African Law Tech Summit: Panel on Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

The African Law Tech Summit organized by Certa Foundation and hosted by the Center for Law and Innovation on March 15th, 2024, brought together a panel of speakers to discuss the role of technology in advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). The panel alongside the Executive Director of Certa Foundation, Florida Kabasinga, and the Director of the Center for Justice and Advocacy, Lydia Taima Muganyinka, Glory Iribagiza, Gender and innovation editor for the New Times, Rwanda and Berabose AlineJoyce, the founder of Luna Africa delved into the challenges, opportunities, and ethical considerations surrounding technology's role in perpetuating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV).

Ms. Lydia Taima Muganyinka emphasized the intersection of law and technology, acknowledging the dual nature of technology as both a tool and a potential threat in the context of gender-based violence. She shed light on various forms of technology facilitated gender based violence (TF-GBV), such as misinformation, cyber harassment, hate speech, non-consensual distribution of intimate images, and deep fake technology, citing alarming statistics from the 2022 UN Women report indicating that 38% of global women have experienced online violence.

Ms. Florida Kabasinga highlighted some key ethical elements to consider while leveraging technology to address gender based violence including victim centeredness approaches while collecting data and preserving evidence, education and training justice actors on how to use technology to preserve evidence, detect and screen perpetrators while investigating and prosecuting crimes arising out of TF-GBV. The panel concluded by advocating for comprehensive strategies to combat digital-era gender-based violence, stressing the importance of legal frameworks, personnel training, research, and leveraging technology for empowerment and protection.

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