A/HRC/38/47 7. On 14 November 2017, in Geneva, the mandate holder attended the official launch by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women of its general recommendation No. 35 on gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19, in which the mandate holder actively participated upon invitation by the Committee. 8. On 22 November 2017, the Special Rapporteur, together with a group of independent human rights experts, marking the International Day on the Elimination of Violence against women, issued a call to eradicate gender-based violence against women, with a focus on sexual harassment and rape, urging States to update their national action plans in accordance with the new general recommendation adopted by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. 4 On 7 December, in order to mark the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence campaign and International Human Rights Day, the Special Rapporteur reiterated her call for the intensification of international, regional and national efforts to prevent femicide or gender-related killings of women, and for the worldwide adoption of a femicide watch or gender-related killings observatories.5 9. From 25 February to 2 March 2018, in Bogotá, Colombia, the Special Rapporteur attended the session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, at which she delivered a statement during a hearing on sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls in Central America. From 14 to 18 May, the Special Rapporteur, pursuant to her mandate, participated in the twenty-seventh session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, and attended different panel discussions on gender-based violence against women and femicide. 10. The Special Rapporteur conducted a country visit to the Bahamas from 11 to 15 December 2017 (see A/HRC/38/47/Add.2; see also Add.1) and to Canada from 11 to 23 April 2018. During the period under review, the Special Rapporteur addressed, including jointly with other mandate holders, a total of over 50 communications relating to issues falling within the scope of her mandate. The Special Rapporteur also issued several press releases and statements jointly with other human rights mechanisms. 11. On 23 November 2017, in follow-up to a previous letter dated 4 April 2017, the Special Rapporteur addressed a letter to the Director of UN-Women as administrator of the United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women, to initiate cooperation with the Trust Fund, as envisaged by the General Assembly in its resolution 50/166. III. Online violence against women6 A. Introduction 12. Online and ICT-facilitated forms of violence against women have become increasingly common, particularly with the use, every day and everywhere, of social media platforms and other technical applications (A/HRC/32/42 and Corr.1). In today’s digital age, the Internet and ICT are rapidly creating new social digital spaces and transforming how individuals meet, communicate and interact, and by this more generally, reshape society as a whole. This development is especially critical for new generations of girls and 4 5 6 4 OHCHR, “International Day on the Elimination of Violence against Women – 25 November”, press release, 22 November 2017. OHCHR, “16 Days of Advocacy on ending violence against women and International Human Rights Day”, press release, 7 December 2017. The present report was informed by inputs received from stakeholders pursuant to a call by the mandate holder for submissions, and a meeting, held on 16 and 17 January 2018, on due diligence to eliminate online violence against women, organized by the Due Diligence Project and the Association for Progressive Communications and hosted by the Global Women’s Institute of the George Washington University.