Governments hold most of the levers needed to protect women online. RFLD’s report Online violence against women in West and Central Africa 2026 addresses seven recommendations to the states of the region. This article explains each one, and the evidence behind it.
1. Name the harm in law
States should adopt or amend laws to criminalise, in clear and proportionate terms, the sharing of intimate images without consent, the threat to share them, sextortion, cyberstalking and sexualised deepfakes.
Among the countries reviewed, only three explicitly criminalise sharing intimate images without consent, all of them English-speaking. Ghana’s Cybersecurity Act 2020, which punishes the threat to share even without a demand, offers a model.
2. Stop laws being turned against women
States should review their cybercrime laws to remove or narrow broad offences that are used against journalists and women human rights defenders.
Offences such as defamation or “false news” can silence the women who speak out most. The African Commission’s Resolution 522 calls on states to repeal overly broad surveillance laws that increase women journalists’ vulnerability.
3. Publish disaggregated data
States should publish annual data from police, prosecutors, courts and data protection authorities, disaggregated by sex and by type of offence.
Benin recorded more than 6,500 cybercrime complaints in 2025 and Côte d’Ivoire 8,132 in 2023. Neither publishes a breakdown by sex or offence. Without it, no one can say how many complaints concern violence against women.
Some breakdowns already exist. In Senegal, police figures reported in March 2026 showed that of 257 people referred for prosecution for cybercrime, 84% were men and 16% women. Extending such breakdowns to victims and to types of offence would show how much of the caseload concerns violence against women.
4. Train and equip the justice system
States should train and equip specialised units, police officers, prosecutors and judges on digital evidence and on survivor-centred responses.
Specialised units already exist in several countries, including Benin’s national digital investigation centre and Côte d’Ivoire’s cybercrime platform. Resolution 522 calls for the training of police, health workers, justice officials and judges.
5. Fund support for survivors
States should fund support services for survivors, including legal aid and psychosocial support. Help with removing content is part of the same recommendation.
The need is clear. A 2026 scoping review of studies in sub-Saharan Africa found that only 5% of victims sought counselling. In one study from Malawi, 76.1% of women affected reported a loss of income.
6. Ratify the continental treaties
States should sign and ratify the AU Convention on Ending Violence against Women and Girls, and ratify the Malabo Convention on cyber security and personal data protection.
The AU Convention had eight signatures and no ratifications in May 2026. No francophone West African state had signed it. Twelve states of the region have ratified the Malabo Convention, out of 20 ratifications in total.
7. Measure the problem
States should add a module on online violence to national surveys on violence against women.
There is no nationally representative prevalence survey on online violence against women in any country of the region. The only survey covering the whole region, by Internet Sans Frontières in 2019, found that 45.5% of women on social media had experienced online gender-based violence. A survey module, repeated over time, would give each country its own baseline.
How the seven fit together
These recommendations reinforce each other. Laws give police something to enforce. Training helps them enforce it well. Data shows whether it is working. Support services keep survivors engaged long enough to seek justice. Ratification ties national action to continental standards that civil society can monitor.
Who can push for action
Parliamentarians can table and amend bills. National human rights institutions can monitor implementation. The media can keep the issue in public view. Women’s rights organisations can bring evidence to ministries and to the African Commission, which the report asks to question states on their implementation of Resolution 522 during the examination of periodic reports.
For each country’s current legal framework, see RFLD’s women’s rights laws pages. The report summary gives the recommendations to all addressees.
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.
