Mayo MEP makes breakthough in tackling gender-based cyberviolence

A file led by Mayo MEP Maria Walsh relating to the eradication of gender-based cyberviolence has been adopted by an overwhelming 73% of members of the European Parliament.

A member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), Midlands-North-West MEP Maria Walsh has been working to examine the potential actions EU institutions could take to progress and tackle the growing issue from an EU perspective.

The file entitled, “Combating Gender-based Violence: Cyber Violence,” followed a long strand of work for Ms. Walsh who previously worked on a file dedicated to making gender-based violence a European level crime, which was finally voted in September.

Following the result, she said: "Our online platforms, policy maker and organisations now need to work closer together to ensure this is brought into national law quickly and effectively."

MEP Walsh has been dedicated to this topic, as a champion for equality, particularly given her work for women’s rights and LGBTI+ community members.

Her work led to the reference of a prominent Irish incident within the file text.

The incident, which occurred in 2020, involved links to almost 500,000 WhatsApp chats including sensitive images of women and girls.

Earlier this year, MEP Walsh held a constructive and informative round-table with leading Irish organisations on cyberviolence to ensure all Irish voices were heard.

The round-table involved multiple Irish organisations such as Maynooth Students’ Union, GMIT Students’ Union, CyberSafeKids, Young Fine Gael, FG Women’s Network and many more.