The Epidemic Of Digital Violence Against Syrian Women And Girls
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A device repair workshop in the Idlib Governorate in 2024, run by Equity & Empowerment and the Imran Association for Development. Equity & Empowerment The photo seemed harmless enough: it showed a female doctor in Northwest Syria. But what was especially significant for some viewers was what the photo didn’t include: a hijab covering the woman’s head. The photo was posted online by a user operating a fake account. The following day, in a so-called “honor killing,” the doctor’s brother murdered her in public. This woman was a victim of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV). This unwieldy term may not be used widely. But most women have experienced it, even if they haven’t framed it to themselves as violence. Most have also not reported it. It’s so pervasive and dismissed, and typically less dramatic than the Syrian doctor’s case, that it can feel futile to bother mentioning it. A recent report by three organizations—humanitarian research organization ACAPS, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency UNFPA, and the Global Protection Cluster network of humanitarian organizations—shows how frequent and damaging this digital violence is in Northwest Syria. It’s mainly motivated by “financial and sexual exploitation, revenge, coercion, defamation or reputational harm, or simply to threaten, cause harm to, or harass the targeted individual,” according to the report. “This shows that TFGBV is almost always intended to cause severe real-life consequences and should not be underestimated as a purely online phenomenon.” Though this latest report focuses on Northwest Syria, the problem is not limited to one region, or even to one country, says Diana Garde, who led the Arab States Regional Office Hub for the UNFPA Syria response before moving to focus on Sudan. TFGBV likely exists anywhere in the world, particularly where vulnerability is intensified by hunger, conflict, or poverty, combined with manmade…
