Most of the 17 countries covered by RFLD’s report Online violence against women in West and Central Africa 2026 are French-speaking. Yet the report finds that only English-speaking states in the region explicitly criminalise the sharing of intimate images without consent. This article looks at what francophone laws do cover, and where survivors can still find a route to justice.
A reliance on general offences
The report finds that French-speaking frameworks rely on general offences on privacy or harassment. These can be used in some cases of online violence. They were not designed for it, and they rarely mention gender.
Benin. The Code du numérique (Loi 2017-20) covers harassment by electronic communication in Article 550, with penalties of one month to two years and fines of 500,000 to 10 million FCFA. The offence is not gendered. Law 2021-11 of 20 December 2021 on sex-based offences treats repeated messages only as sexual harassment.
Côte d’Ivoire. The cybercrime law (Loi 2013-451), amended in November 2022, reportedly covers the threat to publish intimate images and sexual harassment.
Cameroon. Law 2010/012 punishes recording or transmitting private data without consent (Article 74) and images of violations of bodily integrity (Article 75). No explicit cyber-harassment offence was found.
DRC. The Code du numérique of 13 March 2023 is one of the few francophone texts with separate offences for harassment (Articles 358 to 359) and for breaches of privacy, including publishing images without consent (Articles 349 and 351). Article 351 also covers identity theft and fake accounts. The same Code contains defamation and “false news” offences that raise risks for freedom of expression.
Togo and the Sahel. Togo’s cybercrime law dates from 2018, and a bill to amend it was tabled in 2022. Niger amended its 2019 cybercrime law in June 2024, reinstating prison terms for defamation and public-order offences, with no gender provisions.
Data protection as an alternative route
Where criminal law is silent, data protection law can help. The report highlights Togo’s data protection law, Loi 2019-014 of 29 October 2019. Under this law, storing or processing intimate images without consent is punishable by one to five years in prison and fines of 1 to 10 million FCFA.
The same reasoning may apply in other francophone states with active data protection authorities. In Senegal, the data protection authority (CDP) processed 456 cases in 2025. These produced only 20 complaints.
Treaties and cooperation
Several francophone states have committed to regional and international frameworks. Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Niger, Senegal and Togo have ratified the Malabo Convention, as have the Congo and the DRC. Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal are parties to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, which gives access to cooperation channels for obtaining digital evidence.
On violence against women, the picture is weaker. No francophone West African state had signed the AU Convention on Ending Violence against Women and Girls as of May 2026. In Central Africa, the DRC has signed.
What reform could look like
The report’s recommendations apply across the region, with particular force in francophone states:
- adopt clear and proportionate offences for sharing intimate images without consent, threatening to share them, sextortion, cyberstalking and sexualised deepfakes;
- fund support services for survivors, including help with removing content;
- narrow broad offences such as defamation and “false news” that can be turned against journalists and defenders;
- publish annual data from police and courts, disaggregated by sex and by type of offence.
Ghana’s Cybersecurity Act 2020 offers a regional model, particularly its offence of threatening to share intimate images even without a demand.
Support in French
French-speaking survivors and defenders also need support in their language. The Access Now Digital Security Helpline works in ten languages, including French, around the clock. The report asks technology companies to invest in moderation in local forms of French.
For country legal profiles, see RFLD’s women’s rights laws pages. The report is available in French as well as English, from the summary page.
About the report
This article draws on RFLD’s report Online violence against women in West and Central Africa 2026, published on 4 October 2026. Read the summary, download the English edition or the French edition.
