Online harassment is silencing girls: the EU and its Member States can do more and better
A blog by Serap Altinisik
Last Friday, the 20th November, was the 31st anniversary of a true milestone for children’s rights - the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. We definitely have progressed to celebrate over those 31 years, but we also still have a way to go to achieve the fulfilment of all rights for all children, especially girls. Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and I would like to highlight a particular challenge that especially girls and young women face these days: harassment and abuse online. Plan International recently published its report “Free to be online – Girls' and young women’s experiences of online harassment”, which is staggering.
Serap Altinisik
Inclusive quality education: the key to climate and gender justice
Inclusive gender-responsive education is fundamental for progress towards climate and gender justice.
Jessica Cooke
Social media companies must act on the harassment of girls
Online harassment of girls has become normalised. This is what social media companies can do about it, blogs Plan International CEO, Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen.
Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen
Jacqui and Serap call on all female activists to support one another and rise up, together we are stronger!
Jacqui, a youth activist from Tanzania who is fighting to ban child marriage in her home country, and Serap Altinisik, a lifelong feminist and Head of Office and EU Representative at Plan International EU Office, met during Serap’s country visit to Tanzania. Ahead of the International Day of the Girl, these two feminist activists are coming together again to share their mutual passion for girls’ rights and to share their thoughts on activism, their motivation, and the challenging journey they have faced in the fight for equality in a world where people don’t necessarily believe in the power of girls and women.
Serap Altinisik
Welcome back! Ready, set, stop the setback for girls’ equality
A blog by Serap Altinisik on what the EU can do for girls
It’s that time of the year again: La Rentrée. But this year it looks rather different. This year we are returning to school and our workplaces masked and 2m apart. Despite interrupted holiday plans, I am returning to work re-energised and with renewed motivation. I am ready to push harder and be bolder than ever over the coming months to try prevent the undoing of decades of progress in girls’ equality due to COVID-19.
COVID-19 has laid bare the inequalities entrenched in our system, a system that fails to protect the most marginalised and that collapses when crisis hits. A system in which girls and adolescent girls are disproportionately exposed to risk, and were hit the hardest by COVID-19. Interrupted education and lack of protection systems mean they take on household tasks and caring roles; they risk early, child and forced marriage; and they face abuse and violence, including female genital mutilation. But despite all this, I have heard many great stories on how girls and young women have raised their voices all over the world to lead their communities through the crisis.
Serap Altinisik
COVID-19: How cash transfers can save lives and livelihoods
Protecting livelihoods can save lives during COVID-19 response, blogs Cash Based Programme in Emergencies Specialist Syed Mohammed Aftab Alam.
Syed Alam
Adolescent Girls in Crisis: Voices from the Sahel
‘I come from Timbuktu, but my family is now in Mopti, one of the areas most affected by the Sahel crisis. During all my life, I have seen girls and women in the Sahel, particularly in Mali, suffered gender inequalities that limited their protection and education. However, in these last eight years working in the Sahel region, I have observed with suffering how a complex and armed crisis forces families to separate, to flee, to abandon their livelihoods. I see how girls suffer the fear of the armed groups, child marriage and dropping out the school. Finally, in the last three months, I have also seen how all humanitarian efforts to protect these girls are even more at risk due to COVID-19 and its consequences.’ - Dr. Fatoumata Haidara, Sahel Director Plan International.
Serap Altinisik
Time for Change: COVID-19, Connectivity and Equality
As societies go into lockdown, girls and women are more vulnerable than ever to damaging exclusion. Connectivity is a right and a vital lifeline for millions.
Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen
Why we need more biased technology
On Girls in ICT Day 2020, Plan International's Nora Lindstrom examines why technology discriminates against girls and women, and what needs to change.
Nora Lindstrom
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