Digital safety
across Africa.
The African Digital Safety Compendium is RFLD's continental reference on technology-facilitated gender-based violence and digital rights. Covering all 55 African Union member states, drawing on RFLD's continental focal-points monitoring network, anchored in the Maputo Protocol and ACHPR Resolution 522.
A continental monitoring network.
The Compendium combines three sources of evidence: RFLD's continental focal-points network reporting on a quarterly cadence from each AU member state, an incident base aggregating verified TFGBV cases reported through volunteer networks, and a curated resource library of peer-reviewed studies, official treaty texts, civil-society reports, and journalistic documentation. The methodology is honest about its limits — and that is what makes it useful.
RFLD operates a continental focal-points network — one focal point per AU member state, 55 in total — reporting on a quarterly cadence on the state of digital rights, TFGBV incidents, legal-framework developments, and emerging threats in their respective country contexts. Focal points are members of RFLD's network of 670 organisations across the continent, with priority given to women-led grassroots organisations, journalists, and digital-rights advocates already operating on the ground.
The RFLD incident base aggregates verified TFGBV cases reported through focal points and through volunteer-supported community channels. Cases are de-identified, geo-tagged, and categorised by typology (cyberstalking, online harassment, image-based abuse, doxxing, sextortion, deepfake abuse, coordinated harassment campaigns). Aggregated prevalence figures published in this Compendium derive from this incident base, supplemented where available by external sources (UN Women, ITU, EIU, Paradigm Initiative, CIPESA, ACHPR rapporteur reports).
The Compendium does not claim live data. Country profiles reflect the most recent quarterly reporting cycle; legal-framework analysis reflects continuing tracking by RFLD's continental policy team. Where information is incomplete, contested, or subject to verification, that is flagged. Where countries are operating under suspended constitutions or transitional regimes, the political context is stated explicitly.
The continental scale of harm.
Four headline statistics from RFLD's continental monitoring across 55 AU member states. Each figure represents an aggregate across the network's most recent quarterly reporting cycles. Methodology and underlying incident-base detail are available to legitimate research partners on request.
Three pillars.
The Compendium is organised around three pillars matching the principal use cases its readers — civil-society organisations, parliamentarians, journalists, donors, researchers, and survivors' rights advocates — bring to it.
Legal frameworks
Analysis of continental and national instruments including the Maputo Protocol, the Malabo Convention on Cybersecurity, the ACHPR Resolutions on digital violence (522, 591) and data access (620), and national cybercrime and data-protection legislation across 55 AU member states.
8+ continental instruments trackedResource library
Over 150 curated resources — peer-reviewed academic studies, UN agency reports, AU and ACHPR official documents, civil-society advocacy reports, technical analyses, legal commentaries, and journalistic investigations — organised by category and searchable.
150+ resources · 8 thematic categoriesContinental monitoring
RFLD's focal-points network across all 55 AU member states reporting on a quarterly cadence — TFGBV incidents, legal-framework developments, emerging threats, and country-level risk assessments. Aggregated, de-identified, and methodology-anchored.
55 focal points · quarterly cadenceWhat we are tracking.
Eight principal forms of technology-facilitated gender-based violence documented across the RFLD focal-points network. The list reflects the categories used by ACHPR Resolution 522 and Resolution 591, with refinements developed in coordination with continental civil-society partners.
Cyberstalking
Repeated unwanted monitoring, contact, or surveillance through digital platforms — often by intimate partners, ex-partners, or coordinated networks targeting women in public life.
Online harassment
Abusive messaging, threats, sustained pile-on attacks, and coordinated mob behaviour through social media targeting women journalists, politicians, and human-rights defenders.
Image-based abuse
Non-consensual creation, sharing, or distribution of intimate images (NCII) — a category that increasingly includes synthetic and AI-generated imagery.
Doxxing
Publishing private personal information — home addresses, phone numbers, family-member identities — to enable offline harassment and physical-safety threats.
Sextortion
Coercion through threatened release of intimate images or sensitive information — a rapidly growing category, frequently cross-border, with documented criminal-network involvement.
Deepfake abuse
AI-generated synthetic intimate imagery, voice cloning, and impersonation — an emerging category whose pace has outstripped most national legal frameworks.
Coordinated campaigns
Organised pile-on attacks, particularly during election cycles, targeting women candidates, women journalists covering political stories, and women in public discourse.
Surveillance & tracking
Stalkerware, biometric data abuse, and state or commercial surveillance with disproportionate impact on women human-rights defenders.
The continental view.
Each marker represents one AU member state, colour-coded by the current risk classification from the most recent quarterly reporting cycle. Click any marker to access that country's profile, including population, internet penetration, recorded TFGBV prevalence, and the focal-point's current assessment.
Country profiles.
Each AU member state has a profile drawing on its focal-point's most recent quarterly reporting. Profiles include the focal point's executive summary, an analysis of the current state of digital violence in-country, the legal and policy framework, focal-point operational notes, and recommendations for civil society, parliamentarians, and donors.
Search the directory
The legal architecture.
Eight continental and international instruments anchor the work documented in this Compendium. Three ACHPR resolutions (522, 591, 620) form the primary continental framework on digital violence, the digital-violence study, and access to data as a human-rights tool. The Maputo Protocol provides the foundation; Malabo Convention provides the cybersecurity infrastructure framework.
Resolution 522 — Protection of Women Against Digital Violence in Africa
The principal continental framework calling on AU member states to update legislation to protect women in digital spaces. Addresses cyber-harassment, hate speech, image-based abuse, and platform accountability.
achpr.au.int · Resolution 522Resolution 591 — Study on Digital Violence Against Women's Rights
Mandates a continental study by the ACHPR's mechanisms on digital violence against women's rights. The study informs continuing harmonisation of national legislation across the AU.
achpr.au.int · Resolution 591Resolution 620 — Access to Data as a Human Rights and Sustainable Development Tool
Mandates the ACHPR Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information to develop standards on data collection, storage, and processing — including transparency, data justice, and algorithmic accountability.
achpr.au.int · Resolution 620Maputo Protocol
Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. The foundational continental human-rights instrument anchoring all work on women's rights — including digital rights and freedom from technology-facilitated violence.
RFLD Maputo Protocol HubMalabo Convention on Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection
The principal continental cybersecurity and data-protection framework, adopted in Malabo on 27 June 2014 and in force since 8 June 2023. Per the official AU depositary list dated 2 February 2026, 20 member states have ratified and 11 more have signed without yet ratifying. Per-country status appears in each country profile.
au.int · Malabo ConventionChild Online Safety and Empowerment Policy for Africa
Adopted by the AU in May 2024. Establishes the continental framework for protecting children — including girls — from online exploitation, harassment, and abuse.
au.int · Child Online Safety PolicyCEDAW — Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
The principal international human-rights instrument on women's rights. CEDAW General Recommendation 35 (2017) explicitly addresses gender-based violence including in digital contexts.
ohchr.org · CEDAWACDEG — African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance
Article 8 establishes the continental framework on women's political participation. Critical to digital safety analysis given the documented use of TFGBV as a tactic to suppress women's political candidacy and journalism.
au.int · ACDEGACHPR partnership.
RFLD operates with ACHPR Observer status (Resolution 602) in coordination with the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa.
The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights granted RFLD Observer Status under Resolution 602 in recognition of its continental work on women's rights, civic-space protection, and the protection of human-rights defenders. The Compendium's continental monitoring of TFGBV operates in direct coordination with the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa — both of whose mandates are increasingly engaged with digital threats facing women defenders.
This institutional anchoring is what differentiates the Compendium from other digital-rights resources: the data, analysis, and recommendations it publishes feed directly into the continental human-rights system. Country focal-point reports are one of the inputs that contribute to ACHPR communications, urgent appeals, and resolutions concerning women defenders facing technology-facilitated harassment, surveillance, and reprisals across the continent.
The fourth pillar.
The Compendium is the digital-safety pillar of RFLD's continental data infrastructure — the DƆNÙESÈ Data Center. It sits alongside the Maputo Protocol Hub (continental human-rights anchor), the West Africa Legislative Platform (comparative legal analysis), and the Women in Politics Tracker (representation data). Together they form the most comprehensive feminist data infrastructure in West and Central Africa.
Maputo Protocol Hub
Continental anchor on the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. Ratification tracker, indigenous-language translations, 70-question quiz, three published reference documents.
West Africa Legislative Platform
Comparative legal analysis across 15 West African countries · 9 legal domains each — gender-based violence, SRHR, sexual harassment, women with disabilities, land rights, political participation, FGM, harmonisation, institutional mechanisms.
Women in Politics Tracker
Continental representation tracker — executive, legislature, judiciary, local government — across 15 West African countries with continental ranking, treaty commitments matrix, and 2024-2025 legislative developments.
African Digital Safety Compendium
Continental TFGBV reference covering 55 AU member states. RFLD focal-points monitoring network. 150+ curated resources. ACHPR Resolution 522, 591, 620 anchored.
Knowledge library.
The most comprehensive curated library of digital-safety, TFGBV, and continental gender-equality resources for Africa. Includes peer-reviewed academic studies, UN agency reports, ACHPR and AU official documents, civil-society advocacy reports, technical analyses, and journalistic investigations. Each resource is categorised, attributed, and direct-linked.
Get in touch.
For research collaboration, focal-point reporting, country-profile updates, programme partnership, journalist enquiries, or to report a TFGBV incident through the volunteer channels — please reach the appropriate channel below. The Compendium is maintained as a living reference; corrections and updates are welcomed.
How to read this compendium.
This is a living reference for member organisations, country focal points, researchers and partners. Every claim on the page carries a visible state, so a reader always knows what has been verified and what is still in progress.
Verification statuses
- documented Verified against a primary source, with the source shown.
- draft · pending verification Preliminary desk research awaiting confirmation against official sources.
- pending Awaiting focal-point contribution; no claim is made.
Confidence levels on drafts
- High Law and institution well documented; details being confirmed.
- Medium Framework identified; references or operational status to confirm.
- Low Uncertain or absent information; full research under way.
Treaty-commitment index
Computed from four instruments (Maputo Protocol, CEDAW, African Charter, Malabo Convention): ratified or party counts 1.0, signed only 0.5, no action 0.0. Bands: Strong at 0.875 and above, Moderate 0.625 to 0.874, Limited 0.375 to 0.624, Weak below 0.375. The full method is in the methodology note.
Citation rule
Cite documented content together with its source line. Do not cite draft or pending content. Figures marked as indicative are under methodology review and should not be quoted as findings.
Glossary.
Working definitions used across the compendium, aligned with common usage in African and international practice.
TFGBV
Technology-facilitated gender-based violence: any act of gender-based violence committed, assisted or aggravated through digital tools or online spaces.
Online gender-based violence
The subset of TFGBV that takes place in online environments, such as social platforms, messaging services and comment spaces.
NCII
Non-consensual sharing of intimate images: distributing, publishing or threatening to publish intimate content without the consent of the person depicted.
Doxxing
Publishing someone's private or identifying information, such as a home address or phone number, to expose them to harm.
Cyberstalking
A repeated course of conduct using digital means to monitor, threaten or intimidate a person.
Sextortion
Threatening to publish intimate content or information to extort money, further images or other acts from a victim.
Data protection authority
The national body charged with supervising personal-data law: registrations, complaints, investigations and sanctions.
Ratification, accession, signature
Signature signals intent and does not bind; ratification or accession makes a state party to a treaty and legally bound by it.
Maputo Protocol
The Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003), the continent's core women's-rights instrument.
Malabo Convention
The AU Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection (2014), in force since 8 June 2023.
Confidence level (as used here)
An editorial flag on draft research indicating how well documented an entry is before verification. It is not a legal assessment.
Treaty-commitment index (as used here)
A transparency measure of formal treaty engagement. It reflects commitments on paper, not implementation on the ground.
Support and digital security help.
Facing digital violence: preserve evidence (screenshots with dates and URLs), secure your accounts (passwords, two-factor authentication), and reach a trusted organisation. The organisations below are established responders.
Access Now, Digital Security Helpline
Round-the-clock digital-emergency support for civil society, in several languages.
Digital Defenders Partnership
Rapid-response support and emergency funds for people and organisations under digital attack.
Front Line Defenders
Protection support for human rights defenders at risk, including digital threats.
APC, Take Back the Tech
Feminist resources, campaigns and self-help guidance on technology-facilitated violence.
Safe Sisters
Digital-safety fellowships and practical guides created by and for women in East Africa.
CIPESA
Research and policy work on internet freedom across Africa, including TFGBV and digital rights.
Contact channels change over time. RFLD verifies this list at each quarterly review and adds national services confirmed by country focal points. In a situation of immediate danger, contact local emergency services where it is safe to do so.
Updates and verification.
This compendium says openly what has been verified and what is still being confirmed. Every accepted correction is logged here.
Version 2.0 · 17 September 2026
- Treaty statuses rebuilt for all 55 states; Malabo Convention entries verified against the AU depositary list of 2 February 2026 (including ratifications by Benin 2024, DRC 2025, Lesotho 2025 and Madagascar 2025).
- Maputo Protocol, CEDAW and African Charter entries corrected from AU, SOAWR and UN records; reconfirmation against the AU depositary in progress.
- Treaty-commitment index published with its method and thresholds.
- National legal frameworks: draft desk research added for all 55 states, labelled with confidence levels; verification worksheet issued to the focal-point network.
- Prevalence figures relabelled as indicative pending methodology review.
- Methodology and quality-assurance note published; quarterly review cycle defined.
Version 1.x · initial publication
- First release: continental map, country directory, typology, legal architecture and resource library.
Current verification state
- verified Malabo Convention statuses (AU depositary list, 2 February 2026).
- in progress Maputo, CEDAW and African Charter reconfirmation against the AU depositary.
- draft National legal frameworks: 0 of 55 country rows verified to date.
- under review Headline prevalence indicators, pending methodology decision.
- Next quarterly review: December 2026.
Open data
Download the dataset exactly as displayed on this page. Treaty entries follow the sourcing notes above; national fields are draft and pending verification.
Corrections and contributions
Corrections and additions are welcome through RFLD country focal points and the secretariat in Porto-Novo. Every submission needs the source, the date and the contributor. Accepted changes are verified, then logged in this section.