Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Sheilla Ribeiro
Published on 2024-03-26 12:05:26
The president of the Cape Verdean Institute for Gender Equality and Equity (ICIEG) revealed today that, since 2021, 31 cases of privacy violations, 8 cases of blackmail, 3 cases of illicit recordings, photographs, and films, and 16 cases of revenge porn have been reported, totaling 58 cases of digital violence.
Marisa Carvalho, speaking during the “Protection of Personal Data and Gender Digital Violence,” emphasized that this form of violence particularly affects women and is happening at an increasingly younger age, with a growing number of cases among young people.
“From 2021 onwards, through the Judicial Police, 31 cases of privacy violations, 8 cases of blackmail, 3 cases of illicit recordings, photographs, and films, and 16 cases of revenge porn have been reported. A total of 58 cases of digital violence that particularly affects women and at a younger age.”
“The various requests that ICIEG has received from secondary and primary schools in the country show us a reality that is increasingly present among young people, affecting them in a specific way and often hiding behind cowardly virtual anonymity,” she said.
The president of ICIEG lamented the real consequences of these virtual crimes, such as self-mutilation, severe depression in 12 to 13-year-olds, and cases of attempted and completed suicides.
Such consequences have been observed on various islands, within national schools, and in classes attended by children and teenagers.
To address this urgency, ICIEG established a partnership with the National Data Protection Commission in 2023 and has been conducting joint activities in secondary schools to raise awareness about the phenomenon of cyberbullying.
Carvalho highlighted the false sense of impunity created by the ease of anonymity and the lack of visible consequences in the digital world, which has led to an increase in virtual crimes.
She emphasized that the lack of reporting is one of the main challenges faced.
This year, she continued, being an election year, an increase in virtual attacks against women, especially those seeking public office, is expected.
“This year, an election year, we already know that virtual attacks against men will increase, but specifically against women, especially those who wish to hold public office. It will be a year where they will be tested, questioned, and evaluated on everything except their political potential and contribution to society. But it will also be a year where they will be attacked, humiliated, assaulted, often by other women, under the cloak of virtual invisibility,” she stated.
The president of ICIEG concluded by calling for the need to combat this practice not only through awareness-raising actions but also through reporting, emphasizing that silence cannot be an ally of violence.
She also stressed that sharing fake news, images, and videos without authorization are punishable offenses by law, and urged everyone to adopt a zero tolerance stance against all forms of violence.
Read the original article(Portuguese) on Expresso das Ilhas
