Yemen Launches a National Specialized Training to Combat Digital Violence and Online Extortion in Parallel with the 16 Days of Activism Campaign

[Press release]

UN Women, in partnership with the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief), the For All Foundation for Development – Aden, and the Noon Women’s Coalition, launched today a national specialized training course on combating digital extortion. This training comes in parallel with the beginning of the 16 Days of Activism to End Violence Against Women campaign, under the global slogan: “No Excuse for Digital Violence.”

This initiative is part of joint efforts to enhance the safety of women and girls in digital spaces, and to strengthen the capacities of national institutions to respond to, protect against, and ensure accountability for gender-based violence, particularly cybercrimes and digital extortion, which have increased in recent years.

UN Women stressed that digital violence has become one of the most widespread and impactful forms of violence. International studies indicate that between 16% and 58% of women and girls experience some form of digital violence, and that 90–95% of sexually explicit digitally fabricated images (deepfakes) target women. Digital violence is also directly linked to serious psychological, social, and economic consequences, and contributes to limiting women’s participation in public life and civic space.

Through these efforts, the partnership seeks to strengthen accountability, develop institutional mechanisms, improve protection for survivors, and raise community awareness of the risks of online violence, in line with the goals and messages of the 16 Days campaign calling for a safe, just, and violence-free digital environment for women and girls.

The partner entities affirm that this step is part of a long-term commitment to protecting women’s digital rights, challenging the normalization of gender-based violence both offline and online, and supporting national efforts for reporting, follow-up, and specialized services.