Pakistan's Policy and Institutional Response to Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV): Assessment of the Policy Infrastructure, Governance Challenges, and Reform Options
Keywords:
Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence, Peca, Digital Safety, Cyber Harassment, Artificial Intelligence, Gender Policy, Pakistan, Digital Governance, Feminist Policy AnalysisAbstract
Tech-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) has emerged as a critical governance and human rights challenge in Pakistan's swiftly digitizing society. Although the expansion of opportunities for women and girls has been facilitated by the rise in internet penetration and digital participation, it has also created new and expanding opportunities for cyberstalking, online harassment, image-based abuse, impersonation, blackmail, doxxing, deepfake abuse, and AI-generated harms. This paper critically assesses Pakistan's legal, policy, and institutional response to TFGBV, including the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016, the National Strategy on TFGBV (2026), the National Artificial Intelligence Policy (2025), and their corresponding institutional mechanisms. The paper evaluates three policy alternatives: strengthening existing legal and enforcement mechanisms; establishing a dedicated National TFGBV Prevention and Response Framework; and implementing a Multi-Stakeholder Digital Safety Governance Model. This evaluation is conducted using a structured policy analysis framework that evaluates effectiveness, gender responsiveness, and administrative feasibility. The analysis reveals that Pakistan has made substantial strides in acknowledging TFGBV as a human rights and governance concern. However, there are still substantial deficiencies in the areas of legal enforcement, institutional coordination, survivor support systems, digital literacy, and regulation of AI-enabled harms. The paper suggests that the most feasible and effective reform option is the establishment of a dedicated National TFGBV Framework. This reform should be accompanied by a phased implementation strategy that includes legislative reform, institutional capacity-building, survivor-centered services, platform accountability, and robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
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