Cyber stalking (also called cyber harassment) is when someone uses the Internet to threaten or make unwanted advances towards someone else. This sort of harassment can cause physical, emotional, and psychological damage to the victim. Children are particularly vulnerable because of their trusting nature and give away their personal information. This information later is used against them for stalking purpose, therefore the NR3C officials advice that until the person is not a trusted individual, no information should shared over the internet.
Blackmailing
Also known as cyber exploitation or ‘revenge porn’, non-consensual pornography involves the online distribution of sexually graphic photographs or videos of the individual in the images.
The perpetrator is often an ex-partner who obtains images or videos in the course of a prior relationship, and aims to publicly shame and humiliate the victim, in retaliation for ending a relationship.
However, perpetrators are not necessarily partners or ex-partners and the motive is not always revenge. Images can also be obtained by hacking into the victim’s computer, social media accounts or phone, and can aim to inflict real damage on the target’s ‘real-world’ life (such as getting them fired from their job).
There have been multiple publicised cases of female victims of non-consensual pornography in Pakistan over recent years, several of whom committed suicide or murdered by their relatives
Research suggests that up to 90 % of revenge porn victims are female (18) and that the number of cases is increasing (19).
There are also a growing number of websites dedicated to sharing revenge porn, where users can submit images alongside personal information such as the victim’s address, employer and links to online profiles.
An additional related trend with equally devastating impacts on victims is the live-broadcasting of incidents of sexual assault and rape via social media. So far in 2017 there have already been two high-profile cases: one in Sweden and the other in the U.S., of victims whose rape was streamed
online using the ‘Facebook live’ function.
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We need to recognise these emerging forms of crimes in order to act against them. There is a need for recognising the emerging forms of crimes and categorizing them to further act on them,
Data availability and research
Data on cyber VAWG in Pakistan is scarce and consequently very little is known about the actual percentage of victims of cyber VAWG and the prevalence of harm.
The best information available at
Survey on Violence Against Women (VAW), which included questions on
However, as this survey was the first to collect data on these
forms of cyber VAWG across Pakistan
there is no means by which to trace the evolution of the phenomena and trends in victim numbers over time.
Law enforcement responses
In 2016, the National Assembly enacted the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (“PECA”) curb harassment of women on the internet.
Section 21 provides that use of electronic means that may result in reputational damage or breach of privacy shall be punishable with imprisonment of up to 7 years or with which may extend up to 5 million rupees or both.
Under Section 22, punishment of up to seven years or fine up to 5 million rupees or both has been prescribed for the offence of producing, distributing or transmitting pornographic material showing underage girls engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Four years on, has the law made the internet safer for women in Pakistan?
Furthermore, research reveals that the response of the criminal justice sector to women victims of cyber VAWG is inadequate. For example,
The numbers the agency shared are grim: it registered 8,500 complaints of women facing online harassment in 2018 and 2019. Agency officials told a parliamentary committee that blackmailing and harassment over social media were the most common complaints and that only 19.5 per cent of the complaints were investigated.
To say that these numbers are the tip of the iceberg would be an understatement. Mobility restrictions and fear of their family’s reactions deter women from submitting formalised complaints since the agency requires women to go to an office, submit their CNIC number, phone number and father’s name.
Paksitan fail to adequately capture the social and psychological harm resulting from the use of sexual imagery to harass, coerce or blackmail women
‘violence and harassment’ online, reporting concerns that criminal justice authorities took a different, and less effective, approach to violence and harassment perpetrated online compared to offline.
Moreover, victim blaming attitudes persist, especially in cases of revenge porn, demonstrating a lack of understanding and awareness.
more than half of stalking and cyberstalking victims did not acknowledge their own experience as a crime.
Good practices
Conclusions and recommendations
In sum, due to the current lack of research and data, we cannot adequately quantify the prevalence or impact
of cyber VAWG in Pakistan.
However, the mounting evidence suggests that it is a growing phenomenon disproportionately affecting women and girls, with severe impacts on victims’ ‘real’ lives. In order to better determine the prevalence and
risk factors of, and effective policy responses to, cyber VAWG, a priority should be the development of measurement and quantification tools of these types of acts.
We have to improve institutional responses to cyber VAWG, in order to protect women both online and offline.
Strategies for addressing cyber VAWG must also include the voices of women who are victims of the phenomenon.
have access to justice and specialised support services.
A priority should be to improve gender-disaggregated data at EU level on the prevalence and harms of cyber VAWG, and to develop indicators to measure the effectiveness of interventions.
Any approach to tackling the phenomenon must not
deny women and girls their place in the larger public
space they gain from internet connection. The upcoming EU-wide Survey on GBV should include a question
about whether women have avoided online spaces for
fear of experiencing cyber VAWG.