UN Women and UNESCO study puts online violence against women journalists at 75 per cent

28 October 2026

A study by UN Women and UNESCO found that 75 per cent of the women journalists surveyed had faced online violence, and that 42 per cent linked online attacks to physical abuse or assault, up from 20 per cent in 2020. UN Women data cited alongside it says nearly one in four women human rights defenders, activists and journalists have met artificial-intelligence-enabled abuse such as deepfakes and cloned voices. Nobel laureate Maria Ressa, speaking at a United Nations event during Women, Peace and Security Week, said every woman journalist driven out of a conflict zone costs a peace process its witness, and described receiving 90 hate messages an hour at the height of the attacks on her. Figures of the International Federation of Journalists cited at the event put the number of women journalists in Afghanistan at fewer than 700, down from about 2,800 before the Taliban takeover. Conflict coverage grew more than sixfold between 2013 and 2023, yet only 5 per cent of articles dealt with women's experience of war. UNESCO will launch a campaign called Threats Evolve, Impunity Endures before the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists on 2 November.