Joint statement on the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse

June 8, 2022 – Los Angeles, California – Global Affairs Canada

The text of the following statement was released by the governments of Canada, Chile, and the United States on the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse.

Today, June 8, 2022, at the Summit of the Americas, the undersigned foreign ministers of new and existing Western Hemisphere country members of the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Abuse and Harassment commit to jointly addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence, with an initial mission to deliver concrete results by the end of 2022.

Reinforcing our shared commitments to advancing equal status of women and girls as a precondition of strengthening our democracies, the Governments of Canada and Chile, will join the United States as members of the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse. First announced at the 2021 President Biden’s Leaders’ Summit for Democracy, the Global Partnership brings together a core set of partner countries to jointly commit to a Year of Action—in consultation with government partners, international organizations, academics, civil society, and the private sector—to improve the response to technology-facilitated gender-based violence and promote effective prevention strategies. Current members of the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse are Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, Republic of South Korea, Sweden, the UK and the US.

Gender-based online harassment and abuse is a human rights abuse and serves as a barrier to the full and meaningful participation of women and girls, in all their diversity, in political, public and private life. Gender-based online harassment and abuse includes a wide range of acts that are amplified or enabled by social-media and technology platforms to control, attack, and silence women and girls, particularly those who have a disability, and/or identify as LGBTQI+ or as a member of a racial, ethnic, or religious minority. The Global Partnership welcomes Canada and Chile to join existing partners to build a sustainable, resilient, and equitable future by supporting strong and inclusive democracies.

Co-signatures:

Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly, Canada
Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonia Urrejola, Chile
Secretary Antony Blinken, United States of America