This report is submitted to the OHCHR the Special Rapporteur Ms. Dubravka Šimonović the Special Rapporteur on violence against women addressing new challenges brought by online violence against women to prevention, protection, prosecution and redress for such acts. decided to address in her thematic work new challenges brought by online violence against women to prevention, protection, prosecution and redress for such acts.

1. Online Violence Against Women (OVAW)
Laws & Policies in Nepal
The constitution of Nepal 2015 Under Article 38, Rights of women
(1) Every woman shall have equal lineage right without gender based discrimination.
(2) Every woman shall have the right to safe motherhood and reproductive health.
(3) No woman shall be subjected to physical, mental, sexual, psychological or other form of violence or
exploitation on grounds of religion, social, cultural tradition, practice or on any other grounds. Such act
shall be punishable by law, and the victim shall have the right to obtain compensation in accordance
with law.
(4) Women shall have the right to participate in all bodies of the State on the basis of the principle of
proportional inclusion.
(5) Women shall have the right to obtain special opportunity in education, health, employment and
social security, on the basis of positive discrimination.
(6) The spouse shall have the equal right to property and family affairs.
Laws that are directly related for OVAW cases are
1. Electronic Transaction Act 2008
2. Libel and Slander Act, 2016 ( Defamation Act)
Electronic Transaction Act 2008
Article 47, Publication of illegal materials in electronic form:
(1) If any person publishes or displays any material in the electronic media including computer,
internet which are prohibited to publish or display by the prevailing law or which may be contrary to
the public morality or decent behavior or any types of materials which may spread hate or jealousy
against anyone or which may jeopardize the harmonious relations subsisting among the peoples of
various castes, tribes and communities shall be liable to the punishment with the fine not exceeding
One Hundred Thousand Rupees or with the imprisonment not exceeding five years or with both.
(2) If any person commit an offence referred to in Sub-section (1) time to time he/she shall be liable
to the punishment for each time with one and one half percent of the punishment of the previous
punishment.
Article 58, Other Punishment:
If any violation of this Act or Rules framed hereunder has been committed, for which no penalty has

2. been separately provided, such a violator shall be liable to the punishment with a fine not exceeding
fifty thousand Rupees, or with an imprisonment not exceeding six months or with both.
Libel and Slander Act
Article 8
In the event of commission of any act with intent to defame woman: If any person, with intent to
defame any woman, says anything in a manner that she can hear or see it or expresses any kind of
word or gesture or shows any article or undermines her privacy, that person shall be liable to a fine of
One Hundred Rupees to Five Hundred Rupees and may also be liable to the punishment of
imprisonment for a term not exceeding Six months.
Muluki Ain
Chapter 13, On Intention of Sex
1. If a person, without the consent of a woman, touches or attempts to touch her sensitive organ,
puts off her inner clothes (under garments), takes her to an unusually lonely place, makes her touch
or catch (hold) his sexual organ or uses vulgar or other similar words or indications or shows her such
drawing or picture or teases or harasses her for the purpose of sexual intercourse, or treats her with
any unusual behavior or holds her with intention of having sexual intercourse, he shall be deemed to
have done sexual harassment, and the who commits such an offence shall be liable to the punishment
of imprisonment for a term not exceeding One year and a fine of up to Ten Thousand Rupees. The
victim of such an offence shall be entitled to a reasonable compensation from the offender.
Rights of women have been protected by the constitution itself. The Civil Code and other acts
provisions to protect the rights of women and to empower them. There are 14 laws and regulations
related to the protection of women such as the Domestic Violence Act, the Human Trafficking Control
Act, the Gender Equality Act among others.

3. Fourth World Conference on Women Beijing Declaration
1. The equal rights and inherent human dignity of women and men and other purposes and principles
enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
other international human rights instruments, in particular the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as the
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and the Declaration on the Right to
Development;
8. Prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls;
Sexual Harassment Prevention Act 2015
Section 4 of the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act any of the following unsolicited acts committed
by, or caused to be committed by, any person in abuse of his/her position, power or by imposition of
any type of coercion, undue influence, or enticement would constitute sexual harassment:
(a) Physical contact and advances;
(b) Showing or displaying of pornographic material,
(c) Expressing sexual motives by way of written, verbal, or non-verbal means,
(d) Demand or proposal for sexual favours; and
(e) Flirting or harassing with sexual motive.
The said Section clarifies that in the event any of the above acts are done for educational purpose or
in the course of treatment or providing protection to the employees, then such acts should not be
regarded as sexual harassment. Therefore, as an example, if any pictures are displayed in the course
of raising awareness of reproductive health, the mere display of such pictures should not constitute
sexual harassment for the purpose of the Act.
Punishment under the Act
Section 12 of the Act provides that any person who has committed sexual harassment under the Act
may be punished with imprisonment of up to 6 months, and / or fine of up to Nepalese Rupees
50,000. The said Section also provides that any employer failing to comply with the duties and
responsibilities imposed by the Act, may be punished with fine of up to Nepalese Rupees 25,000. In
case of repeated offence, double the punished provided in the foregoing may be applicable. To clarify,
the aforesaid punishment under the Act may be imposed by the external complaint handling
authority only.
The external complaint handling authority may also require the person who has committed sexual
harassment under the Act to provide compensation to the victim for any physical or mental harm
caused, and the actual expenses incurred by the victim in the course of filing and defending of his/her
complaint.

4. Reference link
http://www.myrepublica.com/news/8542/
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@asia/@ro-bangkok/@ilo
kathmandu/documents/publication/wcms_113780.pdf
http://www.pioneerlaw.com/news/nepal-introduces-legislation-to-address-sexual-harassment-at-
workplace
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/declar.htm
Report on Online Women Violence and Awareness of
Social Media APrIGF 2016
Program: Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) 2016
Session: WS.69 Online women violence and awareness of Social Media
Date: 28 July, 2016
Time: 16:00 to 17:30
Speakers:
Moderator Speaker Speaker Speaker Speaker
Sajina Karki (Nepal)
Gwenthy
Wang(Taiwan)
Noelle de
Guzman
(Philippines )
Nayantara
Ranganathan(India)
Shreedeep
Rayamajhi (Nepal)
The session started with brief introduction to real time situation of Nepal and how the women of Nepal
were adapting the concept of Online Violence against Women (OVAW). The moderator highlighted the
current scenario of women in Nepal and how they are currently adapting the socio-cultural status.
Looking at the status of women in South East Asia, women are treated as the second grade citizen
where their rights and status is questionable in every aspect of their identity. Karki also highlighted the
major challenge of women empowerment and leadership in Asia to be education and awareness. She
also shared, in most of the case scenarios of OVAW, women are not even aware of their own rights. In
such situations these cases go unreported. Whether it’s about fake profile, revenge porn or cyber

5. bullying when few of these cases get registered due to lack of proper training and knowledge the law
enforcing agencies lack to address the proper issues where the victims suffer more.
“73% of women have already been exposed to or have experienced some form of online
violence.”
The sheer volume of cyber VAWG has severe social and economic implications for women’s status
on the Internet. Threats of rape, death, and stalking put a premium on women’s emotional
bandwidth, take-up time and financial resources including legal fees, online protection services, and
missed wages. Cyber VAWG can have a profoundly chilling effect on free speech and advocacy.
Women aged 18 to 24 are at a heightened risk of being exposed to every kind of cyber VAWG; they
are uniquely likely to experience stalking and sexual harassment, while also not escaping the high
rates of other types of harassment common to young people in general, like physical threats.
The WWW Foundation has found that law enforcement agencies and the courts are failing to take
appropriate actions for cyber VAWG in 74% of 86 countries surveyed.
Though the cyber law is present but due to lack of proper monitoring and updates, it serves little use in
protecting users online. Internet provides easy accessibility and other facilities but at the same time
technology also threats the communities in lack of proper mechanism and policies which needs to be
researched and worked on.
Gwenthy Wang, highlighted on the current trends and challenges of social media in the Taiwan society.
Talking more about the OVAW, 72% of revenge porn victims were women aged 21-35, 6% were
underage with the youngest victim being 12 years, 61% of the images were obtained illegally
24% of victims were blackmailed by people who held their images and another 24% were threatened by
ex-partners. Images were posted on porn Web sites, shared via communication apps (LINE) or social
media (Facebook) 40% of victims have taken legal action; 44% reported unpleasant experience when
seeking legal assistance from government. Currently Taiwan adopts Criminal Code Ch. 16-1, Offense
against Morality of Article 235 to punish revenge porn.
Similarly, sharing more ideas about Philippines Noelle de Guzman said Philippines has more issues of
OVAW cases growing where not just normal women but celebrates are targeted. Despite a high rate of
education among women more women are being victimized and bound to suffer the consequences. A
heightened awareness program is needed to combat the OVAW.
Talking more about the work done by internet society, she said Internet Society has been lobbying issue
of women empowerment and leadership. We have been more focused in area of open standards where
women awareness and capacity building is a must.
Nayantara Ranganathan, said, “The misuse of rapid advances in Information Technology (IT) and
telephony has resulted in new and varied forms of sexual abuse such as cybercrimes and harassment of
women through mobiles and Internet. The regulatory frameworks are not in pace with the growth in
technology as yet. With technological advancement, there has been incidence of frauds, misuse of
information uploaded on the cyberspace and hence there is a need for developing protective measures
for citizens keeping in view that victims of such frauds are largely women.”

6. Speaking more about OVAW, Shreedeep Rayamajhi expressed that in least developed and
developing countries, the main problem with OVAW is lack of awareness and the people’s attitude
towards the issue. Especially due to lack of clear and adequate law and polices, in most case victims
are more victimized.
In a country like Nepal where women are marginalized they have no or less knowledge about their
own rights and problems. Similarly, these case many times get ignored in view of adequate law and
policy. So, if women get the proper education and are empowered, they will themselves be aware
and can fight for their rights. The country like Nepal is in dire need of proper and clear Law that
deals with cyber violence where till now the cases are dealt with Electronic Transaction Act and
Defamation Act.
Apart from this, various examples were shared in the session: Quandeel Baloch, #Iamtrolledhelp,
Sunflower Movement etc.
Many ideas and thought of schools have been poured in but an interesting aspect of the session was the
ideology of women being against various aspect of the socio cultural practice. Likewise, it also highlights
the contemporary practice of male dominated society which needs to settle down with effective women
position strategy and leadership opportunities as well as the need of right knowledge of sex education in
terms of gender equality.
Comment
Raj Singh making a comment to Sajina Karki’s statement of women having second grade citizen he said
boys/men need to be taught morale lesson of respecting girls/women. They need to be taught the basic
of equality and especially in schools and colleges they should be given the morale values of equality.
Honor killing has been popular in South East Asia due to the prejudices values and orthodox mentality
which further violates the women’s rights. Some of the examples: #Quandeel Baloch (Pakistan),
#Priyanka Karki (Nepal), #Iamtrolledhelp (India), #Sunflower Movement (Taiwan)
Recommendations:
1. Further aggressive awareness campaigns are needed in terms of Online VAW
2. Counselling call centers must be opened
3. No tolerance in terms of policy and action mechanism is needed
4. Women are unaware of their basic rights in the developing countries so more focus needed in
that segment
5. Effective policing and immediate action mechanism should be set-up
6. Social media intervention is highly recommended
7. Special awareness packages for Men is needed
8. Online research and surveys are required
9. Proper sex education with gender equality knowledge
Prepared by Sajina Karki and Shreedeep Rayamajhi