Uganda is confronting a rapidly growing crisis of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV), a form of abuse that has surged alongside expanding digital access.
From cyber harassment and online stalking to non-consensual sharing of intimate images, impersonation, digital blackmail, and economic extortion, technology is increasingly being weaponised against women and girls.
As Uganda joins the world in marking the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, the Judiciary and UN Women convened a national dialogue to address the urgent need for stronger justice pathways to combat this evolving threat.
Presiding over the event, Principal Judge Justice Jane Frances Abodo noted that online violence has become one of the most pervasive forms of abuse affecting Ugandan women and girls today.
“More crimes are now committed online than offline,” she said, emphasising that technology has expanded both the opportunities for empowerment and the vulnerabilities women face.
She warned that the invisibility of digital offences makes them harder to investigate and prosecute, often leaving survivors without meaningful redress.
Justice Abodo highlighted the emotional and psychological impact of online abuse, including school dropouts, extortion, humiliation, and severe mental health consequences.
“It is especially dangerous when survivors suffer in silence. Many fear reporting because of stigma or because evidence is difficult to collect,” she said.
Despite legislation such as the Computer Misuse Act and laws on data protection and sexual offences, gaps remain in enforcement and interpretation.
“Technology moves fast. While we are still developing systems, perpetrators are already several steps ahead,” Justice Abodo noted.
She emphasised three urgent priorities:
- Strengthening and clarifying the legal framework to cover all forms of digital abuse.
- Building capacity within the criminal justice system, including training officers, prosecutors, and judges on digital evidence, metadata, and forensic technology.
- Enhancing coordination between the judiciary, law enforcement, regulators, social media platforms, and civil society to ensure seamless response and survivor-centred processes.
She added that the Judiciary is already integrating technology into case management systems and streamlining processes to ensure survivors of digital violence receive timely access to justice.
UN Women Country Representative Dr Paulina Chiwangu underscored the scale of the crisis, noting that technology-facilitated violence against women in Uganda stands at 49%, while global figures reach 85%.
“If you ask any woman in this room, she will have a story,” she said. “Technology has brought opportunity, knowledge, connection, entrepreneurship, and activism—but it has also brought a shadow. The very tools meant to empower are now being weaponised to silence, threaten, and exploit women.”
Dr Chiwangu stressed that online violence undermines women’s participation in public life, business, and leadership.
“When a businesswoman is targeted with gendered hate speech, her economic activity is undermined. When a girl is bullied off social media, her freedom of expression is curtailed,” she noted.
According to UN Women, a strong justice pathway for survivors of digital violence must have five pillars:
- A clear, robust legal framework that fully criminalises all forms of online gender-based violence.
- Knowledge and digital capacity for police, prosecutors, and judicial officers—the frontline gatekeepers.
- Survivor-centred processes that prevent secondary victimisation and integrate psychosocial, legal, and digital support.
- Multi-sector collaboration involving tech companies, regulators, law enforcement, and civil society.
- Prevention, including digital literacy, responsible online behaviour, and engaging men and boys as allies.
“Justice is not only about redress—it is about deterrence and transformation,” she said.
Both the Judiciary and UN Women emphasised that ending technology-facilitated violence cannot be the responsibility of a single institution.
It requires a united national response—one that protects dignity, ensures accountability, and guarantees access to justice for every woman and girl, whether the violence occurs in physical or digital spaces.
“We must ensure that no woman is left without remedy simply because the abuse happened online,” Justice Abodo said as she officially opened the campaign.
“Access to justice is a constitutional promise—and it must extend to the digital world.”