Thank you, Mr President.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands thanks the core group for its efforts to bring the Council together around an issue of growing urgency.

While digital technologies offer opportunities to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, these opportunities can only be realised when digital technologies are developed and used in line with international human rights law.

We, therefore, welcome the clear reaffirmation in this resolution that the same rights that people enjoy offline must also be protected online.

This matters because women and girls in all their diversity face specific and disproportionate risks in digital spaces. With an even greater risk for those that are exposed to multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination.

The Council’s Advisory Committee’s study estimates that almost two in three women globally have experienced technology-facilitated gender-based violence.

Two in three women.

These harms can take many forms: cyberstalking, doxing, the non-consensual sharing or creation of intimate images, and gendered disinformation and hate speech.

These are not merely “online” harms though.

They can lead to ‘offline’ sexual and gender-based violence.

They can drive women out of public debate and restrict their freedom of expression and participation.

We therefore strongly welcome the resolution’s call to prevent and address technology-facilitated gender-based violence, ensure accountability and effective remedies, and fully engage men and boys as strategic partners and allies in achieving gender equality.

We also welcome its attention to algorithmic bias and unrepresentative data. When women and girls in all their diversity are absent or misrepresented in datasets, existing inequalities and stereotypes can be reproduced at scale.

This closely reflects the Netherlands’ own approach to AI: our International AI Strategy places responsible and safe AI firmly within a framework of human rights and democratic principles, and stresses accountability and addressing discrimination throughout AI governance.

Finally, we welcome the clear recognition of the responsibility of business enterprises, including the tech industry, to respect human rights, including through human rights due diligence and, where they have caused or contributed to adverse impacts, through remediation. This responsibility is indispensable throughout the technology life cycle.

Mr President,

A digital future that works for everyone must be one in which women and girls in all their diversity can participate fully, equally, and meaningfully. The Kingdom of the Netherlands is pleased to have co-sponsored this resolution and looks forward to its adoption by consensus.

Thank you.