The Government’s Deputy Delegate underlines the need to know the risks of the Internet to stop digital violence against women

• Marian Rueda highlights that “digital violence against women and girls brings together 70 percent of the complaints received by the Priority Channel of the Spanish Data Protection Agency” • The UVA hosts today this day, organized by the Violence against Women Units of the Delegation of the Government of Castilla y León, which has 240 registered

November 7, 2023.- Government Deputy Delegate, Marian Rueda, underlines the need to know the risks of the Internet to put a stop to digital violence against women.

The subdelegate has today inaugurated the First Conference on the Digital Dimension of Violence against Women, together with the Vice-Rector of the María Zambrano Campus, Agustín García Matilla, organized by the Units against Violence against Women of the Government Delegation in Castilla y León and in which UVA collaborates.

In the day, 240 people have registered, who have followed the sessions in person or by streaming.

Marian Rueda stressed that “digital violence against women and girls brings together 70 percent of the complaints received by the Priority Channel of the Spanish Data Protection Agency.” In this channel you can request that photographs, videos or audios of sexual or violent content be removed immediately from the Internet, the illicit dissemination of which puts at serious risk the rights and liberated or the physical or mental health of the people affected.

The subdelegate stressed that “the internet is an excellent tool for many activities, which opens up many possibilities, although it can include important risks, such as digital violence against women; we must make this type of violence visible to eradicate it”.

He added that “we have to promote both prevention, as well as care for victims and the prosecution of these crimes, in which women have prevalence.” Thus, according to the United Nations, worldwide women are 27 times more likely to be attacked on the Internet than men. In fact, 73 percent of women in the world have been exposed or have experienced violence online, according to a report released by UN Women.

The day includes three presentations that refer to prevention, care for victims and persecution.

The first session was given by the commander of the Civil Guard, head of the Study Area of the Secretary of State for Security, María José Garrido, with the title of ‘Gender Cyberviolence. Most frequent crimes. The complaint. Hidden figures and unconscious figures.’

Next, the representative of Diaconía España Natalia Colmenar talks about ‘Risky behaviors in minors in the digital field’; and the journalist and professor of Advertising and Equality Fátima Martín presents ‘The marketing of sexual exploitation through social networks’ by Towanda Rebels.

Finally, and before the closing in charge of the subdelegate of the Government, the table ‘Tools for prevention and support’ begins, in which the assistant director general of Promotion and Authorizations of the Spanish Agency for Data Protection, Julián Prieto, the psychologist and director of the Help Lines of the ANAR Foundation, Diana Díaz, and the director of the Spanish Observatory of Digital Gender Violence (OEVIGED) and president of the STOP! Digital Gender Violence, Encarni Iglesias. The table will be moderated by the coordinator of the Violence against Women Units in Castilla y León, Jéssica Martínez.