Initiatives, policies, strategies

Andorra: National Plan on Prevention of Bullying and Harassment at School

Andorra has issued a National Plan of prevention of Bullying and Harassment at School 2016-2019, which identifies four typologies of harassment, namely physical, verbal, social exclusion and cyber harassment, and detailed instruments for prevention.

ASEAN: 2019 Declaration and Plan of Action to combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA)

In 2019, The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with the support of UNICEF and ECPAT International, adopted two key documents that reflect ASEAN governments’ commitment to combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse: the Declaration on the Protection of Children from all forms...

Australia: call for 100,000 happy pictures of children to facilitate online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA) investigations

In July 2022, AiLecs lab, a project developed by Monash University and the Australian federal police, launched a call named "My Pictures Matter", asking internet users above 18 to share happy pictures of their childhood. By memorizing these images, artificial intelligence (AI) investigative tools...

Austria: Book for children on the Internet risks

Austria, with the help of the Association of Internet Service Providers (ISPA), has issued an informative book in German, English and Arabic for children in order to make them aware about the risks on the Internet.

Austria: Criminalising cyberharassment

Austria criminalises in §107c of the Penal Code the “Persistent harassment involving telecommunication or computer systems”: “(1) Any person who, using a telecommunication or computer system in a manner that can cause unreasonable interference with the lifestyle of the other person, continuously...

Chile: School violence law

Chile adopted in 2011 a “School violence law” amending the General Education Act to prevent psychological and physical violence in school, including bullying. The law does not impose criminal sanctions.

Council of Europe Campaign: Sexism: See it. Name it. Stop it.

Sexism is any expression (by an act, gesture, image or word) based on the idea that some people (usually women) are inferior because of their gender. Sexism is harmful because it produces feelings of inferiority, worthlessness and self-censorship. It can also induce negative changes in behaviour...

Council of Europe HELP tutored courses and OSCE’s Office of Democratic Institutions (ODIHR): Hate Speech and Hate Crime

This free online course has been developed as a joint initiative by the European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals “HELP” of the Council of Europe and the OSCE’s Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). As of 4 July 2022, the HELP course courses have...

Council of Europe: Action against cyberviolence

The Council of Europe has been promoting the protection of children and their empowerment in a digital environment for many years, including through the current “Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights of the Child” which states that children: “... have the right to learn, play and communicate...

Council of Europe: Campaign for the Safety of Journalists - Journalists Matter

Journalists Matter, the Council of Europe Campaign for the Safety of Journalists is an initiative aiming to promote press freedom and protect journalists from violence, threats, and harassment while performing their duties. As part of this Campaign, the Council of Europe is inviting everyone to...

Council of Europe: Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings

The Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings was adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 3 May 2005, following a series of other initiatives by the Council of Europe in the field of combating trafficking in human beings. The Convention...

Council of Europe: Digital Partnership

The Council of Europe is strengthening its co-operation with the private sector in order to promote an open and safe internet, where human rights, democracy, and the rule of law are respected in the online environment. The partnership with internet companies creates a platform for enhanced...

Council of Europe: EU-CoE joint project on Increasing Civil Society Organisations’ knowledge and capacities to tackle hate speech online

Supporting civil society organisations and other stakeholders to prevent and combat hate speech through the use of counter and alternative narratives is part of the Council of Europe approach since the Council of Europe’s No Hate Speech Movement Youth campaign (2012-2018) first worked on this...

Council of Europe: HELP Online Training Course for judges, prosecutors, lawyers, law enforcement officials and other professionals

The course is designed to equip judges, prosecutors, lawyers, law enforcement officials and other professionals to effectively apply the standards developed under the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings in their daily work. It is built up from a human-rights...

Council of Europe: Mapping of national responses to hate speech

The Council of Europe, through different co-operation projects, engages with member State authorities and other stakeholders to support the design of comprehensive strategies against hate speech, based on a systemic design approach. This approach involves as a first key step a systemic analysis...

Council of Europe: Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)16 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on combating hate speech

A Committee of Experts on Combating Hate Speech (ADI/MSI-DIS) was set up by the Committee of Ministers under Article 17 of the Statute of the Council of Europe and in accordance with Resolution CM/Res(2011)24 on intergovernmental committees and subordinate bodies, their terms of reference and...

Council of Europe: Recommendation CM/Rec(2024)4 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on combating hate crime

A Committee of Experts on Combating Hate Crime (PC/ADI-CH) was set up by the Committee of Ministers under Article 17 of the Statute of the Council of Europe and in accordance with Resolution CM/Res(2021)3 on intergovernmental committees and subordinate bodies, their terms of reference and working...

EU: European Institute for Gender Equality's "Orange the World"

2023

"Orange The World is 16-days of activism against gender-based violence established by the United Nations Secretary General. Every year since 2008 there has been a global call to action to increase awareness and share knowledge on various forms of violence against women. From advocacy groups to...

European Commission: EU Strategy on Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings (2021-2025)

The EU takes a comprehensive approach to combatting trafficking in human beings, from prevention through protection of victims to prosecution and conviction of traffickers. The EU Strategy on Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings (2021-2025) identifies four areas of action: Reduce the demand...

European Commission: Regulation Proposal on Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM)

May 2022 Brussels, Belgium

In May 2022, the European Commission proposed a new regulation to prevent and combat online child sexual abuse. The new rules establish the creation of a new independent EU Centre on Child Sexual Abuse (EU Centre), clear obligations for service providers to detect, report, remove and block access...

European Commission: The EU Code of conduct on countering illegal hate speech online

To prevent and counter the spread of illegal hate speech online, in May 2016, the Commission agreed with Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube a “Code of conduct on countering illegal hate speech online”. In the course of 2018, Instagram, Snapchat and Dailymotion took part to the Code of...

European Court of Human Rights Case law on hate speech

European Court of Human Rights Case law on hate speech >>

European Parliament and Council: Directive (EU) 2024/1385 of 14 May 2024 on combating violence against women and domestic violence

The aim of Directive (EU) 2024/1385 is to provide a European Union (EU)-wide legal basis for preventing and combatting violence against women and domestic violence. The directive aims to ensure a minimum level of protection across the EU against such violence. The law criminalises, amongst...

European Union-Council of Europe: Toolkit for human rights speech

Tackling hate speech can be a daunting task; do you ignore, report or engage? What is your message, who do you address and how? This online toolkit equips you with easy to use tools, checklists and resources. It will help you use counter and alternative narratives to promote human rights and...

Europol: first episode of the Europol podcast discusses takedown of dark web platform containing child sexual abuse material (CSAM)

In August 2022, the first aired podcast episode of Europol featured experts who discussed the takedown of Boystown forum, a dark web platform containing CSAM, with the support of police agencies across the world. More information on the Europol podcast episode on protecting vulnerable children.

France: Digital Republic Law sanctions against revenge porn

In 2016, France adopted the ‘Digital Republic Law,’ which entails a harsher sanctioning of those found guilty of revenge porn. Under the new legislation, perpetrators face a two-year prison sentence or a € 60 000 fine.

Germany: Action against cybermobbing

In Germany, the Government supports some initiatives in this area. For example, in 2016 the 2nd Cybermobbing Congress was hosted under the auspices of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. Besides, the private association “Alliance against Cybermobbing” is a...

Germany: Making use of not specific to the online environment provisions

Germany– like many other States – makes use of criminal law provisions that are not specific to the online environment, such as section 238 of the German Criminal Code (Stalking), section 240 (Using threats or force to cause a person to do, suffer or omit an act), section 241 (Threatening the...

Hotlines: Protection of children and women

Hotlines to (a) receive complaints for child abuse and violence against women and leading to investigations or removal of content, or (b) serve as helplines to assist victims, have been available for many years. From the mid-1990s, hotlines began increasingly to address illegal material on the...

India: 68th country to join Interpol’s International Child Sexual Exploitation Database (ICSE)

In July 2022, India became the 68th country to join Interpol’s International Child Sexual Exploitation Database (ICSE). More information on Interpol's announcement on Twitter.

INHOPE: Against illegal content and activity

A leading example of cooperation among national hotlines is INHOPE (International Association of Internet Hotlines). It is a network of associations focused on responding to criminally illegal content and activity, in particular concerning child sexual abuse material, online grooming and online...

Israel: Offline provisions for online cases

Israel also applies provisions of the Criminal Code and other laws, such as the Protection of Privacy Act (1982) or the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act (1998) for conduct online. For example, article 3(a) of the Israeli Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act (1998) states that a sexual...

Israel: Tackling offences against minors online

In Israel, the Ministry of Public Security, together with the Israeli Police, has recently founded a unit dedicated to tackle offences committed against minors online. The new unit, named "the 105 unit", will operate in four different levels: First, the unit includes a national call center...

Italy: Campaign against cyberbullying

In Italy, the Ministry of Education has launched a specific campaign to address cyberbullying, creating a permanent observatory for every region of Italy and publishing educational materials (text and multimedia) on a specific website. Part of this plan was the establishment of a national...

Italy: Regulation for the safeguarding of minors and the prevention and tackling of cyberbullying

Italy in May 2017 adopted law no. 71/2017, entitled “Regulation for the safeguarding of minors and the prevention and tackling of cyberbullying”. Article 1 of the law defines cyberbullying as “whatever form of psychological pressure, aggression, harassment, blackmail, injury, insult, denigration,...

Japan: Anti-stalking Act

Japan has adopted the Anti-stalking Act which covers “Making silent calls, or calling, transmitting using a fax machine or sending text messages through any text messaging service persistently despite his/her rejections” …. “against a person, his/her spouse, lineal blood relatives or relatives...

Japan: Comprehensive plan against child sexual exploitation

Japan has a comprehensive plan called ”Basic Plan on Measures against Child Sexual Exploitation” with 88 measures under six pillars, namely: Enhancement of public awareness for the eradication of child sexual exploitation, development of social awareness, and the strengthening of collaboration...

Lanzarote Convention: protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse

Chapter IV of the Lanzarote Conventioncomprises protective measures and assistance to victims, requiring Parties to “establish effective social programmes and set up multidisciplinary structures to provide the necessary support for the victims, their close relatives and for any person who is...

Liechtenstein: provisions applied to cyberviolence

Liechtenstein applies provisions of its Criminal Code, such as § 105 – Coercion, § 106 - Aggravated coercion, § 107 - Dangerous threat, § 107a - Persistent stalking, § 111 – Defamation, § 112 - False accusation, or § 115 – Insult, but also offences against computers and data.

Mauritius: Awareness campaign on cyberbullying and cyberviolence

In Mauritius, the National Computer Board has issued a Guideline on Social Networks and a booklet entitled “Online Responsible Choices for Youngsters” that is an awareness campaign with considerations on combating cyberbullying and cyberviolence, focusing on the idea of respecting the rights of...

Mexico: National Center for Attention to Cybercrimes against Minors

Mexico has established the National Center for Attention to Cybercrimes against Minors (CENADEM) within the Scientific Division of the Federal Police. The CENADEM is the unit in charge of collaborating with the executive, federal and judiciary authorities, social actors, academic institutions and...

Mexico: National Cybersecurity Strategy and awareness campaign

Mexico has a National Cybersecurity Strategy promoted since 2017 by the Federal Government, and aligned with this strategy, the Federal Police has promoted a National Prevention Campaign called "Cybersecurity Mexico" that has reached directly more than 680,000 citizens and generated more than 48...

Netherlands: Centre for expertise on online child sexual abuse

In the Netherlands, the local branch of the INHOPE hotline (Expertise centrum online misbruik kinderen; Centre for expertise on online child sexual abuse) operates an actual hotline as well as a website with information and associated chat or other contact methods called “help wanted.” This...

No Hate Speech Movement

The No Hate Speech Movement is a youth campaign led by the Council of Europe Youth Department seeking to mobilise young people to combat hate speech and promote human rights online. Launched in 2013, it was rolled out at the national and local levels through national campaigns in 45 countries....

Norway: Action against cyberviolence

In Norway, several public and private initiatives have been undertaken. This includes the partially publicly-financed service SlettMeg.no ("DeleteMe"). This service was started and formerly run by the Norwegian Data Protection Authority, but is now a separate entity. The main service is a website...

OSCE Representative on Freedom of Media’s SOFJO project focusing on online safety of female journalists

For further information check the section: Safety of Female Journalists Online on the OSCE website

OSCE-ODIHR Hate Crime Reporting

Data and information is submitted by OSCE participating States, civil society and international organizations about hate crime. After collecting the data, ODIHR releases it each year on 16 November – International Tolerance Day. Data collection is the first step in efforts to address hate crime,...

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and its No Hate Parliamentary Alliance

Singapore: Cyber wellness

Singapore puts emphasis on promoting “cyber wellness” within the education system. Cyber Wellness (CW) refers to the positive well-being of Internet users. It involves an understanding of online behaviour and awareness of how to protect oneself in cyberspace. The Ministry of Education uses the CW...

Slovakia: Criminal Code provisions applied to cyberviolence

Slovakia has no specific provisions on “cyberviolence” but applies a wide range of provisions of the Criminal Code such as Stalking (Section 360a of CC), Extortion (Section 189 of CC), Duress (Section 192 of CC), Sexual Exploitation (Section 201, Section 201a, Section 201b of CC), Defamation...

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Practical and legal tools to protect the safety of journalists

From impersonation accounts to hateful slurs and death threats, journalists around the world are facing increasing levels of abuse in an attempt to intimidate or force them into silence. In response, the Thomson Reuters Foundation – in collaboration with UNESCO, the International Women’s Media...

UK: Criminalising the sharing of private sexual content

In the UK, in April 2015 it became a criminal offence with a maximum of two years imprisonment to share private sexual photographs or videos without the subject’s consent with the intent of causing distress to those targeted. In September 2016 it was announced that more than 200 people had been...

UK: Online safety bill

The Online Safety Bill, a proposed Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom published as a draft on 12 May 2021, introduces new rules for firms to improve internet safety. Last month, an amendment was put forward in the House of Lords by former culture secretary Nicky Morgan and children’s...

UK: Prosecution of hate crime

In the United Kingdom, for example, the Crown Prosecution Service published statements in August 2017 “on how it will prosecute hate crime and support victims in England and Wales”. Hate crime is defined as follows: The police and the CPS have agreed the following definition for identifying and...

USA: "Take it down" by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

2023

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is a child protection organization, who operates the CyberTipline – an online reporting system for all types of online child sexual abuse. They offer numerous resources and assistance to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. "Take It...

WeProtect Global Alliance: Global Taskforce on Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (OCSEA), June 2022

In June 2022, the European Union, African Union and seventeen other governments have united to lay the foundation of a Global Taskforce on Online Child Sexual Abuse. The aim of the alliance is to facilitate dialogue and cooperation among governments and across sectors, with a view to effectively...

WeProtect Global Alliance: June 2022 Summit

In June 2022, the WeProtect Global Alliance held a Global Summit on “Turning the tide on Child Sexual Abuse”. Government, civil society and private sector representatives gathered together in Brussels to discuss the scale of online child sexual exploitation and abuse, as well as measures and...