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Combating Gender-Based Violence: Cyber Violence

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Combating Gender-Based Violence: Cyber Violence Combating gender-based violence: Cyber violence European added value assessment STUDY EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service Authors: Niombo Lomba, Cecilia Navarra and Meenakshi Fernandes European Added Value Unit PE 662.621 – March 2021 EN Combating gender- based violence: Cyber violence European added value assessment With the rise of new technology and social media, gender-based cyber violence is a constantly growing threat with impacts at individual, social and economic levels, on women and girls and on society generally. There is currently no common definition or effective policy approach to combating gender-based cyber violence at EU or national level. Action taken so far has been inadequate, and the cross-border nature of gender- based cyber violence has yet to be properly addressed either. This European added value assessment (EAVA) supports the European Parliament in its right to request legislative action by the Commission, and complements its own-initiative legislative report 'Combating gender- based violence: Cyber violence' (2020/2035(INL)). Examining the definition and prevalence of gender-based cyber violence, the legal situation and individual, social and economic impacts, the EAVA draws conclusions on the EU action that could be taken, and identifies eight policy options. The costs to individuals and society are substantial and shown to be in the order of €49.0 to €89.3 billion. The assessment also finds that a combination of legal and non-legal policy options would generate the greatest European added value, promote the fundamental rights of victims, address individual, social and economic impacts, and support law enforcement and people working with victims. The potential European added value of the policy options considered is a reduction in the cost of gender-based cyber violence ranging from 1 to 24 %. EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service AUTHORS Niombo Lomba, Cecilia Navarra and Meenakshi Fernandes, European Added Value Unit, Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services (EPRS). This paper has been drawn up by the European Added Value Unit of the Directorate for Impact Assessment and European Added Value, within the Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services (EPRS) of the Secretariat of the European Parliament. The first annexed study on the European added value assessment on combating gender-based cyber violence was written by Jack Malan, James Eager, Clara Burillo Feduchi, Michaela Brady and Ivan Bosch Chen from the Centre for Strategy & Evaluation Services LLP (CSES), with external quality assurance inputs from Merja Pentikäinen and Ben Hayes. The second annexed research paper on a quantitative assessment of the European added value on gender-based cyber violence was written by Dr Stella Capuano (ICF). Both studies were conducted at the request of the European Added Value Unit (EPRS). EPRS acknowledges collaboration with the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (EU FRA) to obtain disaggregated data from the Crime, Safety and Victims' Rights – Fundamental Rights Survey to support the analysis. To contact the authors, please email: [email protected] LINGUISTIC VERSIONS Original: EN Manuscript completed in March 2021. DISCLAIMERA NDC OPYRIGHT This document is prepared for, and addressed to, the Members and staff of the European Parliament as background material to assist them in their parliamentary work. The content of the document is the sole responsibility of its author(s) and any opinions expressed herein should not be taken to represent an official position of the Parliament. Reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes are authorised, provided the source is acknowledged and the European Parliament is given prior notice and sent a copy. Brussels © European Union, 2021. PE 662.621 ISBN: 978-92-846-7890-7 DOI: 10.2861/23053 CAT: QA-02-21-301-EN-N [email protected] http://www.eprs.ep.parl.union.eu (intranet) http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank (internet) http://epthinktank.eu (blog) Combating gender-based violence: Cyber violence Executive summary Background Gender-based cyber violence is a phenomenon that was inconceivable 30 years ago. More and more women and girls are experiencing harassment, stalking and other kinds of threats while online. With the ever-growing use of social media, the threats women and girls experience online have an effect on how they use the internet. Although there are many examples of women, female politicians and female journalists experiencing cyber violence and even going to court owing to harassment or other forms of cyber violence, not a lot of data or evidence has been gathered on the phenomenon. Meanwhile, the EU Member States react and act differently when dealing with the topic. It is known that gender-based cyber violence does not necessarily happen in isolation but that in many cases there is a connection with gender-based violence face-to-face; online and off-line violence is in many cases connected and/or intertwined. The coronavirus pandemic has potentially worsened the situation as people's social lives have shifted online. Why should the EU act? Having identified a wide range of gaps in existing EU actions and legislation and the negative impacts on woman and girls individually, socially and economically on account of gender-based cyber violence, this paper supports the need to act and/or intervene at EU level. Whether on the lack of harmonised legal definitions, the lack of awareness-raising and under-reporting or the need for more research and data, greater momentum would be achieved by EU action, not least since this is also a cross-border issue. This European added value assessment (EAVA) 'Combating gender-based violence: Cyber violence' is intended to underpin the European Parliament's right to request legislative action by the Commission. This is in line with Article 225 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Own-initiative legislative reports (INIL) must be given prompt and detailed consideration by the European Commission as set out in point 10 of the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law- making of 13 April 2016. The European Parliament's Committees on Civil liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) jointly requested the permission to draw up an own-initiative legislative report on combating gender-based violence: cyber violence (2020/2035(INL)). Scope of the assessment Beginning with a discussion on the definition of gender-based cyber violence, this assessment also considers the prevalence, and the legal, individual, social and economic impacts of gender-based cyber violence, and examines the regulatory framework at EU and national levels. To this end 12 EU Member States were analysed in greater depth. Having explored the legal base, and identified the weakness and gaps in the existing EU legal system, the paper suggests policy responses the EU could take. The assessment then discusses the qualitative and quantitative impacts, including economic estimates of the impacts of the policy options identified. External experts were commissioned to conduct additional analysis and contribute to a study and a paper; these are both annexed to this paper. The status quo The study estimates that 4 to 7 % of women in the EU-27 have experienced cyber harassment during the past 12 months, while between 1 and 3 % have experienced cyber stalking. The ranges in the estimates reflect the underlying uncertainty arising from the lack of robust and recent cross-country data available on the phenomenon. It appears nevertheless that younger age groups face the greatest risk and that the prevalence of the phenomenon has risen with greater internet I EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service and social media use. The prevalence of gender-based cyber violence is likely to continue to rise in the coming years, especially among adolescents. Cyber violence has a direct impact on victims, first and foremost in terms of mental health, reflected in an increased incidence of depression and anxiety disorders. A number of social and economic impacts can also be identified: withdrawal from the public debate, costs incurred for seeking legal and healthcare assistance, labour market impacts in terms of lower presence at work, risks of job loss or lower productivity, and reduced quality of life due to poor mental health itself. Some of these impacts compound other forms of discrimination faced by women, e.g. the gender pay gap on the labour market. Moreover, they have an intersectional dimension and have to be observed together with other forms of discrimination and hate speech towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and questioning (LGBTIQ) people, as well as women from racial minority groups and different religious communities. This set of impacts generates costs affecting victims as well as society. Some impacts are tangible and can translate into economic costs, while others are intangible and cannot be monetised, despite being of major relevance. Some of the costs of gender-based cyber violence were quantified by means of an economic assessment. These costs included healthcare costs, legal costs, labour market costs and costs associated with a reduced quality of life. The economic assessment estimated the overall costs of cyber harassment and cyber stalking at between €49.0 and €89.3 billion. The largest cost category was the monetised value of the loss in terms of quality of life, which accounted for more than half of the overall costs (about 60 % for cyber harassment and about 50 % for cyber stalking). Labour market impacts were also found to be substantial, together accounting for approximately 30 % for cyber harassment and 35 % for cyber stalking, the higher costs for the latter owing to lower labour force participation. Healthcare costs and legal costs, while contributing less to overall costs, were nonetheless substantial. European added value The analysis of the scope of the problem, the identified gaps and the resulting impact have led to the development of a set of policy options.
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