Online violence is predominantly targeted at women and girls, with young women and adolescent girls being at particular risk of online abuse and harassment. The United Nations (UN) report “Cyber Violence Against Women and Girls: A Worldwide Wake-Up Call” notes that globally 73% of women have experienced some form of online violence.
Online abuse and harassment originate, reinforces, and reproduce the same structural inequalities and discrimination as other forms of gender-based violence. The prevention of the phenomenon and its effective response is considered to be of paramount importance. Changing societal attitudes and perceptions is the first step in changing the way cyber violence is treated as a serious challenge. In this context, it is essential to raise awareness and inform both the new generation of technology users, i.e. boys and girls, and parents and school professionals, as well as to create tools to protect and support women and girls who are victims of violence.
The project aims to create a safety net to address gender-based online violence and support girl victims of violence, through actions developing the capacity of school professionals to identify and manage incidents in the school environment, raising awareness of parents and families about the phenomenon and management of disclosure of violence.
It is particularly important to create a framework of safety for adolescent girls, so that they can disclose phenomena and incidents of violence online without fear and, most importantly, in a safe and supportive environment. Research has shown a very low level of perception on the part of teachers but especially on the part of parents of this phenomenon. Furthermore, research has shown the weakness of frontline staff in dealing effectively with such incidents, a gap that SAFENET is called upon to fill.
In this framework, a reporting and support protocol for victims of gender-based cyber violence will be developed and disseminated to frontline staff in Greece and Norway. In addition, guidelines for parents and their supportive context will be developed for the phenomenon, while all these interventions will form the central core of education and dissemination activities in school communities and society.
The SAFENET project is implemented in the framework of the Active citizens Fund programme, with the Union of Women Associations of Heraklion and Heraklion Prefecture, and partners KUN - Centre for Equality and Diversity (Norway) and the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences IAKE (Greece).
The €13.5 million Active Citizens Fund programme is funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway and is part of the European Economic Area (EEA) funding mechanism for the period 2014 - 2021, known as EEA Grants. The programmeaims to strengthen and enhance the sustainability of civil society and to highlight its role in promoting democratic processes, enhancing citizens' participation in the public sphere and defending human rights. The Active citizens fund grant for Greece is managed jointly by the Bodossaki Foundation and SolidarityNow. Read more here.