This section considers why gender is important to the development of ‘enablers’ such as anti-cybercrime laws and agencies. An example project illustrates the steps involved in integrating gender when developing a cybercrime law.
What do we mean by establishing the enablers?
Establishing the enablers for combating cybercrime considers the funding, legislation and mandates that are in place to support delivery of effective cybercrime interventions. It includes the necessary legislative measures that address cybercrime substantively and procedurally, and their relation to regional and international legal instruments. It also covers the agencies involved in tackling cybercrime and their mandates, as well as the checks, balances and safeguards that are already in place to ensure mandates are not breached and powers not abused.
Projects that focus on establishing enablers include (but are not limited to):
- developing or reforming cybercrime laws;
- harmonizing legislation at regional and international levels;
- implementing cybercrime laws; and
- establishing a dedicated cybercrime agency.
Thinking about gender and establishing enablers
Gender is important for establishing enablers because national legislation, policies, regulations and organizational mandates to address cybercrime need to be systematically and structurally sensitive to the specific vulnerabilities and threats faced by women and other marginalized groups. There are several international instruments that outline governments’ obligations to protect the rights of women, people who are non-binary or gender-nonconforming and minority groups.
It is important to recognize that cybercrime legislation and regulation can be used as a tool to limit the exercise of rights and freedoms
However, discriminatory spaces do exist at national, regional and international levels. Creating gender-sensitive enabling frameworks against cybercrime requires addressing discrimination and navigating gender-blind spaces in order to close gaps. It can also provide opportunities to refocus efforts to uphold state obligations to people who are vulnerable to discrimination or violence based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Equally, it is important to recognize that cybercrime legislation and regulation can be used as a tool to limit rights and freedoms: this is already disproportionately experienced by women, LGBTIQ+ people and people from minoritized groups.
Cyber-dependent crimes and cyber-enabled crimes all have gendered impacts. Although what is illegal offline is also illegal online, capacity-builders should appreciate that gender-based crimes and violence are under-reported and that access to justice is often constrained globally. By ensuring that enablers are robust, and meet – at a minimum – the needs of women and other marginalized groups, existing frameworks can be strengthened.
Key questions
Here are some key questions to consider when integrating gender as part of establishing enablers:
- What national, regional and international commitments and obligations exist to protect the rights of women and other marginalized people, and what are the structural and/or cultural barriers that prevent the realization of these rights?
- How has legal infrastructure traditionally and historically handled cases and incidents of cybercrime for men and for women, LGBTIQ+ people and other marginalized communities?
- How can laws, regulation and policies be developed in a way that protects meaningful digital access and rights?
- What mechanisms for remedial actions are necessary and available for victims of cybercrime?
- Which stakeholders should be included in consultations to determine whether updates to the legislative framework (i.e. a new law, or amendments to an existing law) are needed, and to ensure the reporting burden is not placed wholly on the individual?
Example project: developing a cybercrime law
This section uses an example project to demonstrate how gender can be integrated when establishing enablers. The example given considers the development of a cybercrime law that is focused on reducing harms caused by cybercrimes.
The starting assumption is that a country does not currently have a cybercrime law in place. However, the gender recommendations in this project also apply to the amendment of existing laws, which might be gender-blind or exacerbate gender inequalities.
