From survivor-centred prevention to trailblazing research, we confront the digital gender-based violence that silences women and shrinks civic space.
Digital GBV is a human rights violation that harms individuals and communities—silencing women and shrinking civic space. Across MENA, we’ve supported frontline organizations and targeted groups, including female journalists, civic and political leaders, and activists, to confront digital GBV. We’ve helped catalyze organizations working on the front lines to combat online GBV. Since 2022, our Salam@ team has convened locally-driven research on the psychosocial and legal dimensions of digital GBV across nearly every MENA country—often producing first-ever national datasets, while significantly expanding the world’s Arabic-language research library on digital GBV.
Digital GBV Stories
Novel to Newsroom: Four Iraqi Students Explore the World of Digital Harm
How four Iraqi students transformed youth fiction about online life into published media commentary on digital identity, memory, beauty and violence.
How Women Across MENA Pioneered a Regional Response to Digital Violence
What began seven years ago as an effort to understand digital violence against women has evolved into a region-spanning community of researchers, practitioners, and organizations driving lasting change.
Page to Stage: Youth Novel About Digital Dangers Inspires Theatre and Debate
At Jordan's Jubilee Institute, a novel about online identity, pressure, and harm inspired a rich student-led day of theatre, debate, and dialogue.
Empowering Jordan’s Next Generation to Respond to Digital Violence Against Women
From teaching guides to moot courts and podcasts, a pilot project in Jordan is testing how universities can help future professionals understand, document, argue, report on, and respond to digital violence against women.
Moot Court, Real Stakes: Jordan’s Future Lawyers Tackle Digital Violence Against Women and Girls
For two days in April, law students from 10 Jordanian universities argued the same fictional case of digital GBV — and the Ministry of Justice was watching.
Digital Shadows: Testing a Novel Approach to Digital Safety for Girls Across MENA
Across the Middle East and North Africa, Meriem Noumeur's novel is opening conversations with girls about online identity, pressure, trust, manipulation — and learning to stay safe.
Synergy in Action: Strengthening Jordan’s Response to Digital Violence Against Women
When a group of institutions stopped working in silos and started coordinating as a national community, they helped women reach safer, more consistent support—faster.
Patchwork To Pathways: Learning to Support Iraqi Women Facing Digital Violence
With digital violence against women surging, an Iraqi organization worked with partners to build a durable response—intake, documentation, referrals, and outreach—so survivors can get the support they need.
Myanmar’s Digital Resistance: Ingenuity Under Repression
Even as Myanmar’s military tries to control online space, people on the ground keep adapting. Five studies map the creative resilience behind their organizing, fundraising, and survival.
MENA Team Embraces 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence
During this year's 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, our Salam@ MENA team advanced the global fight by celebrating research advances, co-launching two books and helping to amplify women's voices.
Publications
DVAW in Conflict Zones in the Middle East and North Africa
Targeted Identities: Online Harassment of LGBTQ Individuals in Myanmar
Silenced with a Click: Digital Violence Against Female Candidates in Jordan
Digital Threat Analysis of Egyptian Women’s Organizations
Debunking Myths: Counter-Narratives in the Fight Against Gender-Based Violence in Myanmar
Jordan’s Cybercrime Law: Balancing Protection and Freedom of Expression
Digital Violence Against Women in Mauritania
Militarized Masculinity: Gender Narratives Among Armed Resistance Groups in Myanmar
Not Your Body, Not Your Business: Non-Consensual Pornography
Digital Violence Against Women in Yemen: Legal and Institutional Context
