Global Community, Tech Firms Urged to Support Iranian Women, Girls

Jakarta: The Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse call has condemned the violence faced by the Iranian women and girls who are leading sustained nationwide protests over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. 
 
Since then, Iranian authorities have continued and even escalated theirsuppression of protestors, including through their use of technology-facilitated gender-based violence. 
 
Women and girls have faced targeted online harassment and abuse by Iranian authorities, their apparatuses, and institutions as they demand respect for their human rights and fundamental freedoms. 

"We condemn this ongoing violent crackdown on protestors, including on digital platforms and through Internet restrictions," said the group in a joint statement on Friday.
 
The group consists of the United States (US), Australia, Canada, Chile, Iceland, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Sweden, and the United Kingdom (UK).
 
"The people of Iran rely on social media and other digital tools to communicate and broadcast their messages to the world—always, and particularly during the ongoing violence perpetrated by Iranian authorities. The women and girls of Iran bravely use these essential tools, even as Iranian authorities and their supporters misuse and abuse the same technologies against them, propagating coordinated online harassment, abuse, and disinformation campaigns designed to discredit them and silence their protests," they stated. 
 
"We invite the international community to join us in urgently working with technology companies to do everything in their power to enable women and girls’ access to information online, particularly their full and effective use of online platforms. This includes implementing practical and proactive measures to combat the abuse of their platforms to threaten, harass, and silence Iranian women and girls by surging resources for Persian (Farsi) language content moderation and other Iranian languages, applying policies on harassment and abusive content in a timely and consistent manner, and providing resources and transparent reporting options for those experiencing online harassment and abuse," they added.

 
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