In the age of remote work and social distancing, new forms of harassment against journalists at large, and female journalists in particular, began to surface. Since the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, online harassment rates have gone up globally. According to a study by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University covering 125 countries, one in five respondents said online harassment was “much worse” after COVID-19.

The "I Will Not Stay Silent Coalition" came together to offer solutions to various forms of abuse of power and to work towards harnessing a safe, pluralistic, and diverse media environment that is free of discrimination.

The project seeks to achieve the highest principles of accountability within the journalistic community by:

The project is the first of its kind in the Arab region and targets its journalistic community comprehensively. The project aims to help break the silence towards all forms of abuse of power, including fraud, corruption, online harassment, and hate speech, through a series of online awareness activities, specialized training programs, and access to direct psychosocial and digital support.

The project scope hopes to cover the whole Arab world, with special emphasis on its journalistic community. We invite activists, researchers, media professionals, civil society institutions, and anyone interested in developing solutions to combat all forms of abuse of power, harassment and bullying, to actively sign up to our programs .