Parliamentarians For Change, Co-hosted by RGF & Alþingi in partnership with IPU

Combatting AI-enabled violence against women in politics: Parliaments at the forefront of collective action!

This session is by invitation only

Background

Every year, Reykjavik Global and the Parliament of Iceland extend invitations to Speakers of Parliaments worldwide, inviting them to set up a delegation to participate in the Reykjavík Global Forum (RGF). This year the Forum takes place on 15–17 November 2026 in Iceland under the heading "Power, Together for Community." Members of Parliament and other experts attending the Forum are invited to a private roundtable titled "Parliamentarians for Change!", co-hosted by Reykjavik Global and the Parliament of Iceland, in partnership with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

This year's conversation focuses on AI-enabled violence against women in politics,  part of the wider pattern of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV), where AI is increasing the scale and accessibility of such harms. According to the IPU's 2026 report on political violence against parliamentarians, 76% of women MPs surveyed reported experiencing online violence, compared with 68% of men, with women disproportionately targeted by gendered and sexualized attacks on their competence, credibility, and right to lead. IPU's 2025 Asia-Pacific study found 60% of women MPs had faced online hate speech, disinformation, image-based abuse, or doxing. Non-consensual intimate imagery, including AI-generated deepfakes, is one of the clearest examples of this shift: UN Women reports that 98% of deepfake videos online are pornographic, with women accounting for 99% of those targeted, and a convincing deepfake can now be produced from around 20 photographs in 15 minutes. This violence compounds the existing barriers to women's political representation at a moment when progress on parity has nearly stalled: women hold just 27.5% of seats in national parliaments worldwide, only 2 percentage points higher than five years ago.

Objectives

• Build a shared understanding of how AI is changing the scale, speed, and reach of technology-facilitated violence against women in politics, and what this means for parity in political representation

• Identify priorities parliaments can act on directly: legislation, oversight, budget, and institutional protection, grounded in a human-rights-based, gender-responsive, and intersectional approach

• Define where parliaments, governments, tech platforms, civil society, and academia can coordinate more closely, including across jurisdictions

Concept

The roundtable will bring together MPs and experts on gender-based violence from around the world under the theme "Parliamentarians for Change." The aim is to build meaningful connections between MPs, and to give them the opportunity to share insights, explore current challenges, and discuss how women leaders can be part of the solution. It is also a chance for MPs to meet experts from other sectors, including tech platforms, business, civil society, and academia, so each side can better understand the other's ideas for solutions. Key takeaways will be shared with the group after the Forum concludes.

Format

The session takes the form of interactive roundtables. Tables work through a practical conversation on the action needed from parliaments and other actors, and where closer cooperation is needed. Each table reports back its main points. The conversation and guiding questions have been developed together with the session's partners.