Commissioner for the Protection of Equality Brankica Janković participated in the Serbian Internet Governance Forum (IGF Serbia 2024), where experts, representatives of the government, business, and civil society discussed how the Global Digital Agreement initiative, together with other directives and laws from this area, will influence the future of the digital world and the economy. A special focus was on freedom of data management, human rights online, and the development of artificial intelligence.

At the panel “Digital rights and freedoms. Dignity of the individual in the digital age”, the Commissioner presented the activities and practices of the institution of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality in this area. She stated that during 2023, the Commissioner received complaints from several civil society organizations regarding discriminatory content on certain internet portals, and several persons turned to the institution for protection from digital violence, including revenge pornography and unauthorized use of sexually explicit content. Most of these cases were forwarded to the competent authorities, and an amendment of the Criminal Code was initiated to improve the legal protection of victims.

The Commissioner emphasized that from the aspect of equality protection, a huge problem is the increasing presence of hate speech and harassment, humiliating treatment, and sexual and gender-based harassment as a form of digital abuse against entire social groups. Janković said that these phenomena should be approached systematically through data collection and analysis to understand their nature and prevalence of these phenomena, stating that the institution of the Commissioner is planning additional steps towards better regulation and a more effective fight against hate speech, both in the media and on the internet. Also, the Commissioner reminded of the importance of education and raising awareness among citizens and youth with the aim of protecting dignity in the digital space. As examples of good practice and joint action towards that goal, the Commissioner cited the campaign “Body right – your body is yours, both online and in the real world”, which the Commissioner is implementing with UNFPA in Serbia, as well as continuous training for journalists on anti-discriminatory reporting and the annual media award for texts and contributions on the topic of equality and tolerance, which is the result of cooperation between the Commissioner and the OSCE Mission in Serbia.

IGF Serbia 2024 was organized by the Register of National Internet Domains of Serbia (RNIDS), and the co-organizers of the forum were the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications, the Diplo Foundation, the Internet Society of Serbia, Belgrade branch, and the Gransy company, with the support of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality and the Cyber ​​Security Network.