The evidence on online violence against women in West and Central Africa is often bleak. Yet RFLD’s report Online violence against women in West and Central Africa 2026 also documents practices that work. Its chapter on good practices shows that progress is possible, and that much of it can be adapted from one country to another.
Laws that name the harm
Ghana’s Cybersecurity Act 2020 is the clearest example. It punishes sexual extortion with 10 to 25 years in prison. It punishes sharing intimate images without consent, and threatening to share them even without a demand, with one to three years. The threat offence is a model provision for other states.
Other countries offer partial models:
- Togo: the data protection law of 2019 punishes storing or processing intimate images without consent with one to five years, showing how data protection law can fill a gap.
- The Gambia: the Personal Data Protection and Privacy Act 2025 lets NGOs lodge complaints on behalf of a data subject, giving women’s organisations a direct role.
- DRC: the Code du numérique of 2023 is one of the few francophone texts with separate harassment and image-privacy offences.
- Sierra Leone and Liberia: both have adopted cybercrime laws with explicit offences for intimate image abuse, in 2021 and 2025.
Accessible reporting
In Ghana, the Cyber Security Authority accepts reports through the short code 292 and on WhatsApp. It reports sextortion publicly as a distinct category, with figures on financial losses.
In Benin and Côte d’Ivoire, specialised police units publish annual caseloads. Benin’s national digital investigation centre (CNIN) recorded more than 6,500 complaints in 2025. Côte d’Ivoire’s cybercrime platform (PLCC) recorded 8,132 in 2023. Neither yet publishes data by sex, which the report asks them to add.
For activists and defenders, the Access Now Digital Security Helpline offers free support around the clock in ten languages, including French and English. It is the main French-language technical helpline available to defenders in the region.
Training and solidarity
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has trained 430 women in three West African countries, including Ghana, in digital literacy and safety. Its monitoring of online gender-based violence covers four countries, including Côte d’Ivoire. Its monthly reports on abuse against women politicians in Ghana show how monitoring can make abuse visible.
In the DRC, the women’s media organisation Ucofem held a workshop in September 2026 for women journalists on preventing digital violence and staying safe online. Participants called for zero-tolerance policies in newsrooms and for alert and protection mechanisms.
At global level, UNESCO reports having trained 11,500 law enforcement officers and 35,000 judicial actors on freedom of expression and the safety of journalists. This kind of training responds directly to paragraph 5 of the African Commission’s Resolution 522, which calls for the training of police and judges.
Funding the response
Some funders have begun to invest in the issue. UNFPA’s Making All Spaces Safe programme, funded by Global Affairs Canada, works on technology-facilitated violence in Benin and Ghana, as well as in Kenya and Tunisia. The French development agency, AFD, launched a call for projects on technology-facilitated gender-based violence in 2025 through its Support Fund for Feminist Organisations, with at least half of the funds to be regranted to local feminist organisations. UN Women published a strategy on preventing and eliminating technology-facilitated violence against women and girls in December 2025.
RFLD’s contribution
The report also describes RFLD’s own work, including its Digital Safety Compendium and its online Academy. Both aim to give member organisations practical tools and knowledge to protect themselves and the women they serve.
What makes a practice work
Across these examples, a few features recur. Good laws are specific and proportionate. Good reporting channels are easy to reach, including by phone or messaging app. Good training reaches police and judges as well as survivors. And good practice is grounded in partnerships between women’s rights organisations and the groups that defend digital rights and media freedom, an alliance the report explicitly recommends.
Building on what works
The report’s recommendations draw on these practices. States can adapt Ghana’s threat offence and its reporting channels. Data protection authorities can follow Togo’s and The Gambia’s lead. Funders can extend programmes to more countries, including those of the Sahel. Civil society can adapt MFWA’s monitoring model to other countries and elections.
For the full chapter, see the report via the summary page. For the legal context of each country, visit RFLD’s women’s rights laws pages.
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.
