Guidance for police on addressing technology-facilitated violence against women and girls

As digital technology becomes more commonplace in our daily lives, its increased use is exacerbating existing forms of violence against women and girls, such as sexual harassment, and giving rise to new forms, such as non-consensual image-sharing, including deepfakes produced using generative artificial intelligence, doxing, and gendered disinformation.

This brief highlights some of the challenges and gaps that police face when addressing technology-facilitated violence against women and girls (TF VAWG), which include:

• the lack of legal frameworks that provide a clear legal basis for police intervention;
• a lack of police understanding about the severity of TF VAWG and the harm it causes victims;
• a lack of specialized skills on the part of the police, incluiding digital forensics capacity;
• the unwillingness of some digital platforms to take down abusive content and/or share information that would help to identify anonymous perpetrators; and
• the transnational aspect of TF VAWG.

The brief sets out strategies around capacity-strengthening, prevention, partnerships, and principles such as adopting a survivor-centred approach, for enhanced police response to TF VAWG. It complements the broad guidance on gender-responsive policing outlined in the “Handbook on gender-responsive police services for women and girls subject to violence”.

The brief also provides a set of recommendations for police when investigating TF VAWG.