Blog by Margherita Poles, SI CSW70 Delegate
A Reflection from CSW70: Technology, Justice and Survivors’ Trust
On 9 March, during the first days of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) in New York, I attended a high-level side event hosted by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Sierra Leone to the United Nations. The event, titled “Access to Justice for Survivors of Sexual Violence through Digital Technology and Tools: From Global Commitments to Survivor-Centred Practice,” brought together Member States, UN partners, civil society organisations, technology experts and survivor advocates to explore how digital innovation can help improve survivors’ access to justice, legal aid and support services.
The event featured a keynote address by H.E. Dr. Fatima Maada Bio, First Lady of the Republic of Sierra Leone and President of the Organization of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD). It was organised in collaboration with partners including the Permanent Missions of Greece and Romania, Soroptimist International and Just Rights for Children. The discussion highlighted both the urgency of strengthening justice systems for survivors of sexual violence and the opportunities that responsible digital tools can offer when developed with strong safeguards for dignity, privacy and safety.
Among the interventions, the contribution from Soroptimist International particularly resonated with me. Our organisation was represented by Ms. Linda Witong, Advocacy Advisor on Research and Violence at Soroptimist International and a former prosecutor with more than three decades of experience prosecuting serious crimes.
Drawing from her long professional experience, Ms. Witong reminded the audience that justice cases often collapse when the chain of evidence breaks or when survivors lose trust in the institutions meant to protect them. Today, she explained, that chain is increasingly digital.
Her intervention highlighted the dual nature of technology. Digital tools can empower survivors by allowing them to report abuse safely, preserve evidence and access justice mechanisms. At the same time, the very same technologies are increasingly used to perpetrate violence against women and girls through online harassment, deepfakes and the circulation of non-consensual imagery.
Ms. Witong shared concrete examples of legislative responses from California that seek to address these challenges. California’s SB50 allows courts to disconnect abusers from smart devices used to control victims, such as digitally connected locks, cameras or thermostats. She also referred to the “Take It Down” Act, which requires online platforms to remove non-consensual intimate images within a short timeframe.
Crucially, she stressed that digital justice systems must be built around four essential principles: privacy by design, survivor consent, accessibility and accountability. Without these safeguards, technological innovation risks reproducing the very barriers that survivors already face when seeking justice.
Her message was clear: technology alone cannot deliver justice. It must be supported by legislation, funding, training and governance structures that place survivors at the centre of justice systems.
As discussions continue throughout CSW70, this intervention offered an important reminder that innovation must ultimately serve a human purpose — strengthening trust in institutions and ensuring that survivors of violence are heard, protected and supported.
