Supporting Women Human Rights Defenders' advocacy is now more important than ever before.
As Anais from #NavegandoLibres puts it: "Funding #WHRDs means funding the fight for a dignified world... asking for our rights and dignity is never extreme." #TakeBackTechJoy #NoTechForWar @apc.org #16Days
Image of a woman looking at a computer with hate speech and surveillance eyes. Text: The name of the digital stalkers army working at the behest of the Zimbabwe regime is called ‘Varakashi’. When translated from Zimbabwe’s vernacular Shona language, this means ‘Digital Destroyers’. ‘Varakashi: Here and abroad, Zimbabwe´s state online-stalkers brigade hunts female prey’ Narratives of Power on GenderIT
Image of a woman looking at a computer with hate speech and surveillance eyes. Text: “Their job description is ruthless and clear-cut: to surveil dissidents at home and abroad, to disrupt social media or e-news sites debate, to sow rapid fire digital misinformation and suppress criticism of Zimbabwe’s governing regime.” Yasin Kakande Africanist, Zimbabwe expert and author.
The methods of the #Varakashi social media stalkers are both brazen and subtle. They are so adept [and] can quickly morph [identities], says a former digital #stalker working for Zimbabwe’s government.
Read here: genderit.org/feminist-tal...
#NarrativesOfPower #NoTechForWar #16Days
@apc.org
Can digital safety legislation be developed without relying on surveillance-heavy solutions?
Annex from @pollicy.bsky.social says: "Digital safety regulations are important [but] we recommend government bodies to employ a gender lens in [forming] these regulations." #16Days #NoTechForWar @apc.org
Image of people mobilising for Palestine. In the backdrop is a large wall or fort-like structure which is outlined. Text: “From childhood, we learn that Palestinians live a different reality from other people.”
Image of people mobilising for Palestine. Text: “One becomes accustomed to going through Israeli military checkpoints, being subjected to searches, harassment, arrests, tear gas firings and sounds of gunfire.”
Partial image of the outlined wall/fort-like structure. Text: “You inherit a level of trauma which, though normalised, grows with you and leaves a long-term impact.”
Partial image of people mobilising. Text: “We also carry a particular anxiety as women, doing the best we can while thinking of our family and of others around us, who may, for example, face some form of surveillance or intimidation from the IOF or be subjected to visa or residence permit denial…”
#WHRDVoices: Read the reflection of Mariam, a #Palestinian woman human rights defender, on the recent #Israeli colonial violence, the challenges, and what kept Palestinian human rights defenders going.
Now on #GenderITorg: genderit.org/Unyielding_A...
#16DaysOfActivism #NoTechForWar @apc.org
Illustration of a long-haired person holding up a signboard: We the people of India. Behind them is a fire.
Four panels of illustrations. Panel 1: A yelling mouth coming out of a phone screen with eyes on it. Panel 2: A figure surrounded by browser tabs filled with insults and hate speech. Panel 3: Two hands pointing towards a figure on the corner. Part 4: A phone with text on the screen: Lock your profile. Social media icons and text bubbles coming out of it.
A browser tab with web address: http://shameladyboy.sendthreats.com The screen is divided into multiple panels with eyes, figures of women, hate speech, and sexual advertisements.
Browser tab with the same web address. Text: “The act of voicing dissent, engaging in political praxis, or even articulating alternative ideas has historically entailed significant socio-political risks… leaving them more vulnerable in a world governed by the digital.” Under digital siege: How marginalised genders survive online stalking in India
“The moment an opinion divulges from the status quo, their personal identity becomes a weapon for character assassination.”
Have you seen this happen around you? #India
Read on @GenderITorg: genderit.org/feminist-tal...
#NoTechForWar #NarrativesOfPower @apc.org
On #WorldDisabilityDay, read about the human cost of RSF’s monopoly on Sudanese communications.
Aid groups, community kitchens and emergency response rooms struggle to deploy resources where they’re most needed. #NoTechForWar #16Days
Read @apc.org #GenderITorg: genderit.org/feminist-tal...
Illustration of a woman working on a computer. In the background are windows opening up to a warscape. Text: “What we saw during the last war, particularly the escalation, was that there were warning signs for people who work on documenting violence, that if you’re documenting what’s going on in the ground, you may become a target.” — Ramzi Kaiss, a researcher with Human Rights Watch (on the war in Lebanon)
Illustration of a window opening up to a warscape. Text: Kaiss has been a part of multiple HRW investigations documenting Israel’s targeted technology-driven location attacks on media and aid workers in Lebanon in the last 15 months, including the one that killed Najjar, Reda and Qassem last October. Israel has consistently denied HRW’s investigations, calling them false.
Illustration of a window opening up to a warscape. Text: Women media workers in Lebanon have historically faced discrimination and harassment within close quarters, especially the Lebanese political parties. The recent past has seen Lebanese women journalists being compelled to flee the country, or being imprisoned for their work.
“In a country like Lebanon, where, already in peace times, there exists discriminatory laws against women, especially ones that don’t protect them from physical and sexual abuse, reporting on war becomes even more challenging for women.” This post has been adapted from a collection on militarisation and technology by Safety For Voices.
Women journalists and human rights defenders working in Lebanese frontlines face higher risks of cyber violence.
“The idea [behind repression] is to silence journalists [and] stop reporting on violations [or]corruption.” #NoTechForWar
Read on GenderITorg: genderit.org/feminist-tal...
@apc.org
It matters now, more than ever, to secure civic participation of women human rights defenders #WHRDs
@takebackthetech.bsky.social 👇
www.apc.org/en/news/note...
#NoTechForWar #TechBackTechJoy #16Days
Central image of a woman speaking on a phone with a mass of people around her. Text: “It’s not just about politics. It’s about humiliation. They turn our private lives into weapons.” How surveillance became a political strategy in Ethiopia
Image on the side of people milling about. Their eyes are completely white and screen-like. Text: Surveillance in Ethiopia has evolved beyond a mere function of the state. (and deployed against women, its effects are particularly devastating.)
Image on the bottom left corner of people with screen-like eyes peeking out. Text: Tools once reserved for military intelligence—call interception, movement tracking, metadata harvesting—are now used to intimidate, humiliate, and silence women human rights defenders (WHRDs).
Image on the bottom of a group of people with screen-like eyes. Text: This ecosystem thrives on fear. Surveillance doesn’t merely extract information—it amplifies vulnerability, intersecting with deep-rooted misogyny, stigma, and social exclusion. This post has been adapted from a collection on militarisation and technology by Safety For Voices.
Personal phone calls, once assumed private, frequently surface on social media in Ethiopia.
These leaks rarely come from formal institutions. Instead, they’re disseminated by quasi-influencers and government-aligned digital actors. #NoTechForWar
On GenderIT @apc.org: genderit.org/edition/focu...
On a dark purple background are surveillance icons and "16 Days of Activism" is on the top left corner. The central image is of diverse women holding glowing tech devices, surrounded by flowers. Text in the middle: Networking resistance #NoTechForWar
Across the globe, Women Human Rights Defenders organise for justice & equality.
#WHRDs face intense attacks — disinformation, surveillance, stalking — but continue the work in a remarkable display of hope & care.
So even as we say #NoTechForWar, we continue to #TakeBackTechJoy! [1/2] @apc.org
