How laws and policies are addressing online violence in Argentina

BUENOS ARIES, Argentina - Maria Julia Giorgelli is a lawyer from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina who specializes in personal data protection, access to public information, gender and digital rights. She currently works for the Ombudsperson’s Office of the City of Buenos Aires. She is also a member of the Igualdad Foundation, dedicated to protecting the rights of the LGBTQI+ community, and is part of the Women for Justice Network.

For the past 12 years, Ms. Giorgelli has been working on the prevention of digital gender-based violence. Below, she explains what this violence is and how Argentina is working towards change.

"Digital gender-based violence causes real, concrete damage that can generate psychological and physical injuries." - Maria Julia Giorgelli, Lawyer

What is online violence and what impact does it have on the lives of girls, adolescents and women in Argentina?

Digital gender violence is a manifestation of violence that occurs in the digital environment with respect to women because of their gender. It is defined as any action against or exclusion of women based on their gender that is committed with the assistance or use of information and communication technologies.

It is important to mention that it causes real, concrete damage that can generate psychological and physical injuries — that sometimes women withdraw from their work, or exercise self-censorship. It can also affect close or family relationships. For this reason, the well-known motto that “virtual is real” must be emphasized because it establishes the concrete impacts that this violence creates.

Digital violence can target privacy, respect, online reputation, a person’s digital profile or the right to freedom of expression. Examples include unauthorized access to mailboxes, dissemination of personal data in order to intimidate victims and reproduction of hate speech protected by the anonymity of the networks.

However, in relation to young women and girls, the most common digital violence is aimed at diminishing their sexual integrity. For example, the crime of “grooming”, i.e. virtual sexual harassment of minors, is often combined with extortion or threats to disseminate intimate images obtained under false pretenses. Other times, the extortion or threat occurs as a result of sexting, a common and legal practice among young people. In recent times, several cases have involved the creation of fake explicit material edited or created with A.I. — something that is simple to do due to greater access to different technologies.

We must also not forget issues that affect the welfare of young women and girls — the enormous exposure to harsh and unrealistic beauty stereotypes, such as routines for skin care or the use of cosmetics, or harmful advice, for example, groups offering advice on how to achieve thinness.

What have been the main advances in preventing online violence in Argentina?

It's an issue that has been on the public agenda for at least 10 years and has been growing at the pace of technological development.

As for the main developments, I would choose two. First, the signing of the Letter of Commitment that was made in the framework of 8M [8 March protests] last year at the institution where I work, the Ombudsperson's Office of the City of Buenos Aires, which was a commitment that was joined by many activists such as the Network of Gender Editors, Faro Digital, Amnesty International Argentina, Fundación Igualdad (Equality Foundation), Área de Salud y Población del Instituto Gino Germani, Asociación de Abogadas Feministas de Argentina (AboFem), Casa Trans and Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), but above all with the support of Spotlight Initiative and various United Nations agencies.

It is also essential to mention the changes that took place as a result of the so-called Olimpia Law, which was supported by the Ombudsperson's Office. This reform modified Law 26.485 on Integral Protection to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women with the aim of making the internet a safe environment free of discrimination. In other words, it establishes a starting point, a common conceptual framework.

"It is necessary to work on prevention through awareness campaigns and to achieve cultural change. We must work in schools and other spaces where we can reach young people... [but] self-care cannot fall exclusively on the users." - Ms. Giorgelli

From your perspective, what are the main gaps and challenges in advancing this agenda?

There are several challenges. On the one hand, I think it is necessary to work on prevention through awareness campaigns and to achieve cultural change. We must work in schools and other spaces where we can reach young people to discuss with them their daily habits, understand these better, and support them with information and knowledge about online safety.

Self-care cannot fall exclusively on the users. The commitment of developers and large technology companies is needed to prevent the circulation of harmful content and to generate complaint channels so that the content does not go viral. It is essential that the reporting of content is easy, accessible, fast and clear.

It is also important to work towards more and better laws with a gender perspective. The criminalization of several practices, such as non-consensual sharing of intimate images, impersonation, virtual harassment and the creation of edited material needs to happen in several sectors. All this should be incorporated into the penal code so that it becomes law for the whole country and victims have one more tool to assert their rights.

Another pending issue is the creation of indicators, data and information on the phenomenon of digital violence, since official surveys do not collect this. The “Survey of Prevalence of Violence against Women” does not currently address this social problem. The survey on digital gender violence conducted by the Ombudsperson's Office of the City of Buenos Aires, together with Spotlight Initiative and several United Nations agencies, was important in this regard.

What are some of the successful approaches to the prevention of gender-based violence in your country or in the Latin American and Caribbean region?

In Argentina, I would choose the reform known as the “Olimpia Law”, above all because it came about thanks to the work of activists, feminist organizations and prominent journalists who gave visibility to the issue, which alerted us to the fact that the regulatory framework was lacking.

At the regional level, for the same reasons, I recognize the work being carried out by Mexican activist Olimpia Coral Melo Cruz, who was a victim of non-consensual image sharing years ago and who, at the time, was unable to rectify her situation because there were no regulations to protect her. Her uncompromising activism created a political movement that has taken the concepts of digital gender violence to many countries in the Latin American region.

The work being developed by the Follow-up Mechanism of the Convention of Belém do Pará (MESECVI) of the Organization of American States (OAS) to achieve a Model Law to Combat Digital Violence is also interesting and necessary. It is worth noting that the model law is not a formal convention, nor a binding agreement for states. Rather, it is a “soft-law” document. And, although the process is still in the consultation and development stage, it will be a very useful guide for the Americas since the document will establish a minimum compliance baseline with a regional perspective.