APC WNSP Issues Papers

• Cultivating violence through technology? Exploring the connections between Internet Communication Technologies (ICT) and Violence Against Women (VAW)
  This paper explores the connection between new information communication technologies (ICTs) and violence against women (VAW). From the perspective of representation and rapid dissemination of information and communication enabled through ICTs, the paper looks at domestic violence in the homes, sexual violence and women in conflict affected areas. It presents case studies, strategies and analysis on these different areas. The study is the part of APC WNSP issue papers series on ICTs for women's rights.
• Digital dangers: Information & Communication Technologies and trafficking in women
  This discussion paper asks if new technologies are re-shaping or facilitating trafficking, and/or if the use of ICTs in trafficking will change the way we understand other issues. The paper is a joint publication of AWID and the APC WNSP. The first section of this paper lays the foundations for discussing ICTs and trafficking and defines these terms. The examples were provided by activists and advocates around the world who are working on trafficking or ICTs or on both issues. The paper then goes on to explore three pivotal and at times controversial questions in relation to the role of ICTs and trafficking. Does the role of ICTs matter or is it a fashionable distraction from serious countertrafficking work? Can we talk of trafficking in images or does trafficking only apply to people? Is consideration of privacy in relation to ICTs contrary to counter-trafficking work or an essential part of a broader movement to create safety and freedom for individuals and communities? Finally, the paper asks what action can and is being taken, by governments, feminists, NGOs, and other actors.
• The World Wide Web of Desire: Content Regulation on the Internet
  It is obvious that the discourse around content regulation has shifted mostly towards the protection of children from harmful content and child pornography on the internet. Any references to gender-related concerns were dropped, including even problematic conceptions that women and children need the paternalistic protection of the state or international bodies from harmful content. One can speculate that this could possibly mean (in a positive sense) that women are no longer viewed only as “victims” and because of their own agency do not require the protectionist attitude of the state. Or, on the other hand, women’s movements, feminists and others working on gender have encountered and realised the hazards of demanding protection from the state, in the interests of their own freedom of expression and because of their alliances with civil society, non-governmental organisations and social movements.