VAWnet News Blog

“‘The latest tragic death of Sohair El-Batea, 13, is another sad illustration of the terrible consequences that Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) has on the girl child,’ according to a joint UNICEF/UNFPA statement issued Monday.”

“Sexting” is the term commonly used to refer to the act of sending or receiving nude or sexually suggestive images through mobile devices or social media sites. This image sharing can be consensual, coerced, or achieved through manipulation. When teens participate in this form of digital sexual expression, it can violate existing laws established to address child pornography.

“The report, released this month by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, makes clear that prisons and other correctional institutions are falling well short of the law’s requirement to address this kind of abuse. It names several institutions that have particularly high rates of inmate-on-inmate or staff-on-inmate assaults.”

“We are pleased that Facebook will update their guidelines to include violence against women as a violation of its Community Standards, increase training on reviewing hateful and harmful speech, increase accountability of those who post hateful and reprehensible content about women, and work with other groups to ensure that content that is violent toward women not be acceptable on Faceb

“Last week, activists launched a campaign that urged companies to boycott Facebook advertising because the social media network allows users to post images of domestic violence against women, while banning advertisements about women’s health.”

“In the context of the annual gathering of the world’s ministers of health, seven governments – Belgium, India, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, United States of America, and Zambia – issued a statement at the conclusion of a panel discussion declaring violence against women and girls ‘a major global public health, gender equality and human rights challenge, touching every country and every