Fighting online gender-based violence supports freedom of expression
‘Ensuring an Internet free from gender-based violence enhances freedom of expression, as it allows women to fully participate in all areas of life and is integral to women’s empowerment’, according to Dubravka Simonovic, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, commemorating International Women’s Day. This relationship between freedom of expression and women’s rights was also underlined by David Kaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of freedom of expression, who stated that ‘The Internet should be a platform for everyone to exercise their rights to freedom of opinion and expression, but online gender-based abuse and violence assaults basic principles of equality under international law and freedom of expression in a UN news release the same day.
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