When a woman’s intimate images are shared without her consent, the first question is whether the law names what happened to her. RFLD’s report Online violence against women in West and Central Africa 2026 reviews national cybercrime and criminal laws across the region. Its finding is clear: only three of the countries reviewed explicitly criminalise the sharing of intimate images without consent.
The three countries with explicit offences
All three are English-speaking.
Ghana. Under the Cybersecurity Act 2020 (Act 1038), section 66 punishes sexual extortion with 10 to 25 years in prison, with no option of a fine. Sections 67 and 68 punish sharing intimate images without consent, and threatening to share them even without any demand, with one to three years each. The Act has no cyberbullying offence.
Sierra Leone. The Cyber Security and Crime Act 2021 covers cyberstalking and cyberbullying in section 44. Section 48, on online sexual abuse of adults, covers intimate images and threats.
Liberia. The Cybercrime Act 2025 covers cyberstalking in section 15, and sharing intimate images without consent in section 20, with penalties of up to three years.
The rest of the region
Elsewhere, the picture is patchier.
In Nigeria, the Cybercrimes Act 2015 was amended in February 2024. The amendment narrowed section 24, on cyberstalking, to “pornographic” content or knowingly false content that threatens life or public order. There is no explicit offence for sharing intimate images.
In Côte d’Ivoire, the cybercrime law (Loi 2013-451) was amended in November 2022. The threat to publish intimate images and sexual harassment are reportedly covered.
In Cameroon, Law 2010/012 of 21 December 2010 punishes recording or transmitting private data without consent (Article 74, one to two years) and images of violations of bodily integrity (Article 75, two to five years). No explicit cyber-harassment offence was found.
In Benin, the Code du numérique (Loi 2017-20) covers harassment by electronic communication in Article 550, with no reference to gender. Law 2021-11 of 20 December 2021 on sex-based offences covers repeated messages only as sexual harassment. No explicit offence for sharing intimate images was found.
In Niger, the cybercrime law of 2019 was amended in June 2024, with no gender provisions.
Why naming the harm matters
General offences on privacy or harassment can sometimes be used in cases of intimate image abuse. But they place a burden on survivors and prosecutors to fit the facts into categories designed for other purposes. Penalties may not match the harm. Threats to share, which can lead to sextortion, may not be covered at all.
Ghana’s section 68 is a model here. By punishing the threat itself, even without any demand, it allows police to act before the images are released.
Knowing the law exists
Survivors also need to know that the law protects them. In the 2020 Pollicy study, 86% of women surveyed in Senegal were unaware of laws protecting them. Clear, specific offences are easier to explain in the awareness campaigns that Resolution 522 asks states to run.
Laws that harm women
The report also warns about the opposite problem. Broad cybercrime offences such as defamation or “false news” can be used against journalists and women human rights defenders. The African Commission’s Resolution 522 calls on states to repeal overly broad surveillance laws that increase women journalists’ vulnerability.
What the report recommends
The report asks states to:
- adopt or amend laws to criminalise, in clear and proportionate terms, sharing intimate images without consent, the threat to share them, sextortion, cyberstalking and sexualised deepfakes;
- publish annual data from police and courts, disaggregated by sex and by type of offence;
- review cybercrime laws to remove or narrow broad offences used against journalists and women human rights defenders;
- train police and judges on digital evidence and on survivor-centred responses.
Where criminal law is silent, data protection law can offer another route. Togo, for example, punishes storing or processing intimate images without consent under its data protection law.
For the full legal picture in each country, see RFLD’s women’s rights laws pages. The report summary sets out all the recommendations.
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.
