Technology Facilitated Violence and its Effects on Nepali Society
The advancement of technology, particularly the rapid expansion of the internet, social media, and artificial intelligence, has widely been recognized as a powerful medium for communication, networking, business, and social connectivity. These developments have created unprecedented opportunities for individuals to express their views, share information, and engage in public discourse, while also providing greater visibility to personal and institutional perspectives. In Nepal, digital spaces have become increasingly important platforms for women to organize, advocate for their rights, engage in business, report news, participate in political processes, and exercise their freedom of expression. However, alongside these opportunities, the same spaces are increasingly being used as tools to intimidate, silence, and exclude women through coordinated harassment, cyberstalking, misogynistic abuse, hate speech, impersonation, image-based violence, and threats of sexual and physical violence, including rape and death threats. Women journalists, feminist activists, community organizers, elected representatives, students, social media creators, and those challenging discriminatory social norms are particularly vulnerable to such attacks. The consequences often extend beyond the digital sphere, resulting in reputational damage, psychological trauma, economic losses, reduced public participation, and heightened concerns about personal safety.
Technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) has consequently emerged as one of the most rapidly growing forms of violence against women in Nepal. Although legal and institutional mechanisms are in place to address cyber-related offences, survivors continue to encounter significant barriers to reporting, limited access to specialized services, and inadequate knowledge and resources to protect themselves against digital threats. Furthermore, existing response mechanisms remain largely fragmented, with insufficient coordination among women's rights organizations, digital rights advocates, legal practitioners, psychosocial service providers, and law enforcement agencies. This highlights the urgent need to strengthen feminist-led protection and support mechanisms that ensure women can meaningfully participate in digital spaces without fear, intimidation, or violence.
Nepal is currently undergoing a significant digital transformation, with social media and other online platforms becoming integral to education, entrepreneurship, civic engagement, journalism, political participation, and social activism. While this growing digital connectivity has expanded opportunities for information sharing and public engagement, it has also contributed to an alarming increase in technology-facilitated violence, disproportionately affecting women and girls.
Data from the Nepal Police Cyber Bureau indicate a substantial rise in reported cybercrime complaints, increasing from approximately 2,301 cases in FY 2019/20 to more than 19,000 complaints annually in recent years. Of these complaints, a significant proportion (46%) reportedly involve women facing cyberstalking, online harassment, impersonation, blackmail, image-based abuse, hate speech, and threats of sexual or physical violence. However, these figures are likely to represent only a limited proportion of the actual prevalence of TFGBV, as many survivors remain reluctant to report incidents due to fear of retaliation, social stigma, victim-blaming, and a lack of confidence in existing reporting and support mechanisms.
The nature of technology-facilitated gender-based violence is also becoming increasingly organized, targeted, and sophisticated. Coordinated online harassment campaigns, anonymous and fake accounts, manipulated images, misinformation, and deliberate digital attacks are frequently employed to intimidate and discredit women who exercise their right to public participation. Women journalists, human rights defenders, feminist activists, politicians, students, entrepreneurs, artists, and social media creators are often targeted for expressing their opinions, questioning existing power structures, challenging discriminatory practices, or advocating for social change. Such attacks not only undermine individual women's freedom of expression but also create a broader environment of fear and exclusion that discourages women from participating in public and democratic spaces.
Despite the growing scale and complexity of these challenges, Nepal's existing response ecosystem remains insufficiently coordinated and equipped to provide comprehensive support to survivors. Women's rights organizations frequently lack the technical expertise and institutional capacity required to respond effectively to digital threats, while access to digital security assistance, trauma-informed psychosocial care, legal aid, and coordinated referral services remains inconsistent, particularly in communities outside major urban centres. Moreover, many existing initiatives continue to prioritize awareness-raising and preventive education, with comparatively limited attention given to sustained survivor accompaniment, collective protection strategies, institutional collaboration, and long-term resilience-building.
In this context, there is a timely opportunity to develop, pilot, and strengthen a practical, survivor-centred, and feminist-led response model that brings together women's rights organizations, digital security practitioners, legal aid providers, psychosocial counsellors, journalists, youth leaders, and relevant public institutions. Through the implementation of an integrated twelve-month intervention, the proposed project will seek to strengthen local capacities, improve access to coordinated and specialized support, generate practical evidence on effective responses to TFGBV, and establish a replicable framework that can be adapted and scaled across different contexts in Nepal.
As digital platforms continue to shape public discourse, civic participation, and democratic engagement, ensuring women's safety and meaningful participation in online spaces must be understood as more than a technological concern. It is a fundamental prerequisite for advancing gender equality, safeguarding human rights, strengthening women's agency, and building an inclusive and democratic society in which women can exercise their rights freely, confidently, and without fear of violence or discrimination.
Recognizing the growing threats posed by technology-facilitated gender-based violence and its implications for women's rights, dignity, and meaningful participation in public life, WODES remains firmly committed to addressing this emerging and increasingly urgent issue. The organization recognizes that ensuring women's safety in digital spaces is an essential component of advancing gender equality, protecting fundamental rights, and strengthening women's agency and leadership. Building on its commitment to promoting women's rights, empowerment, and social justice, WODES seeks to contribute to the development of a safer, more inclusive, and accountable digital environment where women can exercise their freedom of expression and participate in public, social, economic, and political spaces without fear of violence or intimidation.
Through its continued engagement in this area, WODES is committed to strengthening awareness, building the capacities of women and relevant stakeholders, facilitating access to survivor-centred support services, and fostering collaboration among women's rights organizations, digital rights advocates, legal professionals, psychosocial service providers, and public institutions. The organization also recognizes the importance of moving beyond isolated awareness-raising efforts towards sustainable, feminist-led approaches that prioritize survivor accompaniment, collective protection, institutional accountability, and long-term resilience. Through this commitment, WODES aims to play a meaningful role in challenging technology-facilitated gender-based violence and ensuring that digital spaces remain accessible, empowering, and safe for all women and girls.