A/HRC/38/47 against Women. According to article 4 (c) of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, States should exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and punish acts of violence against women. 63. Under its general recommendation No. 35 (2017), the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women recommended that States encourage the private sector, including businesses and transnational corporations, to take all appropriate measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination, including violence against women, and to take responsibility for any forms of violence. It follows that online and social media should be encouraged to create or strengthen mechanisms focusing on the eradication of gender stereotypes, and to end any gender-based violence committed on their platforms. 64. The fact that violations are perpetrated beyond the territorial limits and jurisdiction of States also make it difficult for authorities, including law enforcement agencies, to identify, investigate, prosecute perpetrators and provide remedies for survivors of genderbased violence. It may also require extraterritorial cooperation between States. 36 65. More specifically, States obligations concern a number of key areas, as described below.37 (a) Prevention 66. Prevention includes measures to provide awareness of ICT-facilitated violence against women and girls as forms of violence against women, as well as to establish and provide information on services and legal protection available to stop violations and to prevent their reoccurrence. States have an obligation to take all steps necessary to prevent human rights violations perpetrated abroad by Internet intermediaries over which they exercise influence, whether by regulatory means or by the use of incentives.38 (b) Protection 67. The obligation to protect victims of online violence against women encompasses the establishment of procedures for the immediate removal of gender-based harmful content through the elimination of the original material or its distribution. Protection also requires immediate judicial action in the form of national court orders and the prompt intervention of Internet intermediaries and, occasionally, may also require extraterritorial cooperation. 39 It includes the provision of accessible services for survivors, such as legal aid services. Protection also includes the obligation of States to take positive action to eradicate all forms of violence, including manifestations of online violence, even where an individual has not come forward to make a complaint (for example, in the case of online forums generally advocating for violence against women). 40 (c) Prosecution 68. Prosecution consists in the investigation of and instituting of proceedings against perpetrators. Law enforcement bodies often trivialize online violence against women, and their actions are unfortunately often characterized by a victim-blaming attitude when dealing with these cases. The result of this attitude is a culture of silence and underreporting where women victims are reluctant to speak out for fear of being blamed. Even when women victims succeed in reporting a case and having it investigated, they encounter 36 37 38 39 40 14 See Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women general recommendation No. 35. See Zarizana Abdul Aziz and Janine Moussa, “Due Diligence Framework: State Accountability for Eliminating Violence against Women”, Due Diligence Project, 2014; Zarizana Abdul Azis, “Due Diligence and Accountability for Online Violence against Women”, APC Issue Papers, 2017; and Internet Governance Forum, best practice forum on gender access, 2016. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women general recommendation No. 35. See for example the case of Sabu Mathew George v. Union of India and Others, Supreme Court of India, 13 December 2017. See “‘Incel’: Reddit bans misogynist men’s group blaming women for their celibacy”, Guardian, 8 November 2017.