On Friday March 28th, Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice convened an expert roundtable exploring the effective and ethical use of technology in documenting sexual and gender-based crimes (SGBC). This event built on the momentum of the December 2024 ASP side event, which sparked significant interest in the further exploration of the potential and pitfalls of digital tools in SGBC investigations.

Over the past two decades, efforts to improve investigations of SGBC have led to key frameworks, such as the 2017 International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict and the 2022 Murad Code. 

While recent policies, like the 2022 Gender Strategy of the International, Impartial, and Independent Mechanism for Syria (IIIM), and the 2023 International Criminal Court (ICC) Office of the Prosecutor’s (OTP) Policy on Gender-based Crimes, address the incorporation of technology in SGBC investigations and consider related risks, concerns remain about SGBC-specific challenges, including the often private nature of sexual violence, unseen trauma, and societal stigma faced by survivors.

Recent research funded by the UK’s XCEPT research program has explored how technology can enhance SGBC investigations, identifying both benefits and challenges. Through interviews with practitioners, the research revealed that while technology improved the ability to document, in a digital and lasting manner, the experiences of a wider array of SGBC survivors in armed conflict and mass atrocity, challenges were also present, including security, data management, consent, and risks of artificial intelligence manipulation. 

The roundtable created a space for open, practice-oriented dialogue among legal practitioners, researchers, and gender justice advocates. Participants shared insights, challenges, and good practices.

Key themes explored included:
➡️ Digital best practices for survivor testimonial evidence
➡️ Case studies from Ukraine, Sierra Leone, and Iraq
➡️ Data storage and long-term evidence management
➡️ Open-source investigations into SGBC crimes

Prioritising Survivor-Centred, Ethical Approaches
The discussion reaffirmed that technological innovation must never come at the expense of survivor agency, dignity, or safety. Participants noted the tension between the rigid timelines of legal systems and the realities of delayed disclosure by survivors, underscoring the need for flexible, survivor-sensitive procedures. The conversation also highlighted the risks of technological imbalances exacerbating existing power asymmetries in justice processes, and the importance of ensuring that technology complements, rather than overrides, local justice efforts.

Global Lessons and Ethical Complexities
Drawing on experiences from Ukraine, Sierra Leone, Iraq, and beyond, participants discussed how technology can expand access to justice and visibility for SGBC crimes, while also presenting challenges related to data verification, consent, security, and long-term storage. The roundtable explored the risks of a “two-tier” justice system in which digital evidence may be inadmissible in local courts, leaving survivors’ testimonies vulnerable to exclusion.

Technology: Neither Neutral Nor Unproblematic
Reflecting on the rapidly evolving technological landscape, the roundtable recognised that technology itself is neither inherently good nor ba, but shaped by how, and by whom, it is used. Participants stressed the need for context-specific, ethically responsible approaches that prioritise survivor safety, autonomy, and long-term justice outcomes.

A Step Forward 
This event is part of our ongoing work to strengthen ethical and survivor-centred approaches to SGBC investigations. 

We thank all participants for their thoughtful and courageous contributions to this important dialogue. Their insights will continue to inform our work as we advocate for a gender-just world where digital innovation serves, rather than silences, survivors of gender-based crimes.

We thank our co-sponsors, the xCEPT project, the Embassy of Canada to the Netherlands, the Embassy of Chile to the Netherlands, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala, the Embassy of the United Kingdom to the Netherlands, and all participants for their thoughtful contributions to this important dialogue.