Speaker Name: Joan May Salvador, APWLD Programme Committee Member & Vice Chairperson, GABRIELA Alliance of Women in the Philippines

Your Excellencies,

I am making this intervention on behalf of Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) and women’s rights organisations, feminists and civil society organisations from across the Asia Pacific region.

Earlier in February, women’s rights organisations and feminist groups from the Asia Pacific region came together to reflect upon digital transformation and its impact on women and girls. Today I would like to prioritise two issues that need your particular attention. These issues are the realities of women and girls in our region but not appropriately addressed in the current discourse of the CSW67. 

First, we note with grave concern that there is a rise of oppressive cyber criminalisation regulations and laws that intrinsically encroach on civil liberties, including freedoms of expression and opinion both online and offline. Military technology and surveillance are used to create conflicts, sustain power structures, attack women human rights defenders and undermine freedom of association and democratic participation, and peoples’ sovereign power. Oppressive regulations are also being introduced in some countries to police and repress the sexual expression of women and queer people, violating their right to bodily autonomy and agency.

Second, we must examine the consequences of the digital transformation on human rights and the climate crisis. If the Internet was a country, it would be the sixth biggest electricity consumer on the planet. Production of cellphones and computers comes with its own environmental footprint – including extraction of rare minerals and processing them for use in these devices. Similarly, the increasing level of green energy technologies that power digital technologies also have supply chains based on extensive use of metals and rare earth minerals. The environmental footprint of the infrastructure for digital transformation has contributed to climate disasters and poses even more serious threats to our planet and future generations yet policy conversations on these issues remain missing in politics. 

Therefore, we urge you to consider the following recommendations: 

  • Take into account individual security and human rights in the policymaking discourses around cybersecurity, and recognise that cybersecurity and protection of human rights are mutually complementary, interlinked and interdependent. 
  • Decriminalise and protect the act of resistance and organising for women’s human rights, gender equality and Development Justice. Instead, recognise the important role and contribution of women human rights defenders, feminist movements and civil society.
  • Transform macroeconomic policies, including trade rules and seek an accountability mechanism to regulate large tech and digital companies.

Thank you.

Watch the full oral statement here: https://youtu.be/xsKsGfi_DUo