30 YEARS AFTER THE BEIJING DECLARATION: DEFENDING THE ONLINE BODIES AND LANDS OF MESOAMERICAN WHRDs IS AN URGENT NEED

WHRDs under digital attack: 30 years after Beijing

On 27 October 2020, human rights defenders in Nicaragua went to sleep with news that would mark a turning point in the lives of many of them: the approval of the Special Law on Cybercrime. Far from offering protection against digital attacks, this ambiguous law became a tool of persecution. Under the guise of alleged crimes against ‘national security’, the government legalised the imprisonment of those who raised their voices on the media, including social media, with sentences of up to eight years. Since then, many have been criminalised and deprived of their liberty under this law.

This is not an isolated case, but part of a broader picture of the evolution and sophistication of the ways in which we, as human rights defenders, are attacked, just as we mark three decades since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. That international milestone called on the world to build a future of equality and peace, recognising that women face multiple barriers due to gender, race, age, origin, disability or identity. Beijing also called for the removal of these obstacles, which are interconnected with realities such as poverty, education, violence, political participation and access to information.

It was against this backdrop that IM-Defensoras was founded in 2010. We are a network of protection, support, care and resistance against the violence we face for defending human rights and, furthermore, for being women or sexual and gender dissidents. Over the past 15 years, we have promoted Holistic Feminist Protection strategies, recognising the importance of collectively caring for our bodies, territories and physical and digital spaces.

Today, far from ceasing, the attacks against us persist and resort to new strategies and forms of aggression. Misogyny, racism, classism, democratic simulation, heavy-handed policies and predatory capitalism continue to set the rules of the game. In the face of our resistance, State and de-facto powers seek to silence us, and digital lands have become a new battlefield.

That is why, in 2024, we conducted research in Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua to better understand these challenges. In line with the Beijing+30 Review, we share some findings with one certainty: protecting our voices in the digital space is not just a technical demand, but a vital and political urgency.

Today, far from ceasing, the attacks against us persist and resort to new strategies and forms of aggression.

Mesoamerica: evidence of gaps in the fulfilment of Beijing commitments

In Mesoamerica, defending human rights means doing so in the midst of a hostile environment marked by inequality, impunity, and patriarchal violence. The report based on our system for recording attacks, Data that hurts us, networks that save us, shows that WHRDs live in political and social environments that, far from guaranteeing rights, have become harsher over the years.

We face the co-optation and dismantling of the already fragile democratic institutions in our countries and the rise of heavy-handed policies that violate our right to organise and defend human rights, criminalise protest, and use restrictive legal frameworks to curb collective action. The militarisation of public security translates into increased repression against social movements, while the armed forces are used to contain, monitor and punish those of us who are life and land defenders.

Widespread and patriarchal violence permeates our bodies and our struggles. Femicide, threats and harassment, including digital violence, are part of a continuum that intensifies in contexts of neoliberal and extractivist capitalism and the presence of organised crime. Sexual and symbolic violence continues to be used as a tool of political and social control, particularly against women who lead land and community resistance movements.

Added to this is the systematic stigmatisation of our work. Smear campaigns and hate speech in the media and on social networks seek to delegitimise the defence of human rights, while judicial harassment, physical and digital surveillance, and criminalisation aim to wear us down and isolate us. These patterns of aggression contradict the commitments made 30 years ago in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and highlight the deep gaps that persist in their implementation.

Challenges in the digital sphere: Where are we now?

In Mesoamerica, defending human rights has become an act of resistance. Far from guaranteeing rights, States have deployed strategies that seek to silence critical voices: co-optation of institutions, militarisation, patriarchal violence, impunity, stigmatisation and criminalisation. These are not isolated trends, but mechanisms of power that operate both on the ground and in cyberspace.

Technology does not exist in a vacuum. It intersects with the political, economic and social spheres. For WHRDs, this means that the digital world reflects, and often amplifies, the inequalities and violence that we already experience on the streets, in our communities and in our bodies. The research Digital Bodies, Territories in Dispute, carried out with women defenders from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, identified two key factors that shape our lives on the internet: political contexts, which determine the level of human rights in each country; and the economy of big tech, which defines the rules of the digital space. Both combine to create an increasingly hostile environment.

For WHRDs, this means that the digital world reflects, and often amplifies, the inequalities and violence that we already experience on the streets, in our communities and in our bodies. 

Across the region, we see the same pattern: the rise of the far right, reactionary agendas and the accelerated dismantling of some of the major social gains achieved in recent decades. Under neoliberalism, inequality grows, life becomes more precarious, communities are dispossessed, and peoples are expelled from their lands. In this fertile ground, populist leaders fuel social disenchantment by manufacturing ‘enemies’ and governing with authoritarian policies.

They do not do this alone. They rely on the usual powers that be: big corporations, religious fundamentalists and organised crime. In this context, women defenders are labelled as ‘enemies’ for denouncing abuses, questioning corporate interests or raising a feminist voice against social injustice.

Digital technologies are now central tools of heavy-handed policies. Inadequate legal frameworks fail to guarantee our protection against online attacks, while governments and corporations themselves invest in digital strategies of repression: mass surveillance, raids and theft of data and equipment, hate and disinformation campaigns, including spyware.

None of this is accidental. Tech corporations profit from online hate, their algorithms prioritising violent content because it generates clicks and profits. In other words, violence against women defenders is not only tolerated, it is a profitable business that authoritarian governments exploit.

Our most recent data confirms this: between 2024 and the first half of 2025, there were 3,423 digital attacks against at least 374 women defenders and 58 organisations. One in three occurred in digital environments (33%), and 91% took place on social media, where anonymity fuels impunity. This violence is not isolated; it is structural and targets groups (50%), individual defenders (39%) and organisations (11%). The most attacked colleagues are those who defend political participation (30%), freedom of expression (18%) and land defenders (12%).

There are many forms of digital violence: questioning of morality and leadership (670 cases), smear campaigns (549), viral hate (265), discrediting (190), harassment (154) and direct threats (108), including 21 death threats. More than half (52%) involved gender-based discrimination. The main perpetrators were anonymous users (71%), although authorities (9%), political parties (5%) and fundamentalist groups (4%) were also involved. Many attacks were orchestrated by trolls financed by States or powerful interests.

Digital violence is not new; it is an extension of historical strategies of repression against feminist and popular movements. Its impacts are profound: fear, self-censorship, forced displacement and erosion of our public legitimacy.

Violence against women defenders is not only tolerated, it is a profitable business that authoritarian governments exploit.

Added to this, is the extractive nature of the global digital economy. Technology companies in the Global North exploit our data as a resource, leaving our communities to bear the social costs: misinformation, harassment and loss of privacy. They also control critical infrastructure such as satellites, submarine cables and data centres, reinforcing their power and collaborating with States that systematically violate human rights and attack us.

The gaps between the commitments of the Beijing Platform for Action and the current reality must be addressed urgently. They are the result of a combination of the advancement of security, national defense and heavy-handed policies and corporate models that feed on conflict. To protect our lives and voices in the digital sphere, it is urgent to address both dimensions at the same time.

Urgent recommendations for Beijing+30: protecting WHRDs in the digital space

In the process of reviewing the Beijing+30 Declaration and Platform for Action, it is urgent that the digital violence faced by women human rights defenders be recognised and addressed as a priority. This form of aggression, which is increasingly widespread in the Mesoamerican region, constitutes a tool of silencing and control that threatens not only freedom of expression, but also the safety and lives of those of us who fight for social justice.

Feminist and women's rights organisations in the region highlight the need for situational assessments with a land and gender focus, based on the experiences and testimonies of women human rights defenders themselves. These assessments should enable us to strengthen protection standards and design comprehensive strategies and measures that respond to the complexity of today's digital environment.

Key recommendations

We propose a policy agenda with urgent actions at national, regional and international levels:

1. Official and standardised records: States must create specific documentation systems for digital attacks, which are essential for prevention, investigation and ensuring non-repetition.
2. Immediate response and comprehensive measures: Protection mechanisms must include actions such as the removal of violent content, psychosocial support for victims of violence, and the replacement of equipment and connectivity.
3. Effective investigation and State coordination: We demand rapid response times, investigation into the use of spyware, and inter-institutional action against organised networks of hate and disinformation.
4. Regulation of digital platforms: Companies must assume responsibilities that include: verified reporting channels; rapid account restoration; rights-based moderation; human oversight with local knowledge; and containment of algorithms that amplify hate.
5. Specific protocols and a feminist approach: We need differentiated procedures that recognise our political role and protect our digital bodies as human rights defenders.
6. Coordinated international action: There is an urgent need to recognise digital violence as a threat to political participation and the defence of human rights by women and people of diverse genders and sexualities; establish mandates for rapporteurs to issue alerts and precautionary measures; develop practical guidelines based on real experiences, flexible emergency funds, common registration standards; and promote transnational cooperation against organised attacks.

An agenda for the today and the future

Beijing+30 must respond to current challenges, including the protection of our bodies in the digital environment. Digital violence against WHRDs is not collateral damage; it is part of a structural policy. Confronting it is a prerequisite for advancing towards dignified and free lives, including in the virtual space we inhabit.