Bangladesh Moves to Tackle AI-Driven Violence Against Women

Bangladesh has brought ministers, lawmakers and civil society leaders together in Dhaka to address the growing use of artificial intelligence to harass, defame and endanger women online, with discussions focusing on legal reform, platform accountability, digital evidence and stronger survivor-support systems.

On September 10, 2026, Thursday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs convened the dialogue at Pan Pacific Sonargaon, bringing together government representatives and civil society leaders to examine how law, technology and institutions can respond to digital and AI-facilitated violence against women.

Foreign Secretary Ambassador Asad Alam Siam moderated the session.

The meeting is part of Bangladesh’s initiative to establish the Dhaka Dialogue, a government-led platform introduced at the 10th Dakar International Forum on Peace and Security in Africa on April 20, 2026. The initiative seeks to address gaps in shared definitions, political attention, legal and technical capacity, evidence and partnerships that cannot be addressed by any single government or technology company.

The Dialogue plans to develop shared language, standards and voluntary guidelines for states on prevention, investigation and remedy. It also seeks common definitions and typologies for reporting and comparing cases, alongside benchmarks for platform accountability, transparency and the labelling and provenance of synthetic media.

The initiative would keep the issue on the international agenda through regular high-level meetings and a network of political champions. It also aims to help countries, particularly across the Global South, draft and review laws, train police, prosecutors and judges in digital evidence and AI forensics, strengthen survivor helplines, and access tools for detecting and removing synthetic content while protecting freedom of expression, privacy and minority rights.

The Dialogue will further bring together governments, UN entities, technology companies, civil society, academia and survivor networks. It will seek voluntary safety-by-design commitments from AI developers and platforms and work with regional organisations to adapt the agenda to local needs.

Five speakers addressed the gathering.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam said the Dialogue is a flagship initiative of the Ministry that connects Bangladesh’s foreign policy with the everyday online safety of women.

State Minister for Social Welfare Farzana Sharmin Putul highlighted the role of national social protection systems and survivor support when abuse moves from physical spaces to digital platforms.

Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Md. Asaduzzaman outlined legal and evidentiary gaps that make it difficult to investigate and prosecute AI-enabled abuse, particularly when images or voices used as evidence are synthetic.

Barrister Jahrat Adib Chowdhury, drawing on her experience in Bangladesh’s telecommunications industry, stressed that technology platforms must build safety into their systems from the outset rather than introduce safeguards after harm occurs. She also called for transparency around synthetic media.

Sanjida Islam Tulee, founder of Mayer Daak, drew a connection between supporting families of the disappeared and supporting survivors of digital and AI-facilitated abuse. She called for institutions to believe survivors from the moment they report abuse and for helplines and reporting mechanisms that do not force victims to move from office to office.

Participants subsequently discussed legislative gaps, platform accountability, synthetic-content management and survivor-support mechanisms in different countries.

The meeting also highlighted the scale of the problem in Bangladesh. According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics data from 2024, 89 per cent of women social media users in the country had experienced online violence at least once, with women aged 18 to 30 identified as the highest-risk group.

From 2000 to 2024, the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs operated the Multi-Sectoral Programme on Violence Against Women, the government’s principal inter-ministerial mechanism for addressing violence against women.

Through the programme, Bangladesh established 14 One-Stop Crisis Centres, 67 One-Stop Crisis Cells, one National Trauma Counselling Centre and eight Divisional Trauma Counselling Centres. A Quick Response Team project launched in 2025 aims to extend this support structure to the union level, bringing medical care, police assistance, legal aid, psychosocial counselling and shelter together at a single location.

Digital violence, including AI-facilitated violence, has been identified as a major priority under these initiatives.

National Helpline 109, the country’s largest free 24-hour point of contact for women in distress, already receives complaints involving online blackmail, non-consensual images, impersonation and sextortion. Under the Quick Response Team project, the ministry is strengthening its capacity to respond rapidly rather than simply record complaints.

Through the Department of Women Affairs, the ministry also maintains training and awareness infrastructure across districts and upazilas. That existing network can be used to provide education on online safety, consent and digital rights.

Where cases require content removal or investigation, district and upazila Women Affairs Officers connect survivors with the Police Cyber Support for Women unit and the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission’s content-removal process. The ministry does not investigate cybercrime itself, but aims to ensure that survivors do not have to navigate the system alone.

The meeting noted that Bangladesh’s digital transformation—including mobile banking, e-governance and a young population with strong internet skills—has been a major national achievement. However, participants stressed that a digital society cannot fully succeed if half its population must constantly navigate online spaces defensively because of safety risks.

As a next step, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will invite an initial group of interested member states to join as Friends of the Dialogue. A technical working group will then prepare a first reference document on shared definitions and standards for adoption by consensus among the Friends.