations, with nearly one in three women experiencing physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime and a woman or girl killed every ten minutes by an intimate partner or family member.
Today, online platforms have become fertile ground for gender-based attacks due to weak technological regulation, gaps in legal recognition, platform impunity, anonymity of perpetrators, movements opposing gender equality, and rapidly evolving forms of abuse driven by AI. The 2025 UNiTE to End Digital Violence against Women and Girls campaign (Nov 25–Dec 10) calls on governments to end impunity, technology companies to strengthen platform safety, donors to fund feminist organisations, and individuals everywhere to stand with survivors—because protecting women and girls online is essential to protecting their rights, dignity, and safety.