Legal action to combat online harassment of women stressed

City Desk :
Rights-based civil society representatives on Saturday called for legal action along with widespread awareness to prevent sexual harassment against women and girls online.

They made the call at a virtual press conference organized on the occasion of the International Day of Rural Women to be held today.
The press conference was organized by the National Committee for International Rural Women’s Day observation.

Speakers at the press conference emphasized that girls and women are constantly harassed through offensive content, leaks, extortion, hacking, and sexual harassment on the internet and the level of harassment is increasing day by day due to the lack of minimum knowledge about internet security, reports UNB.

he speakers also urged the use of various government ‘help desks’ for legal assistance as well as active prevention of cybercrime targeting women and girls.

Tamanna Rahman presented the keynote on behalf of the organizers at the press conference while it was chaired by Shamima Akhtar, chairman of the International Rural Women’s Day Observation National Committee.

The press conference was moderated by Ferdous Ara Rumi of COAST Foundation. National Committee members Karim Box (Sirajganj), Manju Ara Parveen (Khulna), Md. Enamul Haque (Jamlpur), Khondokar Faruque Ahmed (Mymensingh), Syeda Shamima Sultana (Dhaka). Mahin Khan (Manikganj), Mustafa Kamal Akanda (IRWD-Secretariat ) and others also spoke.

In her keynote, Tamanna Rahman highlighted the escalating online harassment as information technology usage grows in the country.

Recent research by the NGO Aio O Shalish Kendro (ASK) revealed alarming statistics, with over 36 percent of girls experiencing sexual harassment from male friends online, 27 percent from known adults or relatives, and 18 percent from unknown adults.

A global survey indicates that 58 percent of women on social media have faced some form of harassment.

Tragically, one in five victims’ resort to suicide, and many suffer from mental health issues.