Side Event - 6 March 2023
The Nordic countries are among the most digitized in the world, a superpower to promote a diversity of voices. But when digitalization helps expand a growing resistance to gender equality, we must act. The Nordic region is unlike any other when it comes to providing a swift political response to online gender-based violence.
Question (among others during the session) from the moderator, Dr. María Rún Bjarnadóttir, Director for Internet Safety at the Icelandic National Commissioner for Police: “How are the Nordic countries addressing the rise of online gender-based violence?”
Ms. Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Prime Minister; Iceland: “We have been doing a lot of amendments to our legislation concerning digital violence, where we talk about sexual privacy. Legislation is one thing definitely. And what we also have been doing, is raising the discussion, doing research, raising awareness on what is happening.”
On the left: Katrín Jakobsdóttir – Prime Minister of Iceland |
Ms. Naaja H. Nathanielsen, Minister of Finance and Gender Equality, Greenland: “The problem should be tackled from multiple sides. First of all, I don’t necessarily consider online violence a new form of violence. It is a powerful tool, but it comes from the same toolbox labelled misogyny, homophobia, racism and all the other well-known “isms” […]. We must go to the roots and address this. In Greenland, we are trying to educate children, we are introducing a new subject in school called “Technology understanding”, so children learn how to navigate online, how to show respect online and take care of themselves. It is about educating the new generation as well!”