TRAcking and Countering Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence through Evidence-based Approaches across the Conflict–Refuge Continuum in Europe

TRACE builds the first systematic evidence base on technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TF-GBV) across conflict, displacement, and refuge settings. TF-GBV refers to acts of gender-based violence committed, assisted, or aggravated through digital technologies. Despite growing recognition as a major challenge, the transnational and cumulative dynamics of TF-GBV in contexts of conflict and forced migration remain under-researched. TRACE addresses this gap by examining how digital infrastructures facilitate and amplify GBV and by generating tools to prevent, recognise, and respond to these harms.The project examines how perpetrators weaponise digital technologies to target, harm, and control displaced populations, for whom technology can be both vital and dangerous. Using a mixed-method, interdisciplinary design, TRACE combines AI-enabled pattern recognition, legal analysis, and survivor-centred qualitative research across seven countries. The consortium unites 15 partners, including universities, legal practitioners, humanitarian actors, and survivor-led organisations.TRACE pursues four objectives: (1) to develop systematic frameworks for TF-GBV across the conflict–displacement–refuge continuum; (2) to generate cross-context datasets on experiences, patterns, and institutional responses; (3) to test whether TF-GBV manifests as a cumulative, transnational phenomenon requiring coordinated legal, policy, and technological solutions; and (4) to translate findings into policy tools that strengthen survivor protection and platform regulation.TRACE introduces a dual-continuum model: the conflict–displacement–refuge continuum, tracing digital harms across time and space, and the online–offline continuum, capturing how virtual and physical violence intersect. Findings will support EU implementation of the Istanbul Convention and Directive (EU) 2024/1069, producing early-warning typologies, survivor guidance, and frameworks for institutional and platform reform.