During the 2025 16 Days of Activism campaign, CARE Burundi, in strategic partnership with the Ministry of Justice, the University of Burundi’s CRELACS research center, and COCAFEM/GL, convened a critical conference-debate. The event spotlighted two pervasive yet often overlooked forms of gender-based violence (GBV): the emerging threat of digital violence and the entrenched burden of unpaid care work. This dual focus underscores a holistic understanding of violence—recognizing that harm against women and girls manifests not only in physical spaces but also in virtual realms and through systemic economic disempowerment.
### The Insidious Rise of Digital Violence: A New Frontier for an Old Problem
Estella Ndahabonyimana, Gender Issues Coordinator at the Ministry of Justice, framed the challenge: “The evolution of communication technologies has given rise to new forms of violence propagated online… This new form adds to the other GBVs that already haunt Burundian women.” Digital violence, as defined by communications expert Dr. Abbé Dieudonné Nibizi, refers to acts of online aggression that are sexist or misogynistic, exploiting digital tools to humiliate, control, or harm.
**Root Causes and Amplifying Factors:**
Dr. Nibizi’s analysis moved beyond surface-level explanations to identify deep structural drivers:
* **Offline Inequalities, Online Manifestations:** Digital spaces often mirror and amplify existing societal power imbalances. Women and girls, particularly those who are vocal activists, journalists, or public figures, are perceived as illegitimate in the digital public sphere, making them prime targets for coordinated attacks designed to silence them.
* **The Toxicity of Anonymity and Impunity:** The veil of anonymity provided by platforms, coupled with a global lag in effective regulation and cybercrime laws tailored to gender-based harassment, creates a culture of impunity. Aggressors operate with minimal fear of consequence.
* **Ecosystems of Hate:** The internet hosts algorithms and communities that can radicalize users and normalize violent, misogynistic rhetoric, creating echo chambers where harassment is encouraged.
* **The Vulnerability Gap:** Digital and emotional illiteracy, especially among younger users, can leave girls unaware of privacy risks, data permanence, and how to report abuse, making them vulnerable to predators and non-consensual image sharing.
**The Multilayered Impact:**
The consequences are profound and extend far beyond the screen:
* **Psychological Toll:** Victims commonly experience severe anxiety, depression, trauma, and a debilitating loss of self-confidence, often leading to social isolation.
* **Professional and Economic Sabotage:** Digital violence can destroy reputations, leading to job loss, forced withdrawal from public discourse, and the silencing of expert female voices, which impoverishes national debate.
* **Chilling Effect on Participation:** The pervasive threat creates a climate of fear, leading to self-censorship and the abandonment of digital spaces—key arenas for modern civic and economic life.
### Building a Multi-Pronged Defense Against Digital GBV
Dr. Nibizi advocated for a collective response framework, which can be visualized as a four-pillar strategy:
1. **Technical & Personal Empowerment:** This includes practical steps like using two-factor authentication, managing privacy settings, conducting regular audits of one’s digital footprint, and learning strategies to de-escalate online confrontations calmly.
2. **Legal & Institutional Recourse:** Burundi’s **Law No. 1/10 of March 16, 2022, on the prevention and repression of cybercrime** provides crucial tools. It prohibits identity theft, publication of pornographic images, and exploitation of minors online. Victims must be supported in preserving evidence (screenshots, URLs) and navigating reporting mechanisms both to platforms and law enforcement.
3. **Educational Foundations:** Integrating digital citizenship education—covering ethics, privacy, critical thinking, and empathy—into school curricula from an early age is essential for long-term cultural change.
4. **Societal Accountability:** This requires demanding more responsive content moderation from tech platforms and fostering a cultural shift where online harassment is universally condemned, not dismissed as “just the internet.”
### The Invisible Chains: Unpaid Care Work as Systemic Economic Violence
Alongside digital threats, the conference highlighted a chronic, normalized form of violence: the gendered imbalance in unpaid care and domestic work. As Ms. Ndahabonyimana stated, “The overload of domestic work… are forms of violence that women and girls have endured for a long time.”
Professor Vénérand Nsengiyumva presented revealing data from a University of Burundi study:
* **Activity Disparity:** Women perform 7-8 daily activities (mostly unpaid chores) compared to men’s 5-6.
* **Paid Work Gap:** Men dedicate 4 hours daily to paid labor versus women’s 2.7 hours.
This disparity is not merely a domestic issue; it is a primary engine of economic inequality. It limits women’s time for education, skill-building, formal employment, and rest, directly contributing to their financial dependence and vulnerability.
### Pathways to Equity: From Recognition to Redistribution
The solutions proposed move beyond awareness to actionable change:
* **Valuing the Invisible:** The first step is national recognition that unpaid care work is *real work* that sustains the economy and society. Its disproportionate allocation is a form of systemic discrimination.
* **Promoting Equitable Redistribution:** As Domitile Ntacobakimvuna, WE-CARE Project Coordinator, urged, collective awareness must translate into men actively sharing domestic and caregiving responsibilities. This requires challenging deep-seated gender norms about “women’s roles.”
* **Enabling Economic Justice:** Supporting women’s income generation through time-saving technologies, accessible childcare, and flexible work opportunities is critical. When women’s time is freed and valued, their economic potential is unlocked.
### A Unified Call for a Holistic Response
The 2025 campaign theme, “Let’s Unite to End Digital Violence Against Women and Girls,” is a call to action that must be interpreted broadly. The conference-debate made it clear that combating GBV in the 21st century requires a simultaneous fight on two fronts: safeguarding women’s dignity and participation in the digital world *and* dismantling the economic injustices rooted in the private sphere. The path forward demands an integrated strategy combining legal reform, technical education, economic empowerment, and a unwavering commitment to transforming the gendered norms that perpetuate both digital harassment and the invisible burden of care. Success hinges on the collective action of government, civil society, the tech sector, communities, and individuals within households.