30th June 2026
Equality Now and the SADC Parliamentary Forum recommend that governments, regional institutions, regulators, law enforcement agencies, and civil society organisations work together to strengthen responses to technology-facilitated gender-based violence and accelerate implementation of the SADC Model Law on Gender-Based Violence.
Key priorities include:
- Strengthen legal and policy frameworks: Update and harmonise cybercrime, gender-based violence, trafficking, and data protection laws to explicitly address forms of TFGBV, including non-consensual sharing of intimate images, online grooming, sexual coercion and extortion, and technology-enabled trafficking.
- Improve survivor-centred access to justice: Develop clear procedures for preserving digital evidence, strengthen judicial and prosecutorial capacity, and establish rapid protection mechanisms that respond effectively to technology-facilitated harms.
- Expand survivor support services: Ensure that shelters, one-stop centres, and support services provide digital safety assistance, evidence preservation support, and help with removing harmful online content.
- Strengthen institutional capacity and enforcement: Invest in specialist training, establish dedicated TFGBV response mechanisms, improve coordination among institutions, and strengthen cooperation with online platforms.
- Improve data collection and monitoring: Integrate TFGBV indicators into gender-based violence information systems and strengthen monitoring, reporting, and evidence-based policymaking.
- Enhance regional cooperation: Support cross-border cooperation on digital evidence, investigations, and content takedown, while facilitating parliamentary engagement and peer learning across the region.
- Promote accountability of online platforms: Develop clear regulatory frameworks, notice-and-action procedures, and trusted-flagger mechanisms to improve responses to online abuse and exploitation.