A/HRC/40/35 to several cases where online attacks had threatened the lives of women human rights defenders. For instance, following a series of online attacks in Viet Nam, environmental activist Le My Hanh was physically assaulted in 2017; a video featuring the attack was disseminated on social media. In India, Gauri Lankesh, a journalist who had published criticism of Hindu extremism, was killed in 2017 following widespread online calls for violence against her. Her colleague Rana Ayyub had previously been subjected to thousands of hate-filled messages, including calls for her to be gang-raped and murdered; her phone number and home address were disseminated. In Italy, the Speaker of Parliament, Laura Boldrini, faced death threats and threats of sexual torture. 7. The High Commissioner noted the importance of a multifaceted response to violence faced by women online, one that would involve States and corporate actors. Despite some initiatives taken by social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to regulate online violence, standards were privately established, rarely made public and inconsistently enforced. The High Commissioner reinforced the call of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression for the need to implement human rights standards transparently and consistently, with meaningful user and civil society input, and to provide a framework for holding both States and companies accountable to users across national borders. He stressed that international human rights law could provide the firm ground of universally accepted norms and for effective actions and accountability in that context. Finally, the High Commissioner reported that his Office had begun to work with technology companies to address threats and violence, and to implement the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. B. Overview of presentations 8. The moderator, Ms. Šimonović, introduced the panel and recalled that the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women had been established to address violence against women as a human rights violation. She echoed the High Commissioner’s point that while technological development had opened many doors for women, at the same time it was a source of new forms of oppression and discrimination. Ms. Šimonović stressed the necessity of ensuring that women’s rights were protected, both offline and online, taking into consideration heightened risks for women human rights defenders, politicians and journalists. She added that human rights mechanisms would be able to provide further guidance in that regard. 9. Reflecting on her report on online violence against women and girls (A/HRC/38/47), Ms. Šimonović emphasized the importance of adopting a rights-based approach in addressing the new forms of violence. Finally, she noted that those manifestations of violence should be understood within the larger context of worldwide systemic inequalities and gender-based discrimination. 10. Ms. Akiwowo explained that she had founded Glitch!UK as a non-profit organization in 2017 in response to the attacks and harassment she suffered after a video featuring her speaking at the European Youth Parliament was posted on the Internet. She pointed out five myths commonly used to deny online violence against women and its harmful impact. The first myth was the assumption that online violence against women and girls did not exist. Ms. Akiwowo drew on her personal experience as evidence that it did. In Europe, 9 million girls had experienced online violence, while globally women were 27 times more likely than men to be harassed online. Women with multiple identities faced additional abuse, as evidenced by the fact that women of African descent faced rates of online violence that were 10 times higher than other women. 11. The second myth was that by addressing online violence, the individual’s right to freedom of expression was infringed. Ms. Akiwowo deconstructed the point by clarifying that online hateful acts and words aimed at undermining the freedom of expression of women and girls and to force them to conform to patriarchy and self-censorship. The third myth was that online violence had no harmful impact on women and girls. Ms. Akiwowo stressed that online violence affected various aspects of women’s and girls’ lives, including their health and well-being, and hindered the enjoyment of women’s freedom of speech and 3