This week at the 70th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, UK Special Envoy for Gender Equality, Baroness Harriet Harman, announced the launch of a Global Consultation towards developing a Model National Framework on Non-Consensual Intimate Images (NCII). Alongside partners from the Governments of Australia, Kenya and Spain, the UK, as co-chair of the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse (Global Partnership), kicked off the next stage of a process to build on common standards for tackling adult image-based sexual abuse at a high-level side event coordinated with UN Women, UNFPA, the UN Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and SWGfL, home to the UK Revenge Porn Helpline and StopNCII.org.
Why a Model National Framework for NCII?
The threat or sharing of NCII is a rapidly growing form of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV), that is intensified by generative AI and operates across borders. While many countries and regional bodies are beginning to enact laws and policies to recognise NCII as a crime and regulate industry’s role in the production, dissemination and monetisation of adult image-based sexual abuse, protections are inconsistent and fragmented, and accountability for individual offenders and the tech sector are lacking. Survivors often face unclear reporting routes, slow or non-responsive engagement from industry regarding image removal, and limited access to justice. The Model National Framework seeks to change that.
The UK Government - co-chair of the Global Partnership- has collaborated with UN Women, UNODC, and SWGfL to develop a preliminary blueprint for a Model National Framework for Addressing Non-Consensual Intimate Images. Recognising that countries operate within diverse political, economic, and cultural contexts, it outlines core capabilities and promising practices across multiple sectors that governments, practitioners, and industry stakeholders may consider when developing or strengthening national responses and enhancing international coordination, including implementation of Article 16 of the UN Convention on Cybercrime.
Developing the Preliminary Blueprint for a Model National Framework on NCII
The CSW70 launch of the Global Consultation for a Model National Framework on NCII marks a key milestone in the movement to tackle TFGBV by accelerating international standards to prevent and respond to adult image-based sexual abuse. It builds on a 6-month process of initial multistakeholder consultations, starting with the London NCII Summit last September, which convened policymakers, regulators, tech leaders, law enforcement, and survivor advocates to discuss shared goals for victim support and the need for greater alignment between industry responses, survivor needs for swift image removal, and regulatory requirements.
Throughout the last several months, 
SWGfL facilitated an expert working group to develop the preliminary blueprint for the Model National Framework that will serve as the foundation for global consultation. Co-chaired by UN Women and UNODC, the expert working group convened a diverse coalition of practitioners (including NGO members of the Global Clearing Centre on NCII), civil society advocates, survivors, researchers, government and multilateral organisations, representing Africa, Asia, the Americas, Australia and Europe. Last month, at the UNODC headquarters in Vienna, the expert working group met in-person to discuss the draft preliminary blueprint and refine core elements across legislation, criminal justice, victim support, prevention, industry responsibilities and research.
Alongside the working group, SWGfL convened StopNCII industry partners for a series of listening sessions on combatting adult image-based sexual abuse across the tech ecosystem, from social media platforms, to AI developers and deployers, cloud providers, payment processors and search engines, each with a unique role to play.
Centering survivor voices, expertise and experiences is at the heart of the effort to develop a Model National Framework, including drafting the preliminary blueprint. To complement the working group, SWGfL partnered with #NotYourPorn, a survivor-led advocacy organization campaigning for stronger protections for NCII in the UK, to hold a series of in-depth interviews with lived experience experts who shared their insights on current gaps between the laws that exist to address digital abuse, and the realities women and girls face online. Partners from #NotYourPorn joined the Vienna workshop and traveled to New York for the CSW70 launch.
What’s Next?
Throughout 2026, the UK government, working in concert with the Global Partnership, UN partners and SWGfL, will drive a global consultative process to further refine and build consensus towards the development of the NCII Model National Framework. This process will draw on multisectoral expertise to strengthen rights???based, survivor???centred, and evidence???informed global standards for preventing and responding to adult image-based sexual abuse. For those of us working daily with victims and survivors of NCII, this moment is significant. It reflects a shift from reactive support to proactive, international standard-setting,a long overdue recognition of the very real harms and profound impacts stemming from digital abuse. We invite you to join us.
Read the full working text of the NCII Model National Framework here.
Register your interest to receive updates on the consultation, opportunities to contribute, and future drafts of the Model National Framework here.
