As we join the global community to commemorate the 2025 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region – Regional Training Facility (ICGLRRTF) reaffirms its unwavering commitment to upholding the rights, dignity, protection, and wellbeing of all women and girls across the Great Lakes Region and beyond.
This year’s theme, “UNiTE to End Digital Violence Against All Women and Girls!“, highlights a growing global concern. Digital violence-including online harassment, cyberstalking, harmful misinformation, non-consensual sharing of images, digital blackmail, and technology-facilitated exploitation-has become a new frontier of abuse. It reinforces existing inequalities, silences survivors, and limits women’s participation in public life, education, leadership, and peacebuilding.
In line with its mandate, the ICGLR-RTF continues to strengthen the capacity of Member States by training professionals in SGBV prevention and response, trauma-informed justice, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS), and peacebuilding initiatives. Through these trainings, we empower police, judicial officers, medical practitioners, social workers, community leaders, military officers, media and other professionals to address the evolving nature of violence-including emerging digital threatsusing survivor-centred and coordinated approaches.
As conflicts intensify across the world, women and girls continue to bear the heaviest burden. We extend our solidarity to all survivors in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Sudan, Central African Republic,,Ukraine, Republic of South Sudan, Gaza, and other war-torn or humanitarian crisis settings, where digital and physical violence intersect, amplify vulnerability, and hinder access to protection, justice, and psychosocial
support. In these fragile contexts, the role of trained, empathetic, and well-equipped responders is more critical than
ever.
We therefore call upon governments, technology companies, media, civil society, youth, men and boys, and all people of goodwill across the Great Lakes Region and the world to take decisive action:
- Promote safe, respectful, and responsible digital behaviours.
- Challenge harmful norms, cyberbullying, and online harassment.
- Support survivors with empathy, confidentiality, and timely referrals.
- Strengthen laws, policies, and reporting mechanisms addressing digital and technology-facilitated violence.
- Ensure equal, safe, and meaningful access to digital spaces for women and girls.
- Invest in peacebuilding, prevention, and psychosocial care that addresses both visible and invisible impacts of violence.
Together, we can build societies-both offline and online-where technology empowers rather than harms; where the rights of women and girls are upheld; and where peace, dignity, and justice are not ideals but lived realities.
Let us unite-for safety, for justice, for peace, and for a future where women and girls thrive in every space.
UNITE to End Digital Violence Against All Women and Girls!
Hon. Dr. Janvière Ndirahisha
Regional Director
International Conference on the Great Lakes Region – Regional Training Facility (ICGLR-RTF),
Kampala, Republic of Uganda.
