Journalists spend their lives reporting other people’s stories. They are the first ones on the ground, observing, recounting and risking their lives to record history for us. In conflict zones and repressive environments, these dangers are acute. But far less often do we get to hear journalists' own stories, the risks they face themselves in bringing us their stories, of confronting violence merely to tell the story of what is unfolding.
Across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, female journalists are increasingly the targets of and also a bulwark against technology-facilitated violence against women (TFVAW). For these journalists reporting from conflict zones or in fragile contexts, the pressures and dangers they face are multiplied.
This book is one attempt in enabling female journalists to tell their own stories, bringing together first-hand accounts from repressive environments, zones of conflict and fragility, where reporters are navigating the complexity of the digital information ecosystem to bring stories to light. These accounts form a tapestry of resistance and reckoning - not detached journalistic reports - but embodied testimonies, rendered through the eyes and voices of women who know, with intimate precision, the terrain of TFVAW. Emerging from within these narratives, the digital realm is not a neutral space of connection, but a volatile arena of surveillance, exposure, and control intersecting with state power and sociocultural norms.
This investigation reveals how female journalists are facing online threats, which sometimes force them to keep away from their place of work or even quit journalism altogether. The reason is that there is no policy of protection, either in the media organizations where they work or from the Egyptian Journalists' Syndicate, which is supposed to provide protection for media professionals. Our investigation also highlights the shortcomings in the union’s internal investigation system and shows that there is an institutional culture that sidelines whistleblowers instead of holding to account those guilty of abuse.
This investigation shows how the UNHCR fails to provide support to women suffering digital violence, since it does not classify this as a reportable form of gender-based violence, and, therefore, gives no protection to victims. The UNHCR’s latest funding shortfall has exacerbated matters, leaving women refugees and asylum-seekers who need such support at the mercy of those abusing and blackmailing them.
The report exposes the deliberate exclusion of women from internal elections conducted by tribes (Asha’er) in Jordan to select parliamentary candidates. These elections operate under mechanisms labeled as “democratic,” yet female candidates are systematically barred—all under the watch of government authorities.
The report exposes the deliberate exclusion of women from internal elections conducted by tribes (Asha’er) in Jordan to select parliamentary candidates. These elections operate under mechanisms labeled as “democratic,” yet female candidates are systematically barred—all under the watch of government authorities.
This report deals with the leaking of data found in Egyptian police reports of girls who have survived online violence, after they had filed cases against people blackmailing and harassing them online. As a result, the girls’ addresses came into the possession of these who later threatened them. This has made many girls reluctant to report the cyber violence they experienced to the police.
This report deals with the leaking of data found in Egyptian police reports of girls who have survived online violence, after they had filed cases against people blackmailing and harassing them online. As a result, the girls’ addresses came into the possession of these who later threatened them. This has made many girls reluctant to report the cyber violence they experienced to the police.
To download the full reports, click here.
These reports have been published under "I Will Not Stay Silent" project by ARIJ with the support of:
