Sex og Samfunds resumé samt "CSW67 Agreed Conclusions" fra forhandlingerne ved FNs Kvindekommissions 67. session, CSW67, som blev afholdt i marts 2023

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Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender
equality and the empowerment of all women and girls
CSW67 Agreed Conclusions
1. The Commission on the Status of Women reaffirms the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action,
the outcome documents of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly and the declarations
adopted by the Commission on the occasion of the tenth, fifteenth, twentieth and twenty-fifth
anniversaries of the Fourth World Conference on Women, and stresses the need to further strengthen
their implementation.
2. The Commission reiterates that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, and the Optional Protocols thereto, as well as other relevant conventions and treaties, such as the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the International Convention
on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families provide an
international legal framework and a comprehensive set of measures for realizing gender equality and
the empowerment of all women and girls and the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and
fundamental freedoms by all women and girls, throughout their life course.
3. The Commission reaffirms that the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome
documents of its reviews, and the outcomes of relevant major United Nations conferences and summits
and the follow-up to those conferences and summits, have laid a solid foundation for sustainable
development and that the full, effective and accelerated implementation of the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action will make a crucial contribution to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development and to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and
girls.
4. The Commission emphasizes the mutually reinforcing relationship among achieving gender equality
and the empowerment of all women and girls, and the full, effective and accelerated implementation of
the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030
Agenda. It acknowledges that achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls
and women’s full, equal effective and meaningful participation and decision-making in the context of
innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age is essential for achieving
sustainable development, promoting peaceful, just and inclusive societies, enhancing inclusive and
sustainable economic growth and productivity, ending poverty in all its forms and dimensions
everywhere and ensuring the well-being of all. It recognizes that women and girls play a vital role as
agents of change for sustainable development.
5. The Commission acknowledges the important role played by regional conventions, instruments and
initiatives in their respective regions and countries, and their follow-up mechanisms, in the achievement
of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls including in the context of innovation
and technological change, and education in the digital age.
6. The Commission reaffirms the commitments to gender equality and the empowerment of all women
and girls made at relevant United Nations summits and conferences, including the International
Conference on Population and Development and its Programme of Action and the outcome documents
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of its reviews. It recognizes that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the SIDS Accelerated
Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–
2030, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for
Development, the New Urban Agenda, the World Summit for Social Development and the political
declaration of the high-level meeting on universal health coverage contribute, inter alia, to achieving
gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls and the full realization of all human rights
and fundamental freedoms in the context of innovation and technological change, and education in the
digital age. The Commission recalls the Paris Agreement, adopted under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change.
7. The Commission reiterates that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development needs to be
implemented in a comprehensive manner, reflecting its universal, integrated and indivisible nature,
taking into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development, and respecting
each country’s policy space and leadership while remaining consistent with relevant international rules
and commitments, including by developing cohesive sustainable development strategies to achieve
gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. The Commission affirms that
Governments have the primary responsibility for the follow-up to and review of the 2030 Agenda at the
national, regional and global levels with regard to progress made.
8. The Commission further recalls the Declaration on the Right to Development, the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the New York Declaration for Refugees and
Migrants.
9. The Commission reaffirms that the promotion and protection of, and respect for, the human rights
and fundamental freedoms of all women and girls, including the right to development, which are
universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated, are crucial for the full and equal participation of
women and girls in society and for women’s economic empowerment and should be mainstreamed into
all policies and programmes. It also reaffirms the need to take measures to ensure that every person is
entitled to participate in, contribute to and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development
and that equal attention and urgent consideration should be given to the promotion, protection and full
realization of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, in the context of innovation and
technological change, and education in the digital age.
10. The Commission recognizes the importance of relevant International Labour Organization standards
related to the realization of women’s right to work and rights at work. It recalls the decent work agenda
of the International Labour Organization and the International Labour Organization Declaration on
Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and notes the importance of their effective implementation.
11. The Commission also recalls the establishment of the women and peace and security agenda and
reaffirms that the full, equal, effective and meaningful participation of women in all stages of peace
processes, conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding is one of the essential factors for
the maintenance and promotion of international peace and security.
12. The Commission reaffirms that the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action recognized that it
is essential that all women not only benefit from technology, but also participate in the process from
the design to the application, monitoring and evaluation stages. It also recalls that in the Political
Declaration on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women,
Governments pledged to harness the potential of technology and innovation to improve women’s and
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girls’ lives and to close the development divide and the digital divide, including the gender digital
divide, as well as address the risks and challenges emerging from the use of technologies.
13. The Commission recalls the vision of a people-centred, inclusive and development oriented
information society as reflected in the outcome documents of the World Summit on the Information of
Society, where everyone, particularly women and girls, can create, access, utilize and share digital
technologies, information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve
their full potential in promoting their sustainable development and improving their quality of life,
premised on the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and respecting fully and
upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
14. The Commission recognizes that digital technologies have profoundly transformed societies,
promoted innovation and offered unprecedented opportunities and that they have the potential to
accelerate the realization of the 2030 Agenda and advance social development for all, including women
and girls by ensuring access to lifelong quality education, health-care services, decent work, affordable
housing, social protection, especially for those in vulnerable situations, and also recognizes that gender
equality and the empowerment of all women and girls will make a crucial contribution to progress
across all Sustainable Development Goals, and acknowledges the convening of the SDG Summit.
15. The Commission recognizes the need to ensure that human rights are promoted, respected and
fulfilled in the conception, design, development, deployment, evaluation and regulation of technologies
and to ensure that they are subject to adequate safeguards in order to promote an open, secure, stable,
and accessible and affordable information and communications technology environment for all women
and girls.
16. The Commission acknowledges that multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and
marginalization are obstacles to the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women
and girls in the context of innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age. It
respects and values the diversity of situations and conditions of women and girls and recognizes that
some women face particular barriers to their empowerment. It stresses that, while all women and girls
have the same human rights, women and girls in different contexts have particular needs and priorities,
requiring appropriate responses.
17. The Commission recognizes that while technology can be used to promote women’s and girls’ full
realization of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, it can also be used to perpetuate
gender stereotypes and negative social norms and create vicious cycles, where inequalities are amplified
and perpetuated through digital tools, and recognizes the need to address the impact of structural barriers
to the realization of those rights.
18. The Commission expresses concern about the unequal pace of digital transformation and access to
technology within and among countries and the structural and systemic barriers inter alia, gender
stereotypes and negative social norms and the disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work,
undermining the ability of women and girls from securely accessing information and communications
technologies and the internet and from being equipped with the knowledge, awareness and skills for
their social empowerment and women’s economic empowerment, and connected at a level that
allows for a safe online experience at affordable cost especially in developing countries, including the
least developed countries and small island developing States and African countries.
19. The Commission further recognizes that adolescent girls are part of the most digitally connected
generation in history, and can disproportionately face discrimination, violence that occurs through or is
amplified by the use of technology, and other barriers in the context of innovation and technological
change, and education in the digital age, which prevents them from accessing the full benefits of digital
technologies and meaningful participation in society, and can create and exacerbate inequalities.
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20. The Commission notes the potential of digital technologies to strengthen birth registration systems.
It also notes the vital importance of birth registration for the realization of human rights, including the
right to education, as well as access to social protection systems, and for participation and decision-
making in public life, and expresses concern at the low levels of birth registration among some
Indigenous women and girls, women and girls with disabilities, migrant women and girls, women and
girls in rural, remote and maritime areas, and women and girls belonging to national or ethnic, religious
and linguistic minorities.
21. The Commission remains deeply concerned that all women and girls, especially in developing
countries, including small island developing States, and particularly those in vulnerable situations, are
often disproportionately affected by the adverse impacts of climate change, environmental degradation,
biodiversity loss, extreme weather events and natural disasters and other environmental issues, such as
land degradation, desertification, deforestation, sand and dust storms, persistent drought, floods, sea
level rise, coastal erosion and ocean acidification, including disproportionate exposure to risk and
increased loss of life and livelihoods, and reiterates its deep concern over the challenges posed by
climate change to the achievement of sustainable development and poverty eradication. It recalls that
the parties to the Paris Agreement acknowledged that they should, when taking action to address climate
change, respect, promote and consider gender equality, the empowerment of women and girls and
intergenerational equity and, in this context, also recalls the adoption of the second gender action plan
by the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at
its twenty-fifth session.
22. The Commission notes the importance of ensuring the integrity of all ecosystems, including oceans,
and the protection of biodiversity. It recognizes that technology and innovation can assist countries in
improving climate change adaptation and mitigation, particularly efforts to achieve the long-term
temperature goal in accordance with article 2 of the Paris Agreement adopted under the UNFCCC. It
emphasizes the importance of promoting equal access to technologies that are affordable and accessible,
and to the Internet for all women and girls, as well as digital literacy, finance and capacity building,
working towards closing digital divides, including the gender digital divide, and encourages countries
to increase the full, meaningful and equal participation of women in climate action and decision making.
It also encourages countries to promote the deployment of gender-responsive technological solutions to
address climate change, including strengthening, protecting and preserving local, Indigenous and
traditional knowledge and practices in different sectors and for improving climate resilience, and by
fostering women’s and girls’ full participation and leadership in science, technology, research and
development, in accordance with the Lima gender action plan adopted under the UNFCCC.
23. The Commission emphasizes the critical role that women play in disaster response and COVID-19
recovery efforts. It recalls that women represent the vast majority of front-line health and social workers
and that they are significantly engaged in the delivery of essential and public services. It recognizes that
the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic requires a global response based on solidarity and renewed
multilateral cooperation. It further recognizes that sustainable and inclusive recovery strategies are
needed to reduce risks of future shocks, including through strengthening health systems and achieving
universal health coverage, and that all responses are implemented with full respect for human rights. It
expresses deep concern that, despite international agreements, initiatives and general declarations, there
is a lack of equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines worldwide, especially for developing countries.
24. The Commission expresses concern that the economic and social fallout of the coronavirus disease
(COVID-19) pandemic has compounded the impacts of the global food security crisis, climate change,
environmental degradation and disasters, and has pushed people further behind and into extreme
poverty, exacerbated pre-existing debt vulnerabilities, with many developing countries at high risk of
or already in debt distress, magnified the unequal pace of digital transformation within and among
countries and shown how these factors when combined with structural and systemic barriers can
translate into unequal opportunities for women and girls, since the poorest and the most vulnerable who
are the hardest hit are also those who lag behind the most in access to information and communications
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technologies. It further expresses deep concern over the increased demand for unpaid care and domestic
work and the reported surge in all forms of violence, including sexual and gender-based violence.
25. Reaffirm the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) as amended, and also reaffirming the 2001 World Trade
Organization Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, which recognizes that
intellectual property rights should be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of the right
of Member States to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all, and
notes the need for appropriate incentives in the development of new health products;
26. The Commission reaffirms that the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in decision-
making processes and in leadership positions at all levels is essential to the achievement of gender
equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, as well as the realization of their human rights
and fundamental freedoms. It also reaffirms the importance of the participation and leadership of
women in decision-making related to information and communication technologies, including policies
and programmes to promote women’s and girls’ ability to use digital technologies and to address any
potential negative impacts of such technologies.
27. The Commission recognizes the important contribution of the science and technology community
to sustainable development, especially the important contributions of women and girls to education,
science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and innovation.
28. The Commission recognizes the critical role digital platforms can play as spaces where all women
can advocate, mobilize and participate fully, equally and meaningfully in public life. It also emphasizes
that women’s and girls’ online contributions can foster inclusive and participatory public discourse and
policy outcomes that take into account the interests, needs and perspectives of all women and girls.
29. The Commission recognizes that digital transformation has the potential to drive breakthrough
progress and new solutions towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and overcoming
current disruptions in trade and supply chains and in this regard reaffirms the urgent need to close the
digital divides and ensure that the benefits of digital technologies are available to all women and girls,
by promoting, within and among countries, inclusive, meaningful and quality access to digital
technologies, connectivity and the Internet, while reaffirming the need to respect all human rights and
fundamental freedoms in the use and regulation of digital technologies.
30. The Commission recalls that the human rights to safe drinking water and to sanitation are essential
for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights. It is deeply concerned that water scarcity and
disruptions to supply, induced by climate change, environmental degradation and disasters,
disproportionately affect women and girls, with women walking long distances or waiting hours in
queues to obtain water, which restricts their time for other activities, such as education and leisure, or
for earning a livelihood. The Commission underlines that gender-responsive water and sanitation
services and infrastructure, based on the sustainable integrated water resources management using
research and innovation as well as the application of new and innovative technologies and digitalization
are key to bolstering the resilience of all women and girls, and further recognizes the need to expand
women’s and girls’ access to adequate, safe and clean water and sanitation facilities, including for
menstrual health and hygiene, especially in disaster relief and humanitarian emergencies.
31. The Commission notes with grave concern that about a third of the world’s population, mainly in
developing countries, especially women and girls and people in vulnerable situations, as well as two
thirds of women in the least developed countries, do not have access to the internet.
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32. The Commission recognizes that information and communications technologies present new
opportunities and challenges for all women and girls, and that there is a pressing need to address the
major impediments that developing countries and small island developing states face in accessing and
using new technologies, stressing the need to close the digital divides, both between and within
countries, including the rural-urban, youth-older persons and gender digital divides, and to harness
information and communications technologies for development including for women and girls, and
recalling the need to emphasize quality of access to bridge digital and knowledge divides, using a
multidimensional approach that includes speed, stability, affordability, language, training, capacity-
building, local content and accessibility, including for persons with disabilities.
33. The Commission emphasizes that efforts to close the gender digital divide and ensure that no-one
is left behind in the digital economy and society must be expanded and grounded in digital equity. It
encourages all relevant stakeholders to promote equal and affordable access to digital skills, and to
mainstream a gender perspective into the conceptualization, development and implementation of digital
technologies and related policies. It recognizes that overlaying digital services onto the existing gender
gaps compounds risks, making them less accessible to those in vulnerable situations, including those
living in poverty and rural areas, unless their introduction is accompanied by incentives and targeted
support.
34. The Commission recognizes that a lack of access of women and girls to affordable, accessible and
reliable technologies and services remains a critical challenge in many developing countries, in
particular African countries, the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, small
island developing States, middle-income countries,those transitioning to a higher income per capita,
countries in situations of conflict, post-conflict countries and countries affected by natural disasters. It
stresses the need to address prevailing challenges to bridge the digital divides, including the gender
digital divide, and to harness information and communications technologies for sustainable
development and to protect and respect the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental
freedoms. All efforts should be deployed to reduce the price and enhance the affordability of
information and communications technologies and broadband access and use, bearing in mind that
deliberate interventions, including through research and development and technology transfer on
mutually agreed terms, may be necessary to spur the development of lower-cost connectivity options.
35. The Commission notes with concern the limited progress in closing the gender gap in access to and
use of technologies, connectivity, digital literacy and education and emphasizes the importance of
technical and vocational training and lifelong learning opportunities, including women and girls living
in rural or remote areas, and islands, as well as migrant women and girls. It recognizes that new
technologies are, inter alia, changing the structure of labour markets and that they provide new and
different employment opportunities that require skills ranging from basic digital fluency to advanced
technical skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and in information and
communications technology.
36. The Commission recognizes the need to focus on capacity-development policies and sustainable
support of all women and girls to further enhance the impact of activities and initiatives at the national
and local levels aimed at providing advice, services and support, with a view to building an inclusive
and development oriented information society that respects human rights.
37. The Commission recognizes also that rapid technological change affects States in different ways,
and that addressing these impacts, which depend on States’ national realities, capacities and levels of
development, requires international and multi-stakeholder cooperation in order to benefit from
opportunities and to address the challenges arising from this change, as well as to bridge digital divides,
including the gender digital divide, to achieve gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls
and the fulfilment of all their human rights.
38. The Commission notes with concern that new technological developments can perpetuate existing
patterns of inequality and discrimination in the absence of effective safeguards and oversight, including
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in the algorithms used in artificial intelligence-based solutions. It also notes that gender bias in
technology affects individuals but also contributes to setbacks in gender equality and women’s
empowerment, and therefore a gender-responsive approach should be taken in the design, development,
deployment, and use of digital technologies with full respect for human rights.
39. The Commission recognizes that despite the opportunities, there is a need to addresses challenges
associated with the misuse of new and emerging digital technologies which can be designed and/or used
to incite violence, hatred, discrimination and hostility, inter alia, racism, xenophobia, negative
stereotyping and stigmatization against women and girls. The Commission expresses concern that
women and particularly girls, often do not and/or cannot provide their free, explicit and informed
consent to the collection, processing, use, and storage of their personal data or to the reuse, sale or
multiple resale of their personal data, as the collection, processing, use, storage and sharing of personal
data, including sensitive data, have increased significantly in the digital age.
40. The Commission recognizes that the way many digital platforms are designed, maintained and
governed has given rise to disinformation, misinformation and hate speech, which can undermine the
fulfilment of women’s and girls’ rights, including the right to freedom of opinion and expression and
to participate in all spheres of public life, and in this regard, recognizes that teaching children and young
people digital literacy and skills, competencies for positive engagement on digital technologies, and
respect for gender equality helps to address issues related to online safety, privacy, and various forms
of violence, including gender based that occurs through or is amplified by the use of technology, and
empowers youth, including young men and boys, to become agents of change for gender equality.
41. The Commission emphasizes that serious harm and discrimination against women and girls
triggered by the use of new and emerging digital technologies call for regulations that take into account
the voices and experiences of women and girls to improve accountability requirements to address any
human rights violations and abuses and enhance transparency on how to use and protect data and
address the potential human rights violations and abuses caused by the use of their products and services
taking into account the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
42. The Commission recognizes that social media has transformed how information is shared globally,
providing women and girls with new channels to share content and opinions, as well as come together
to raise awareness and mobilize, and therefore stresses the need to facilitate and expand, particularly
for women and girls the accessibility and affordability of safe, secure and inclusive online platforms
and digital technology, including by investing in and creating effective regulatory frameworks fully
compliant with relevant obligations under international human rights law, including for content
moderation and reporting mechanisms.
43. The Commission recognizes that the promotion of and respect for women’s and girls’ right to
privacy, according to which no one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or
her privacy, family, home or correspondence, and the right to the protection of the law against such
interference, is important to the prevention of all forms of violence, including sexual and gender-based
violence, abuse and sexual harassment, cyberbullying and cyberstalking, among others, as well as any
form of discrimination, which can occur in digital and online spaces. It is deeply concerned at the
negative impact that surveillance and/or interception of communications, including extraterritorial
surveillance and/or interception of communications, as well as the collection of personal data, in
particular when carried out on a mass scale, may have on the exercise and enjoyment of human rights
of women and girls.
44. The Commission notes that many emerging digital technologies remain widely unregulated and
recognizes the need for effective measures, for all enterprises which own, manage and govern digital
technologies and services to tackle the challenges associated with the use of technologies including
those that have adverse impacts on gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, and
to introduce due diligence to identify, prevent and mitigate risks and negative impacts of technology on
women and girls.
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45. The Commission recognizes that the use of artificial intelligence has the potential to transform
delivery of public services, societies, economic sectors and the world of work and contribute to the
achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, as well as their human
rights and sustainable development. It also recognizes that it can contribute to setbacks in these areas
and have far-reaching implications and cause disproportionate negative impacts on women and girls,
especially through new evolving technologies that create new forms of violence, such as deep-fakes.
46. The Commission notes with concern that the under-representation of women and girls, and the lack
of or limited participation of women, and as appropriate, girls in the conceptualization, development,
implementation and use of digital technologies, as well as the use and production of imbalanced and
non-representative data which can lead to inaccuracies and biases in algorithms, training smart
applications and artificial intelligence based solutions, and therefore to discrimination, including racial
and gender-based discrimination. It further notes with concern that this impacts the accuracy of facial
recognition technologies, including for women and girls and exacerbates racial inequalities and notes
in this context the importance of effective remedies to address those inaccuracies.
47. The Commission expresses concern that the current innovation ecosystems do not sufficiently
contribute to achieving gender equality and are characterized by an uneven distribution of power and
financial resources, resulting in women being significantly underrepresented in decision-making
affecting their rights and opportunities in the digital age and being unable to benefit from the millions
of decent and quality jobs created by the digital transitions.
48. The Commission emphasizes that national strategies on technology and innovation should provide
a cohesive basis for gender-responsive policies and programming that contribute to the empowerment
of all women and girls and protect, promote and respect their human rights. It recognizes the need to
take a whole-of-society and multistakeholder approach so that each actor contributes to putting in place
the conditions that will shape infrastructure, regulations, business, investments and education systems
and provide a more inclusive digital environment. It recognises multi-stakeholder efforts on the
achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls and the realisation of their
human rights, taking note of all international, regional and national initiatives in this regard, to advance
the full, effective and accelerated implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
49. The Commission strongly condemns all forms of violence against women and girls, which are rooted
in historical and structural inequalities and unequal power relations between men and women. It
reiterates that violence against women and girls in all its forms and manifestations, online and offline,
in public and private spheres, including sexual and gender-based violence, such as sexual harassment,
domestic violence, gender-related killings, including femicide, harmful practices such as child, early
and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, as well as child and forced labour, trafficking in
persons and sexual exploitation and abuse are pervasive, underrecognized and underreported,
particularly at the community level. It expresses deep concern that women and girls may be particularly
vulnerable to violence because of multidimensional poverty, disability, limited or lack of access to
justice, effective legal remedies and psychosocial services, including protection, rehabilitation,
reintegration, and to health-care services. It re-emphasizes that violence against women and girls is a
major impediment to the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls
and that it violates and impairs or nullifies their full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental
freedoms.
50. The Commission acknowledges the need to address the effects of armed conflict and post-conflict
situations on women and girls, including victims and survivors of sexual violence.
51. The Commission also recognizes that violence against women and girls, including sexual
harassment in private and public spaces, including in educational institutions and the world of work, as
well as in digital contexts, impedes participation and decision-making in the context of innovation and
technological change, and education in the digital age and leads to a hostile environment.
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52. The Commission recognizes that girls are often at greater risk of being exposed to and experiencing
various forms of discrimination and gender-based violence and harmful practices, including through
the use of information and communications technology and social media. It also recognizes that the
coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in girls spending more time online, which has
been exploited by offenders and has therefore increased the need for measures and education to promote
child safety.
53. The Commission expresses concern about the continuity and interrelation between offline and
online violence, harassment and discrimination against women and girls and condemns the increase of
such acts that are committed, assisted, aggravated or amplified by the use of technology. The
Commission is deeply concerned by the magnitude of various forms of violence, including gender-
based violence that occurs through or is amplified by technology and the significant physical, sexual,
psychological, social, political and economic harm it causes to women and girls, throughout their life
course, infringing on their rights and freedoms, in particular for those in public life. It recognizes how
such violence significantly increases the risk of depression and suicide, especially among adolescent
girls.
54. The Commission further condemns gender-based violence and the emergence and rise of harmful
behaviors and narratives which undermine and discredit women’s and girls’ online and offline
expression, forcing women and girls to self-censor, close their digital platforms or reduce their
interaction in online and offline spaces, limiting their full, and meaningful participation in public life
and the enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms.
55. The Commission recognizes the harm caused to girls and, especially when non-consensual, to
women, by the use, sharing or dissemination, or threats thereof, of intimate or personal sexually explicit
content, whether real or simulated, such as photographs or videos, including through peer pressure to
create, share or disseminate such content, as well as the short- and long-term repercussions for the
victims and survivors as a result of such actions. It notes the fact that several countries have criminalized
the online circulation of such content, ensuring that victims do not have to rely solely on other criminal
law provisions.
56. The Commission expresses concern that women in public life, including politicians, voters,
candidates, election administrators, judges, journalists, women in sport and members of women’s
organizations face higher levels of violence, including in digital contexts, and especially on social
media, which prevent them from exercising their equal right to participate in all spheres of public life,
and also notes with concern that there is a lack of preventive measures and remedies, which underline
the need for action by Member States in partnership with other stakeholders.
57. The Commission recognizes the need to foster a policy of zero tolerance in the digital environment
for all forms of violence against women and girls, harassment, stalking, bullying, threats of sexual and
gender-based violence, death threats, arbitrary or unlawful surveillance and tracking, trafficking in
persons, extortion, censorship, the illegal access to digital accounts, mobile telephones and other
electronic devices, in line with international human rights law. It also recognizes the multi-jurisdictional
and transnational nature of such activities and the continual use and adaptation of digital technologies
by perpetrators to avoid detection and investigation call for active cooperation among different actors,
including States and their law enforcement and judicial authorities, and private sector, with regard to
detecting crimes, reporting them to competent and relevant authorities for investigation, safeguarding
electronic evidence of crimes and handing the evidence over to those authorities in a timely manner and
to enhance international cooperation involving electronic evidence in this regard. The Commission is
also concerned about the use of technologies, including the Internet, social media and online platforms
to perpetrate trafficking in women and girls, including for sexual and economic exploitation.
58. The Commission stresses the need to develop, and where it already exists, strengthen and implement
legislation that prohibits violence against women and girls that occurs through or is amplified by the
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use of technology and to provide adequate protection for women and girls against all forms of violence
in public and private spheres, and the need to improve coherence of policy actions for the elimination
and prevention of all forms of violence, including gender-based violence that occurs through or is
amplified by the use of technologies around principles focusing on victim- and/or survivor-centered
approaches with full respect for human rights, access to justice, transparency, accountability and
proportionality. It expresses concern about the lack of comprehensive and accurate disaggregated data
collection on the extent of the prevalence, forms and impact of such violence, resulting in fragmented
and incomplete information.
59. The Commission recognizes the contribution of digitalization to the full, equal and meaningful
participation and involvement of women in peace processes, conflict prevention, conflict resolution and
peacebuilding.
60. The Commission reaffirms the human rights of girls and recognizes that the fulfillment of these
rights is assisted through the development of digital literacy and skills of children, as well as of their
parents or legal guardians, teachers and educators, as well as through empowering girls to report and
seek help in responding to online threats and bullying in adequate ways, and raising their awareness of
online safety. It notes with concern the use of technologies to facilitate various forms of exploitation of
girls, including for online child sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, and the production and distribution
of child pornography, also known as child sexual abuse material.
61. The Commission recognizes that negative social norms as well as gender stereotypes, systemic and
structural barriers, are among the root causes of the gender digital divide, causing persistent gender gaps
in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and women’s and girls’ life-long
learning opportunities which keep women from attaining and retaining decent and quality jobs. It
recognizes the importance of women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in the technology
workforce, including in fast-growing and well-paid careers such as in cloud computing, software and
artificial intelligence development and data management, and as entrepreneurs, innovators, researchers,
and industry executives and leaders. It also notes that policies and programmes to achieve gender parity
in science and technology, engineering and mathematics should place the responsibility to drive change
on those who are responsible for creating supportive workplaces and education settings in order to
promote the representation of women and girls from different backgrounds.
62. The Commission recognizes that, despite gains in providing access to education, girls are still more
likely than boys to remain excluded from education. It also recognizes that among the gender-specific
barriers to girls’ equal enjoyment of their right to education are the feminization of poverty, child labour
undertaken by girls, child, early and forced marriage, female genital mutilation, early and repeat
pregnancies, all forms of gender-based violence, including sexual violence and harassment on the way
to and from and at school, in their technology-mediated environment, the lack of safe and adequate
sanitation facilities, including for menstrual hygiene management, the disproportionate share of unpaid
care and domestic work performed by girls and gender stereotypes and negative social norms that lead
families and communities to place less value on the education of girls than that of boys and may
influence the decision of parents to allow girls to attend school.
63. The Commission reaffirms the need to ensure access to inclusive and equitable quality education,
including digital literacy, for all women and girls to enable them to thrive in a rapidly changing world,
and in this regard stresses that information and communications technologies and applications can
create new ways to enhance education, including affordable quality early childhood education and
lifelong learning opportunities as well as accessible learning experiences for women and girls with
disabilities. It also recognizes that digital learning can remove gender bias and stereotypes around
subjects such as mental health, media literacy, online safety. It recognizes that exposing girls to
computational thinking during their formative early childhood years can enable them to seize equal
opportunities and prepare them in technical fields. It encourages the inclusion of gender-responsive
teaching strategies in digital literacy initiatives.
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64. The Commission notes the convening of the Transforming Education Summit and highlights that
digital literacy is negatively impacted by the lack of investments in ICT infrastructure and equipment,
school connectivity, lack of public digital learning content and teachers’ capacity. It emphasizes the
need to leverage inclusive, affordable and accessible digital technologies to improve and supplement
teaching, rather than replace in-person education, for all women, and girls, including adolescent girls,
while recognizing that digital technologies provide life-long learning opportunities for remote exchange
and collaboration and facilitate access to online resources and new types of tools and pedagogies. It
recognizes the critical role of teachers and educators, parents and legal guardians, in ensuring inclusive
and equitable quality education, and the importance of strengthening their capacities, skills and
competencies in online and digital learning by providing support, including through the necessary
trainings, devices, materials and technological infrastructure.
65. The Commission reaffirms that the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental
health is foundational to building the resilience of all women and girls. It underlines the need for
strengthening access to gender-responsive, safe, available, affordable, accessible, quality and inclusive
health-care services, including those related to mental health, maternal and neonatal health, menstrual
health and hygiene management, and ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care
services, including for family planning, information and education.
66. The Commission recognizes the important role of digital health including digital health
technologies, digital tools, telemedicine and mobile health, including to ensuring universal access to
sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education.
It further recognizes the need to ensure that such technologies and tools are developed in consultation
with women and as appropriate girls, and that they are science and evidence-based, while protecting
personal information, including health information, doctor-patient confidentiality and prioritize consent
and informed decision-making.
67. The Commission recognizes that the digitalization of health-care services can positively influence
health outcomes for all women and girls and contribute towards achieving universal health coverage,
especially by addressing all communicable and non-communicable diseases, including water-borne and
neglected tropical diseases, and provide information on nutrition and healthy lifestyles,. and providing
antenatal and postnatal health.
68. The Commission acknowledges women’s and girls’ critical contributions to their families and
communities. It recognizes the importance of implementing family-friendly and family-oriented
policies aimed at, inter alia, achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls
and their enjoyment of all human rights in the context of innovation and technological change, and
education in the digital age, and also recognizes the need to ensure that all digital policies and
programmes are responsive to the changing needs and expectations of families in fulfilling their
numerous functions and that the rights, capabilities and responsibilities of all family members are
respected.
69. The Commission recognizes the need to promote inclusive family-oriented policies to improve
work-life and family balance in the digital economy, including those designed to strengthen parents’
and caregivers’ ability to care for children, particularly for women heads of households, expand
evidence-based research on the impacts of new technologies on the multiple roles of women in society
to develop or strengthen policies and programmes to increase women’s and girls’ access to education,
training, science, and technology, and ensure that such policies and programs also promote shared
responsibility of women and men, parents, and society as a whole.
70. The Commission reiterates the need to manage technological and digital change for women’s
economic empowerment, particularly to strengthen the capacities of developing countries, including
African countries and SIDS, so as to enable women to leverage science and technology for
entrepreneurship and economic empowerment in the changing world of work and to support women’s
access, throughout their life course, to skills development and decent work in new and emerging fields
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by expanding the scope of education and training opportunities in, inter alia, science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics, information and communications technology and digital literacy, and to
enhance women’s and, girls’ participation as users, content creators, and women’s participation as
employees, entrepreneurs, innovators and leaders.
71. The Commission recognizes that technological and digital innovations, including automation and
artificial intelligence, can bring major changes to industries and the labor force, leading simultaneously
to job creation, elimination and transformation, and that women will be significantly impacted by jobs
lost to technological change in the world of work, owing to occupational segregation, including its
vertical and horizontal dimensions. It notes that new jobs generated by the rise of the platform economy
often upends traditional employment models without improving the overall labour market position of
women, replicating the same biases found in traditional employment, including lower pay, harassment,
instability and a lack of labour protection and entitlements, such as social security, child or long-term
care services or care leave policies or the right to collective bargaining, and recognizes that digital
transitions need to be accompanied by expanded social protection measures as well as the creation of
safe, secure and better paid employment opportunities and equal pay for work of equal value.
72. The Commission recognizes that new technologies increase the demand for digital skills and
competencies and that, at the same time, developing countries are experiencing higher numbers of
young people entering the labour market and a widening gap between their knowledge, skills and
abilities and those sought by employers, and expresses concern that the share of women in specialist
information and communications technology occupations remains low, especially in developing
countries. It further recognizes that investment in lifelong education, digital literacy and digital skills is
required, including for boosting the employability of women and young people and fostering the social
inclusion of older persons in our societies.
73. The Commission recognizes the importance of a conducive external environment in support of
national efforts towards the economic empowerment of women, through promoting the leadership,
ownership, management and participation of women in all sectors and levels of the economy, which
includes the mobilization of adequate financial resources and capacity-building and the transfer of
technology on mutually agreed terms which in turn would enhance the use of enabling technologies to
promote women’s entrepreneurship and economic empowerment.
74. The Commission recognizes that mainstreaming a gender perspective in the digital economy forms
a crucial component of progressive structural change aimed at enhancing competitiveness and
promoting social inclusion in order to ensure women’s economic autonomy and accelerate progress
towards achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. It further recognizes
the role and contribution of women in inclusive economic growth, including through micro-, small and
medium sized enterprises, and the creative economy, and that it involves, inter alia, knowledge-based
economic activities and the interplay between human creativity and ideas, knowledge and technology.
It stresses the importance of assisting women and girls in developing countries, in particular the least
developed countries, to address the challenges and opportunities in relation to the use of the internet by
women and girls and e-commerce to develop women’s international trade capacities, among other
things.
75. The Commission recognizes that universal access to social protection plays a central role in reducing
inequality, eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions and creating opportunities for women’s
and girls’ education and access to digital technology. It reiterates that everyone has the right to a
standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of themselves and their families, including
food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, education, and that motherhood,
parenthood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. The Commission, however, is
concerned that women’s and girls’ lack of access to education and digital literacy and skills will
exacerbate gender gaps in social protection coverage.
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76. The Commission recognizes that women and girls undertake a disproportionate share of unpaid care
and domestic work, which limits women’s ability to participate in decision-making processes and
occupy leadership positions, and poses significant constraints on women’s and girls’ education and
training, and on women’s economic opportunities and entrepreneurial activities including in the context
of innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age. It stresses the need to recognize
and adopt measures to reduce, redistribute and value unpaid care and domestic work by promoting the
equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men within the household and by prioritizing,
inter alia, sustainable infrastructure, social protection policies and accessible, affordable and quality
social services, including care services, childcare and maternity, paternity or parental leave.
77. The Commission emphasizes the need to identify and eliminate all prejudice, discrimination and
obstacles that limit the access of women and girls with disabilities to information and communications
technologies, and expresses concern for the particular challenges that inaccessible and exclusionary
education systems pose to women and girls with disabilities in the context of the digital age, as
technological advancements risk leaving them further behind due to environmental, physical, attitudinal
and other barriers. It underlines the importance of ensuring equal access to inclusive and equitable
quality education and lifelong learning opportunities, including digital literacy for women and girls with
disabilities, as well as vocational and entrepreneurial training, decent work and quality jobs for women
with disabilities and encourages the development and equitable distribution of gender-responsive,
affordable and accessible assistive technology, as well as safe and affordable access to the Internet, to
give them the opportunity to be actively involved, and on an equal basis with all others, in all aspects
of public, political, economic, cultural, and social life.
78. The Commission stresses the importance of the empowerment and capacity-building of Indigenous
women and girls, including women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in developing policies
and programmes and determining resources, where relevant, that target the well-being of Indigenous
women and girls, in particular in the areas of innovation and technological change, access to internet
and digital services, quality education, financial services, the transmission of traditional, scientific and
technical knowledge, languages, spiritual and religious traditions and practices, including through
digital technologies, as well as productive employment and decent work for Indigenous women. It also
stresses the importance of taking measures to promote awareness and understanding of their rights,
including in relation to digital infrastructure development on communal and traditional Indigenous
lands and use of their natural resources. It recognizes that Indigenous women and girls, regardless of
age, often face violence and discrimination and have limited access to digital health care services and
to digital infrastructure and technologies.
79. The Commission recognizes the potential of technology and digital innovation to improve the
effectiveness and transparency of migration procedures, and to connect migrant women and girls with
their families around the world, as well as the need to address the digital divides for migrant women
and girls and ensure their online connectivity and equitable access to services, while upholding the
protection of personal data and their right to privacy. It also recognizes the positive contributions of
migrant women towards inclusive growth and sustainable development in countries of origin, transit
and destination, including through the sending of remittances which are fundamental for the
empowerment of women and are a vital source of support for their families and communities. It
emphasizes the need to promote a holistic approach including through a gender perspective in migration
policies and programmes to address the situations of vulnerability that migrant women and girls face,
including in the accessing quality education and learning opportunities in the digital age, underlining in
this regard the obligation of States to protect, respect and fulfil the human rights of all migrants.
80. The Commission recognizes the need to ensure the economic independence and full participation
and empowerment of widows, including in the context of innovation and technological change and
education in the digital age, inter alia by enabling their access to digital technologies and promoting the
control, ownership and management of their own businesses and entrepreneurships including through
the incorporation of financial instruments such as bonds and credit lines, mobilization of sufficient
financial resources and capacity building.
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81. The Commission recognizes that the digital divides impact particularly older women as they often
experience less exposure and in some cases even no exposure to new technologies and skills, including
due to time spent out of the paid labor force, inter-alia, in order to carry out unpaid care and domestic
work, which can also lead to a lack of education and confidence in using digital devices. It therefore
stresses the need to close the gender digital divide by investing in the digital literacy and skills of older
women and by providing them with universal and affordable access to and use of technologies including
information and communications technologies, including new technologies, and the use of digitally
enabled services.
82. The Commission welcomes the major contributions of civil society organizations, especially
women’s, young women’s, girls’, youth-led, grass-roots and community-based organizations, rural,
indigenous and feminist groups, women human rights defenders, women journalists and media
professionals and trade unions in promoting and protecting the human rights of all women and girls,
placing their interests, needs and visions on local, national, regional and international agendas and in
the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of measures to achieve gender equality and the
empowerment of all women and girls, including in the context of innovation and technological change,
and education in the digital age. It expresses concern that such civil society organizations face many
challenges and barriers to full, equal and meaningful participation and leadership, including diminishing
funding, as well as violence, harassment, reprisals directed at, and threats to the physical security of,
their members.
83. The Commission reaffirms the importance of significantly increasing investments to close resource
gaps for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls through, inter alia, the
mobilization of adequate financial resources from all sources, including domestic and international
resource mobilization and allocation, the full implementation of official development assistance
commitments and combating illicit financial flows, so as to build on progress achieved and strengthen
international cooperation, including North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation, bearing in
mind that South-South cooperation is not a substitute for, but rather a complement to, North-South
cooperation.
84. The Commission acknowledges the important role of national machineries for gender equality and
the empowerment of all women and girls, the relevant contribution of national human rights institutions
where they exist, and the important role of civil society and the media in achieving gender equality and
the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of innovation and technological change, and
education in the digital age.
85. The Commission recognizes the importance of the full engagement of men and boys as agents and
beneficiaries of change, and as strategic partners and allies in the achievement of gender equality and
the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of innovation and technological change, and
education in the digital age in order to combat and eliminate the gender stereotypes, sexism and negative
social norms that fuel discrimination and all forms of violence, including sexual and gender-based
violence, and undermine gender equality, while noting the ongoing need to educate children from a
young age regarding the importance of gender equality, human rights, treating all people with dignity
and respect and promoting a culture of peace, non-violent behaviour and respectful relationships.
86. The Commission urges governments at all levels and as appropriate, with the relevant entities of the
United Nations system and international and regional organizations, within their respective mandates
and bearing in mind national priorities, and invites civil society, inter alia, women’s organizations,
youth-led organizations, feminist groups, faith-based organizations, the private sector and national
human rights institutions, where they exist, and other relevant stakeholders, as applicable, to take the
following actions:
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Prioritizing digital equity to close the gender digital divide
(a) Take action to fully implement existing commitments and obligations with respect to the
achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls and the full and equal
enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms without discrimination of any kind,
including in the context of innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age;
(b) Consider ratifying or acceding to, as a matter of particular priority, the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of
the Child, and the Optional Protocols thereto, limit the extent of any reservations, formulate any
such reservations as precisely and as narrowly as possible to ensure that no reservations are
incompatible with the object and purpose of the Conventions, review their reservations regularly
with a view to withdrawing them, withdraw reservations that are contrary to the object and purpose
of the relevant Convention and implement the Conventions fully by, inter alia, putting in place
effective national legislation and policies;
(c) Take targeted measures to identify and eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and
girls including those exacerbated by the use of new and emerging technologies, and ensure that all
women and girls enjoy full access, both in law and in practice, to innovation and technology, and
education in the digital age, which can, inter alia, contribute to the eradication of poverty, in all its
forms and dimensions including extreme poverty and, in particular, the feminization of poverty and
enhance efforts to combat discrimination resulting from the use of artificial intelligence and
predictive algorithms, including by exercising, as appropriate, due diligence in assessing,
preventing and mitigating the adverse impacts of such technologies on gender equality in order to
ensure women’s and girls’ access to justice and accountability for violations and abuses of their
human rights, as well as effective remedies, and ensure that existing provisions of respective legal
systems are in full compliance with States’ international human rights obligations;
(d) Mainstream gender and age perspectives in national laws, digital policies, programmes and
budgets, to include gender-, disability- and age- specific targets, allocate resources, increase
coherence to remove barriers to equal access for women and girls to science, technology and
innovation, especially costs of and access to devices and data, lack of skills and safety, and
coordinate actions, subsidies and incentives to ensure universal meaningful, high-quality and
affordable connectivity, and public access facilities to an open, accessible, safe and secure Internet
for women and girls, through a systematic, comprehensive, integrated, sustainable,
multidisciplinary and multisectoral approach;
(e) Take targeted measures to address the growing digital divides within and among countries in
order to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, through, inter alia,
strengthened enabling policy environments at all levels, legal and regulatory frameworks conducive
to increased investment and innovation, public-private partnerships, low cost technology, universal
access strategies and international cooperation to improve affordability, capacity-building,
financing, investment and technology transfer;
(f) Enhance efforts to achieve universal and affordable connectivity, expand digital learning and
literacy and facilitate the access to information and communications technology for women and
girls who are disproportionately affected by the gender digital divide, including women and girls
living in rural and remote areas and islands, women and girls with disabilities, migrant women and
girls, Indigenous women and girls, and displaced and refugee women and girls, and particularly
strive to remove barriers and provide support for non-users and the least connected;
(g) Promote equal safe and affordable access to information and communications technology for
all women to enhance their productivity and mobility in the labour market, working towards closing
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digital divides, including the gender digital divide, and ensure that programmes, services and
infrastructure are adaptable and suited to tackle different technological barriers;
(h) Take measures to ensure that all women and girls can enjoy their human rights and fundamental
freedoms and access to information; eliminate, prevent and respond to all unlawful measures that
prevent or disrupt access to information, including practices, which are in violation of international
human rights law;
(i) Put in place the conditions supporting the creation and expansion of safe, affordable, accessible,
relevant and inclusive public and private digital tools and services to address the needs of all women
and girls, across sectors and geographies, in particular those who face additional challenges to
accessing digital tools, including through the adoption of safety-by-design approaches in the
development and deployment of digital tools and technologies;
(j) Take concrete measures to enable the participation of all women and girls in education and
training, ensure equal access to affordable mobile devices and the open, affordable, accessible, safe
and secure Internet, develop e-government tools to, inter alia, enhance women’s political
participation and engagement in public life at all levels, and promote pro-poor digital policies and
applications, while improving the responsiveness of such technologies to the specific needs of
women and girls;
(k) Support early warning systems through the application of digital tools and resources to enable
equal access of women and girls to risk-informed information, forecasting and preparedness, data,
knowledge and communications and for the implementation of disaster risk reduction policies,
plans and programmes;
(l) Commit to improving women’s financial inclusion through the access to, usage and quality of
financial services and to enhance digital skills and literacy for all women and girls, including by
expanding the use of digital channels, promoting innovation, competition and transparency,
reducing transaction costs and increasing digital and financial inclusion, which depend on sound
infrastructure, inter alia by adopting digital solutions to promote faster, safer and cheaper
remittances and concrete actions to reduce transaction costs to less than 3 percent by 2030;
(m) Take concrete measures to realize the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards
of physical and mental health for all women and girls, and ensure the availability, accessibility and
acceptability of quality health-care services to address all communicable and non-communicable
diseases, including through universally accessible primary health care and support services and
social protection mechanisms;
(n) Increase financial investments in quality, affordable, resilient and accessible public healthcare
systems and facilities and in safe, effective, quality, essential and affordable preventive, diagnostic,
curative and rehabilitation services, as well as in health technologies, including digital health
technologies and digital tools developed for women’s and girls’ health and well-being, including
sexual and reproductive health-care services, as well to address all communicable and non-
communicable diseases, including HIV and AIDS, water-borne and neglected tropical diseases and
provide information on nutrition, healthy lifestyles, including through community outreach and
private sector engagement, and with the support of the international community, with a view to
supporting each country’s path towards achieving universal health coverage for all women and
girls, in the context of innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age;
(o) Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, in accordance
with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and
the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences, including
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universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning,
information and education and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and
programmes, and recognizing that the human rights of women include their right to have control
over and decide freely and responsibly on all matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and
reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence, as a contribution to the
achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women and the realization of their human
rights, including in the context of innovation and technological change, and education in the digital
age;
(p) Implement quality education and training programmes to increase the digital, data and media
literacy and skills of all women and girls throughout their life course, as well as those with
disabilities, focusing on their empowerment and building confidence and trust for use, including
skills to use and understand technology, search for, share and manage information, build knowledge
and awareness of their rights and online risk mitigation, support for registering for identification
papers, capacity-building, community engagement and public awareness campaigns to eliminate
negative social norms and gender stereotypes and gender-based violence and support for the
development of inclusive, accessible, affordable, age-appropriate, and multilingual online content,
including in local languages, for women and girls, particularly those with limited literacy or
accessibility or in vulnerable situations;
(q) Integrate an inclusive approach into the development, review and implementation of laws,
policies and programmes relevant for the digital age to combat new risks, gender stereotypes and
bias in the fields of artificial intelligence, predictive algorithms and robotics;
(r) Promote the adoption of equitable and inclusive strategies by employers in technology sectors
where women are underrepresented and facing systemic barriers, and develop gender-responsive
innovation that challenges gender stereotypes and negative social norms;
(s) Take measures to protect and promote the rights of all women and girls with disabilities,
including by addressing all barriers that prevent or restrict their full, equal and meaningful
participation in the design, management, resourcing and implementation of information and
communications technology policies, ensuring their access to disability-inclusive and accessible
digital information and technology, digital literacy and skills, in particular in relation to health and
quality education, distance learning, as well as productive employment and decent work, including
remote work, for women with disabilities, and rehabilitation and other independent living support
services and assistive technologies that enable women to maximize their well-being and realize
their independence and autonomy, and ensuring their priorities and rights are fully incorporated
into policies and programmes, developed in close consultation with women with disabilities;
(t) Promote the equal access of women in the rural economy, including fisheries production, to
agricultural and digital technologies that are affordable, sustainable and accessible, through the
transfer of technology, financing, and promote technical, agricultural and vocational education and
training and relevant information programmes for rural and women farmers, fishers and growers to
improve their digital skills, productivity and employment opportunities;
(u) Promote and protect the rights of all Indigenous women and girls by addressing the multiple
and intersecting forms of discrimination and barriers they face, ensuring access to quality and
inclusive education and the Internet and digital services, Indigenous women’s access to
employment and economic resources, including land and natural resources and promoting their full
and effective participation in the economy and in decision-making processes at all levels and in all
areas, taking into account the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples and their
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ancestral knowledge and practices, and recognizing their cultural, social, economic and political
contributions and priorities and the preservation, revitalization and promotion of their languages
with the support of digital tools, as well the transmission of their traditional, scientific and technical
knowledge;
(v) Adopt national gender-responsive migration policies and legislation in line with relevant
obligations under international law to protect the human rights of all migrant women and girls,
regardless of migration status; ensure that the benefits of digital technologies are available to all
migrant women and girls to promote their digital literacy and digital education, while recognizing
the need to close all digital divides and promote digital inclusion and addressing the challenges
associated with access, connectivity, affordability, digital literacy and digital skills and awareness;
(w) Increase the resilience of older women and ensure that they are able to maintain adequate
financial resources, including during emergencies, through, inter alia, addressing the digital gap
that currently affects many older persons, particularly older women, and the barriers they face to
education, lifelong learning and training, including vocational training, protecting them from
violence and abuse in digital contexts, and striving for the full, equal and meaningful participation
of older women in the development and enjoyment of innovation and technological change;
(x) Promote a whole-of-society and multi-stakeholder approach and foster collaborations across
different societal sectors, to combine knowledge, skills and resources towards concrete actions to
address the root causes of gender inequality and bridge the gender digital divide, including in
developing countries;
Leveraging financing for inclusive digital transformation and innovation towards achieving gender
equality and the empowerment of all women and girls
(y) Significantly increase public and private sector investments in evidence-based initiatives aimed
at bridging the gender digital divide, build more inclusive innovation eco-systems to promote safe
and gender-responsive innovation for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls,
including by using innovative finance mechanisms, developing specialized financing instruments
to strengthen women’s entry and retention in the digital economy;
(z) Put in place policies that support the development of digital ecosystems for gender equality,
harness the potential of emerging digital technologies to leapfrog existing technologies for
development, take into account the socioeconomic context of countries and attract and support
private investment and innovation, particularly ensuring digital inclusion and encouraging the
development of local content and entrepreneurship by women;
(aa) Deepen cooperation, including financing, to strengthen sustainable and resilient digital
infrastructural development and promote knowledge sharing and technology transfer, including the
development, dissemination and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies to developing
countries on favourable terms, including on concessional and preferential terms, as mutually agreed,
and strengthen digital and data capacity-building and governance, to address the gender digital
divide and support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals;
(bb) Increase financing to women’s civil society organizations and enterprises working on issues
relating to innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age, while ensuring
full transparency in this regard;
(cc) Urge developed countries to fully implement their respective official development assistance
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commitments, including the target of 0.7 per cent of their gross national income for official
development assistance to developing countries and the target of 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of their gross
national income for official development assistance to the least developed countries, and encourage
developing countries to build on the progress achieved in ensuring that official development
assistance is used effectively to help meet development goals and targets and help them, inter alia,
to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in the context of innovation
and technological change, and education in the digital age;
(dd) Strengthen international and regional cooperation, including North-South, South-South and
triangular cooperation, bearing in mind that South-South cooperation is not a substitute for, but
rather a complement to, North-South cooperation, and invite all States to enhance South-South and
triangular cooperation focusing on shared development priorities, with the involvement of all
relevant multiple stakeholders in government, civil society and the private sector, while noting that
national ownership and leadership in this regard are indispensable for the achievement of gender
equality and the empowerment of all women and girls and for improving their lives and well-being;
(ee) Refrain from promulgating and applying any unilateral economic, financial or trade measures
not in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations that impede the full
achievement of economic and social development, particularly in developing countries;
(ff) Ensure that funding for all national and international digital policies and programmes,
innovation and technological research grants and procurement systematically integrates gender
analysis, global targets, monitoring and evaluation, gender statistics and collection of data
disaggregated on the basis of income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, marital status, migration status,
disability, geographical location and other characteristics relevant in national contexts;
(gg) Encourage research and development, with a particular emphasis on research and programmes
led by women, and the development of viable strategies that could result in further competitiveness,
investment and rapid reductions in the cost of technologies to ensure their accessibility and
affordability for women and girls, in particular in rural areas, for women with disabilities and older
women, including information and communications technologies and broadband access, as well as
mobility aids, devices and assistive technologies, giving priority to technologies at an affordable
cost especially in developing countries, and strengthening international cooperation and enabling
policy environments at all levels, the provision of financial and technical assistance and capacity-
building to developing countries, and legal and regulatory frameworks conducive to increased
investment and innovation, public-private partnerships;
Fostering gender-responsive digital and science and technology education in the digital age
(hh) Promote and respect the right to education for women and girls throughout the life course and
at all levels, especially for those who have been left furthest behind, and address gender disparities,
including by investing in public education systems and infrastructure, eliminating discriminatory
laws and practices, providing universal access to inclusive, equal and non-discriminatory quality
education, including free and compulsory primary and secondary education, promoting lifelong
learning opportunities for all, eliminating female illiteracy and promoting financial and digital
literacy, ensuring that women and girls have equal access to leadership training, career
development, scholarships and fellowships; strive to ensure the completion of early childhood,
primary and secondary education and expand vocational and technical education for all women and
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girls, and foster, as appropriate, intercultural and multilingual education for all; and address
negative social norms and gender stereotypes in education systems;
(ii) Develop policies and programmes with the support, where appropriate, of international
organizations, civil society and non-governmental organizations, giving priority to formal, informal
and non-formal education programmes, including scientifically accurate and age-appropriate
comprehensive education that is relevant to cultural contexts and that provides adolescent girls and
boys and young women and men in and out of school, consistent with their evolving capacities, and
with appropriate direction and guidance from parents and legal guardians and with the best interests
of the child as their basic concern, with information on sexual and reproductive health and HIV
prevention, gender equality and women’s empowerment, human rights, physical, psychological and
pubertal development and power in relationships between women and men, to enable them to build
self-esteem and foster informed decision-making, communication and risk reduction skills and to
develop respectful relationships, in full partnership with young persons, parents, legal guardians,
caregivers, educators and health-care providers, in order to, inter alia, enable them to protect
themselves from HIV infection and other risks;
(jj) Promote evidence-based programmes and the exchange of best practices to ensure the full, equal
and meaningful access to participation in and leadership of all women and girls in diverse situations
and conditions in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM), including
teaching of computational thinking and interdisciplinary approaches combining the teaching of
social sciences and scientific fields and encourage efforts to mentor, attract and retain women and
girls in STEAM education and research and to support them in leveraging science and technology;
(kk) Promote and invest in gender-responsive, quality, equitable and inclusive education, lifelong
learning, reskilling, vocational training and studies, and ensure that women and girls diversify their
educational and occupational choices in emerging fields, such as science, technology, engineering
and mathematics and arts, and information and communications technology, and in acquiring digital
skills; strive to expand vocational and technical education for all women and girls, including
pregnant adolescents and young mothers, as well as single mothers, to enable them to continue and
complete their education, and provide catch-up and literacy, including digital literacy, and
education for those who did not receive formal education, as well as special initiatives for keeping
girls in school through early childhood, primary, secondary and tertiary education, to ensure they
acquire the knowledge and skills to attain high-quality jobs in the digital and sustainable economy;
(ll) Create conditions for gender-sensitive, safe and inclusive digital learning environments, to
supplement in-person education, for all girls and women, including those who have missed out on
education, including by investing in education systems and school infrastructure, the distribution of
inclusive, free, safe and accessible digital public learning resources, including distance learning
solutions, that are created in collaboration with women and girls, e-learning, tele-education and
community radio with high-quality, multilingual, intercultural and context-relevant educational
content, taking into account online risks;
(mm) Take measures to ensure the training of teachers, especially women who make up more than
half of teachers for pre-primary, primary and secondary education, and other education
professionals in digital literacy and to use gender-sensitive and disability-inclusive learning
methods, especially for the delivery of blended and hybrid learning and digital skills training and
ensure the availability and affordability of learning materials and remote learning platforms,
connection and devices, including for the provision of distance learning opportunities, to close the
digital divides and remove barriers, inter alia, through the use of Internet, television and radio
teaching alternatives, especially in developing countries;
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(nn) Encourage efforts towards putting children’s needs, in particular those of girls, at the centre of
digital policy, where relevant, and public and private investment, providing all children with equal
and effective access to age-appropriate information, and information on their rights, and to high-
quality online resources, including on digital skills and literacy, and ensuring protection from online
risks and human rights violations and abuses, as well as arbitrary or unlawful interference with their
privacy on social media, as well as taking measures to prevent their exposure to violent, harmful
and sexual content, exploitation and abuse, gambling, and the promotion of or incitement to life-
threatening activities;
(oo) Invest in digital and data literacy teaching, and integrate it in national curricula at all levels, to
combine technical and transferable skills ensuring that all women and girls are both safe and
empowered in their use of digital technology, not only for leisure, education and information but
also to, identify and report all forms of violence, including gender-based violence, and that they
have sufficient knowledge to trust their use of technologies in order to reduce the risk of economic
abuse, cybercrime, fraud and trafficking, while respecting their right to privacy, and to eliminate
negative social norms and gender stereotypes and bias from digital and other educational resources
found in curricula and educators’ behaviours and attitudes, as well as through initiatives aimed at
engaging men and boys and long-term awareness-raising initiatives in communities, in the media
and online;
(pp) Include teaching on competency and skills on digital technologies in school curricula, and in
other educational settings, including informal education and community settings, to raise awareness
and foster understanding of children and young people, parents, caregivers and educators on ethical
and responsible online conduct in order to ensure full respect for all women’s and girls’ safety and
human rights in the digital context; and engage, educate, encourage and support men and boys to
be positive role models, allies and agents of change for gender equality, promote respectful
relationships, and refrain from and condemn all forms of violence against all women and girls in
the digital spheres, while ensuring that they take responsibility and are held accountable for their
behaviour online and offline, including for behaviour that perpetuates gender stereotypes and
negative social norms;
Promoting the full, equal and meaningful participation and leadership as well as full employment of
women in technology and innovation
(qq) Forecast and anticipate future job and skill needs to minimize the adverse impacts of
digitalization and automation on women and girls and adapt educational and vocational curricula,
reskilling and upskilling and lifelong learning programmes to facilitate women’s including older
and young women’s transition to new occupations and jobs, particularly in fields related to
technologies, including for those at risk of being replaced by automation; and build and promote
dynamic partnerships between government, private sector, academic and not-for-profit institutions
focused on developing the innovation market and leveraging pooled expertise and resources to
improve the quality of innovation initiatives, in order to create opportunities for women in the
STEAM sector and new jobs in the path towards sustainability, particularly in developing countries;
(rr) Eliminate occupational segregation and address structural barriers that prevent women’s access
to the labour market, promoting women’s equal access to and participation in labour markets and
in education and training, supporting women so as to expand their educational and occupational
opportunities in emerging fields and growing economic sectors, such as science, technology,
including information and communications technology, engineering and mathematics;
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(ss) Prioritize labour and employment policies that respect relevant International Labour
Organization standards that protect and promote all women’s right to work and rights at work and
access to full and productive employment, that facilitate the transition from informal to formal work
and decent work, and create quality jobs, particularly in the platform economy, that reduce
occupational segregation, and that also facilitate the recruitment, promotion, and retention of
women in technological and digital occupations, including in the context of automation and
digitalization, including through temporary special measures, policies on care work and leaves,
including affordable child-care, parental and other leave schemes, in addition to social protection
policies, promotion of work-life and work-family balance, equal pay for work of equal value, the
right to organize and bargain collectively and elimination of sexual harassment and discriminatory
practices in career advancement;
(tt) Take all appropriate measures to recognize, reduce and redistribute women’s and girls’
disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work by promoting work-life balance, the equal
sharing of responsibilities between women and men within households and men’s and boys’
equitable sharing of responsibilities with respect to care and household work, including men’s
responsibilities as fathers and caregivers, through flexibility in working arrangements, without
reductions in labour and social protections, support for breastfeeding mothers, the provision of
infrastructure, technology and public services, such as water and sanitation, renewable energy,
transport and information and communications technology, and the implementation and promotion
of legislation and policies, such as maternity, paternity, parental and other leave schemes, as well
as accessible, affordable and quality social services, including childcare and care facilities for
children and other dependants, take steps to measure the value of this work in order to determine
its contribution to the national economy, and challenge gender stereotypes and negative social
norms in order to create an enabling environment for women’s and girls’ empowerment in the
context of innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age;
(uu) Enhance efficiency, accountability and transparency of social protection systems, public
services, and sustainable infrastructure through the use of information and communications
technologies for the benefit of all women and girls, including for those hardest to reach; adopt
regulatory frameworks and comprehensive care policies aimed to reduce, redistribute and value
unpaid care and domestic work to allow more time for women to engage in employment, education,
public and political life and the economy, and fully enjoy their economic autonomy;
(vv) Incentivize financial institutions, philanthropies, private sector and venture capital firms to
support the economic empowerment of women and women-owned and women-led businesses in
entering the digital economy, including through positive actions;
(ww) Encourage the development and implementation of policies and programmes supporting
women’s entrepreneurship, in particular opportunities for new women entrepreneurs and encourage
governments to increase investment in women-owned and women-led companies and businesses,
as well as in companies and businesses addressing the needs of women and girls, reduce
administrative barriers in the regulatory environment and provide targeted and tailored support for
women-owned and women-led businesses and women entrepreneurs, such as training programmes
on effective use of digital technologies, including digital tools and advisory services, access to
mentorship, networking and information-sharing, and financing for incubators and accelerators to
create a climate that is conducive to building and scaling up more successful women-owned and
women-led businesses, and to increasing women’s participation on advisory boards and other
forums to enable them to contribute to the formulation and review of policies and program;
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(xx) Ensure the full, equal and meaningful participation and leadership of women in digital and
technology sectors, including in policy, regulatory and governance processes;
(yy) Promote the full, equal and meaningful participation and leadership of young women and, as
appropriate, adolescent girls, in decision-making processes in the context of innovation and
technological change, and education in the digital age, including by addressing gender-specific
barriers and involving all those that shape young women’s and girls’ interests and choices, including
parents and other family members, teachers, school counsellors, and peers, and increasing access
to different women role models;
(zz) Strengthen the capacity of national machineries for gender equality and the empowerment of
all women and girls, by providing sufficient allocation of financial, technical and human resources,
to enable them to effectively carry out their mandates;
Adopting gender-responsive technology design, development and deployment
(aaa) Promote the inclusion of women and girls into innovation teams, including for the design of
technology with a gender perspective;
(bbb) Take proactive steps to include women and girls in planning, coding, design of machine
learning and AI technologies, including by investments in education and the adoption and
implementation of actions to eliminate biases and discrimination against all women and girls in
algorithms;
(ccc) Promote participatory, gender-responsive, age-and disability-inclusive approaches for
technology design, development and deployment, including community-based approaches
involving women’s and girls’ rights organizations, to create products and services based on
accessibility, safety, sustainability, inclusivity, affordability and availability and catering to the
needs of all women and girls throughout their life-course;
(ddd) Mainstream a gender perspective in the financing, design, development, deployment, use,
monitoring and evaluation of emerging technologies to prevent, identify and mitigate potential risks
for all women and girls and in order to ensure their full and equal enjoyment of human rights; and
take measures to design and carry out periodical impact assessments of the effects of the use of
emerging technologies with respect to the achievement of gender equality and establish, as
appropriate, due diligence mechanisms and develop regulatory approaches to improve these
technologies, including on transparency and accountability;
Strengthening fairness, transparency and accountability in the digital age
(eee) Develop and implement legislation, in consultation with all relevant stakeholders, including
international organizations, business enterprises, and civil society, with preventative measures,
effective sanctions and appropriate remedies, that protects women and girls against violations and
abuses, including of the right to privacy;
(fff) Adopt regulations on evaluation and audit requirements for the development and use of
artificial intelligence to provide a secure and transparent, high-quality data infrastructure and
systems to prevent and address human rights violations and abuses as well as gender bias;
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(ggg) Take concrete measures to harness and design digital technologies for the common good and
promote norms and mechanisms facilitating accessibility and the fair distribution of the benefits of
digital technologies for sustainable development and gender equality, such as global data commons;
Enhancing data science to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls
(hhh) Strengthen the capacity and coordination of national statistics and data production offices,
government institutions and other research organizations to collect, analyze, disseminate, and use
gender statistics and data disaggregated on the basis of income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, marital
status, migration status, disability, geographical location and other characteristics relevant in
national contexts, while safeguarding privacy rights and data protection, to inform the conception,
design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of technology and digital policies and programs
that are evidence-based;
(iii) Foster collaboration among stakeholders, including national statistics offices, civil society and
digital technology companies, to assess data needs and address gaps while applying ethical research
principles, and systematically collect data disaggregated by sex across countries and regions using
similar definitions and methodologies in order to capture the gender dimensions of technological
change adequately, including by scaling digital data systems to fill knowledge gaps and financing
quantitative and qualitative research on all barriers that limit women’s access to information and
communication technologies, as well as the prevalence of violence against women and girls that
occurs through or is amplified by the use of technology;
(jjj) Apply standards for data collection, processing, use, storage, sharing, retention, archiving and
deletion, and aligned with technological advancement on an ongoing and evolving basis, especially
to ensure the protection of women’s and girls’ personal data, in full compliance with relevant
obligations under international human rights law, and that safety and security risks are prevented,
addressed and eliminated, and to strengthen the capacity of women and girls to create, manage,
control and have ownership of their personal data;
Preventing and eliminating all forms of violence, including gender-based violence that occurs
through or is amplified by the use of technologies
(kkk) Eliminate, prevent and respond to all forms of violence against all women and girls in public
and private spaces, online and offline, such as sexual and gender-based violence, including
domestic violence, gender-related killings, including femicides, all harmful practices, including
child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, sexual exploitation and abuse and
sexual harassment, as well as trafficking in persons and modern slavery and other forms of
exploitation, through multisectoral and coordinated approaches to investigate, prosecute and punish
the perpetrators of violence and end impunity, and take appropriate measures to create a safe,
enabling and violence-free working environment for women, including by ratifying key
international treaties that provide protection against gender-based violence and sexual harassment;
(lll) Ensure that the perspectives of women, and girls as appropriate, are taken into account in armed
conflict and post-conflict situations and in humanitarian emergencies and that they effectively and
meaningfully participate, on equal terms with men, in the design, implementation, follow-up and
evaluation of policies and activities related to conflict prevention, peace mediation, peacebuilding
and post-conflict reconstruction, as well as take into account the perspective of women and girls
who are internally displaced and who are refugees; and ensure that the human rights of all women
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and girls are fully respected and protected in all response, recovery;
(mmm) Support the important role of civil society actors in promoting and protecting the human
rights and fundamental freedoms of all women; take steps to protect such actors, including women
human rights defenders; integrate a gender perspective into the creation of a safe and enabling
environment for the defence of human rights and to prevent discrimination, violations and abuses
against them, such as threats, harassment, violence and reprisals; and combat impunity by taking
steps to ensure that violations or abuses are promptly and impartially investigated and that those
responsible are held accountable;
(nnn) Condemn and take all appropriate measures, including legal or criminal action, to combat the
use of digital tools, including social media and online platforms, for the purpose of harassment, hate
speech and racism against women and girls, trafficking in persons, all forms of sexual exploitation
and abuse of women and girls, as well as for child, early and forced marriage and forced labour,
and any non-consensual sharing of personal, sexually explicit content of women and the production
and distribution of child pornography, also known as child sexual exploitation and abuse material;
(ooo) Strengthen the understanding of and track patterns of forms of gender-based violence that
occur through or are amplified by the use of technology in order to guide evidence-based
policymaking and programming and comprehensively measure its impact;
(ppp) Develop, amend and expand legislation and policies and strengthen their implementation in
consultation with relevant stakeholders including inter alia victims and survivors of violence and
women’s organizations, including victim- and survivor-informed responses and fast-track processes
to prevent, eliminate and respond to all forms of violence against women and girls that occur
through or are amplified by the use of technology, and institute measures to address such violence.
(qqq) Adopt comprehensive measures and programmes that seek to address forms of gender-based
violence and human rights violations against women and girls which can occur through the use of
technology, including but not limited to the use, and threats associated with the use, of the
unauthorized distribution or manipulation of information or images, and any other forms of violence
that may arise due to the continual development of technology;
(rrr) Provide support to victims and survivors of gender-based violence that occurs through or is
amplified by the use of technology through the provision of service responses that avoid the re-
traumatisation, including comprehensive social, health, care and legal services and the provision of
helplines; ensure women’s and girls’ equal access to justice, including by providing accessible,
confidential, supportive and effective reporting mechanisms for incidences of such violence;
increase women’s legal literacy and awareness of available legal remedies and dispute resolution
mechanisms; and provide civil and administrative alternatives for victims and survivors who have
difficulty in gaining access to legal avenues owing to financial barriers or systemic discrimination,
while recognizing the major contribution of civil society women’s organizations providing
supporting services to survivors;
(sss) Develop effective gender- and age-responsive strategies, while bearing in mind the best
interest of the child, for preventing and combating sexual exploitation and abuse of girls in digital
contexts, including by ensuring institutions providing services to girls are equipped with appropriate
safeguards to prevent and intervene early, and for building protective factors in families, households
and communities to impede offenders’ efforts both online and offline, taking into account the roles
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and responsibilities, of their parents, legal guardians or other individuals legally responsible for
them;
(ttt) Explore the potential of new technologies to support efforts to prevent and respond to sexual
violence in armed conflict, and to facilitate the participation of victims and survivors in criminal
justice processes as appropriate;
(uuu) Strengthen the capacity and improve policy coherence and coordination of government actors,
including parliamentarians, policymakers, law enforcement officials, the judiciary, health and
social workers and educators, and of civil society organizations, to develop knowledge, skills and
digital expertise to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls that occurs through or
is amplified by the use of technology including through institutional trainings, and provide victim-
and survivor-centred support;
(vvv) Ensure that public and private sector entities prioritize the prevention and elimination of
gender-based violence that occurs through or is amplified by the use of technology by
implementing, through meaningful engagement with victims and survivors, safeguards and
preventive measures that address multiple risk and protective factors that underline violence,
including improved content moderation and curation; interoperability, transparency, accessibility
and effectiveness of reporting systems; including by establishing robust and reliable content
removal processes fully compliant with relevant obligations under international human rights law;
87. The Commission recognizes its primary role for the follow-up to the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action, in which its work is grounded, and stresses that it is critical to address and integrate
gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls throughout national, regional and global
reviews of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to ensure synergies
between the follow-up to the Beijing Platform for Action and the gender-responsive follow-up to the
2030 Agenda.
88. The Commission calls upon the United Nations system entities, within their respective mandates,
and other relevant international financial institutions and multi-stakeholder platforms to support
Member States, upon their request, in their efforts to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of
all women and girls in the context of innovation and technological change, and education in the digital
age.
89. The Commission calls upon the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment
of Women (UN-Women) to continue to play a central role in promoting gender equality and the
empowerment of all women and girls and in supporting Governments and national gender equality
mechanisms, upon their request, in coordinating the United Nations system and in mobilizing civil
society, the private sector, employers’ organizations and trade unions, and other relevant stakeholders,
at all levels, in support of the full, effective and accelerated implementation of the Beijing Declaration
and Platform for Action and the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development towards achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the
context of innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age.


Udfald og orientering vedr. FN’s Kvindekommissions resultater ved CSW
2023
2023 var året, hvor FN’s Kvindekommission (CSW) for første gang har diskuteret temaet innovation og
teknologisk forandring og uddannelse i den digitale tidsalder, med henblik på at opnå ligestilling mellem
kønnene, og styrke piger og kvinders rettigheder. Forhandlingerne var de første fysiske forhandlinger siden
COVID-19 (2019), hvilket afspejlede sig i lange forhandlinger til sent ud på natten. Ikke desto mindre blev
der til sidst vedtaget en samlet resolution. Nedenfor er hovedoverskrifterne på de vores resultater:
Seksuelle, sundhedsmæssige og reproduktive rettigheder
Vi opnåede en bred anerkendelse af digital sundheds vigtige rolle, herunder digitale sundhedsteknologier,
digitale værktøjer, telemedicin og mobil sundhed, for at sikre universel adgang til seksuelle og reproduktive
sundhedsydelser samt vigtigheden af information online.
Der var enighed om, at disse teknologier skal udarbejdes i samarbejde med piger og kvinder, hvor de skal
fokusere på følgende: teknologien skal være evidensbaseret, den skal beskytte personlig information og
den skal prioritere informeret samtykke.
Fokus på Unge
Kommissionen referer nu også til unge, med særligt henblik på den ulige diskrimination som unge kvinder
og piger i højere grad bliver udsat for, såsom digital vold, ungdomsgraviditet og enlige mødre, der skal have
mulighed for at færdiggøre deres uddannelse.
Tilbagegang I kampen mod intersektionel diskrimination
Desværre er referencer til intersektionel diskrimination blevet færre, sammenlignet med foregående år. Vi
ved, at piger og kvinder er i større risiko for at udsat for diskrimination eller vold forstærket af teknologi.
Stilstand ved seksualundervisning
Diskussionerne om fyldestgørende seksualundervisning gik i dødvande under forhandlingerne. Det er dybt
beklageligt, eftersom dette er et område, der er blevet veldokumenteret af FN-agenturer som en effektiv,
forebyggende og evidensbaseret intervention, der kan forbedre de unges sundhed, velvære og liv, samt
forebygge forekomsten af kønsbaseret vold og seksuelt overførte infektioner. Dette er især uheldigt i lyset
af årets prioriterede tema og fokus på uddannelse.
Kønsbaseret vold og teknologisk facilitering
Året konklusioner har talrige referencer til kønsbaseret vold og især erkendelsen af, at piger ofte har større
risiko for at blive udsat for og opleve forskellige former for diskrimination og kønsbaseret vold og skadelig
praksis, herunder gennem brug af teknologi og sociale medier.
Offentligt
SRSR Alm.del - Bilag 5
Folketingets Tværpolitiske netværk for seksuel og reproduktiv sundhed og rettigheder 2022-23 (2. samling)
Desværre var der politisk uenighed om termer brugt til at definere teknologiens rolle, hvorfor en
teknologisk forstærkende rolle i forhold til begrebet kønsbaseret vold, ikke fremgår tydeligt.
Rettigheder i fokus: både til frihed og ret til privatliv og personlig information
Der har været et særligt fokus på de risici og muligheder, som teknologiens udvikling medbringer. Det blev
sat i kontekst med hensyn til at realisere menneskerettighederne for kvinder, unge, pigers og andre
marginaliserede grupper.
Kommissionen anerkender den digitale kløft, der er for kvinder og piger der er særligt udsatte samt
vigtigheden af lige adgang til tjenester, der skal beskytte deres personoplysninger og ret til privatliv.
På trods af intensive og til tider vanskelige politiske overvejelser om nøglespørgsmål, signalerer vedtagelsen
af de aftalte konklusioner, den stærke tværregionale støtte til Kommissionens mandat og dets prioriterede
tema. Vigtigheden af og succesen for de aftalte konklusioner ligger i implementering på nationalt plan.
Dette vil i sidste ende - og vigtigst af alt - gavne livet for kvinder, unge, piger og andre marginaliserede
grupper i de lande, hvor de bor.
Sex & Samfund, Marts 2023