Yemen: Authorities and Meta must address online gender-based violence

6 November 2024

Authorities in Yemen are failing to address gender-based online blackmail and harassment on Facebook, to protect women's right to privacy in online spaces and to provide redress to survivors said Amnesty International. The organization added that these assaults are taking place in the context of Meta's lack of sufficient preventative action around online protection.

Amnesty International examined the cases of seven women subjected to technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TfGBV) on Facebook between 2019 and 2023 in Aden, Ta'iz and Sana'a governorates. These women faced online blackmail and harassment involving the non-consensual sharing of images or sensitive information, violating their right to privacy. None of the women knew how to report a complaint on Facebook to remove the abusive content.

"Women in Yemen have long been subjected to systemic discrimination and endemic violence with devastating consequences for their lives. This is now compounded by online gender-based violence amid the authorities' lack of action.

Diala Haidar, Amnesty International's Yemen Researcher

"Women in Yemen have long been subjected to systemic discrimination and endemic violence with devastating consequences for their lives. This is now compounded by online gender-based violence amid the authorities' lack of action. The Yemeni authorities including the government, the Huthi de facto authorities and the Sothern Transitional Council must take concrete and swift action to address gender-based violence online, as part of eliminating all forms of discrimination and violence against women," said Diala Haidar, Amnesty International's Yemen Researcher.

"Meta must also introduce measures to improve awareness among its users of individual security and privacy on Facebook across all markets, including Yemen, and must ensure that reporting mechanisms are accessible and culturally sensitive."

Six out of the seven women Amnesty International spoke to had reported the abuse to police, despite numerous barriers in seeking justice, including fear of being shamed or subjected to violence by family members, stigmatization and demands for bribes from authorities to pursue their cases. Out of the six complaints reported to the police, four reached the trial stage out of which only one perpetrator was convicted and ordered to pay compensation to the survivor.

Amnesty International sent letters to the Yemeni authorities on 13 and 14 August 2024, and to Meta on 15 August 2024 requesting a response to its findings and recommendations. On 29 August, Meta responded saying that they are unable to respond within the stipulated timeline and shared links to publicly available company policies. No response was received from the Yemeni authorities at the time of publication.

Multifaceted harms: "My life was completely destroyed"

The women were mostly targeted by someone they knew, including friends, classmates, or current or former partners. Abusers sought to extort money or to coerce survivors into an intimate relationship or to prevent them from exposing the online abuse.

Two of the women interviewed were subjected to online harassment and five faced blackmailed online. The perpetrators threatened to post or share pictures on Facebook showing the women with or without a hijab or niqab (face covering), revealing parts of their body, or fabricated images depicting them in the company of men to whom they were not related. In the Yemeni context, such images are considered "shameful" and pose risks to the safety of these women.

One of the survivors, who used to own a beauty salon in Aden governorate, told Amnesty International:

"He [the blackmailer] created Facebook pages and posted my pictures and fabricated pictures. From that day, my life was completely destroyed. I started psychological treatment and of course, my relationship with my husband's family, my family and most of my friends was destroyed. I did not go back to my job…I became an outcast from society and my career that I built for 11 years was destroyed."

Several women told Amnesty International they were too scared to inform their families of the abuse fearing shame, blame and further physical or emotional abuse from their relatives.

All seven women interviewed reported deep psychological harm, including fear, anxiety, paranoia, depression, isolation and suicidal thoughts. One woman said she attempted suicide as a result of the abuse.

Barriers to accessing justice

The survivors interviewed by Amnesty International are rare examples of women who filed criminal complaints against perpetrators despite the prevailing culture of shaming and blaming survivors in Yemen which usually deters women from taking legal action against perpetrators.

Even though some governorates have specialized cybercrimes units including in Sana'a, Aden, Hadramout and Ta'iz, only one woman interviewed was aware of the existence of this unit.

Two survivors who filed criminal complaints in Ta'iz and Aden governorates described how police officers and members of the prosecution blamed them for being targeted. One woman said the prosecutor insulted her and said she had exposed herself to blackmail pointing to her embellished abaya and long nails as evidence.

Three women survivors told Amnesty International that they had to pay bribes to police officers and prosecutors in order to get them to investigate the complaints they had filed.

Yemen lacks a comprehensive legislative framework and policy measures which recognize, prevent, investigate and address all forms of TfBGV. Instead, prosecutors and judges resort to Criminal Code provisions that do not specifically reference online crimes, complicating prosecution and giving judges more discretion not to pursue such cases.

Meta's shortcomings in addressing TfGBV

None of the women interviewed knew how to report the abusive posts or fake accounts to Facebook and so turned to SANAD, a local digital rights initiative, to help remove the content from Facebook.

Although SANAD helped these women remove the abusive content, its co-founder, Fahmi al-Baheth, explained that responding to complaints can take time, in part due to a lack of cultural understanding, particularly regarding sensitive issues like photos of women without their hijab. He said:

"Even if we report a case to Meta, their team gets back to us with no understanding of the Yemeni context. They do not understand that images posted online of women without a hijab can create problems for them."

"Under international human rights standards, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Meta has a responsibility to respect human rights globally. It must empower users with robust privacy tools and adapt its policies to reflect cultural contexts, including by strengthening country-specific expertise in content moderation and engaging civil society voices in Yemen in meaningful ways,"

Diala Haidar, Amnesty International's Yemen Researcher

"Under international human rights standards, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Meta has a responsibility to respect human rights globally. It must empower users with robust privacy tools and adapt its policies to reflect cultural contexts, including by strengthening country-specific expertise in content moderation and engaging civil society voices in Yemen in meaningful ways," said Diala Haidar.

Background

Between 2023 and April 2024, the Yemeni Organization for Development and Exchange of Technology (Yodet) recorded 115 cases of online blackmail, mostly targeting women. By mid-2023, SANAD said they were receiving at least four daily cases of online blackmail, with 95% of survivors being women.

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