Ethiopia is grappling with a series of consecutive wars, starting from the one in Tigray, the northern part of the country, in 2020, which also impacted neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara, where the impact requires immediate action. The situation in the country has never been the same since. As the war continues, the situation in Tigray has deescalated after the remarkable agreement between two warring parties signed on November 3rd, 2022, in Pretoria, South Africa. However, it is devastating to see the impact of the war leaving its scars in the region.
One of the severe repercussions of the war that was overwhelmingly reported but still being sidelined by the government and responsible entities is that of gender-based violence (GBV). Due to the complexity of the country’s status amid the escalation, the issue is also equally multifaceted.
UN Women defines technology-facilitated gender-based violence as, "any act that is committed or amplified using digital tools or technologies causing physical, sexual, psychological, social, political, or economic harm to women and girls because of their gender. These forms of violence are part of a larger pattern of violence against women, occurring online and offline, including intimate image abuse, doxing (revealing personal information), trolling (online harassment), and the sharing of deep fake images. It also encompasses misogynistic hate speech and efforts to silence and discredit women online, including threats of offline violence."
A full-scale war typically involves the deployment of ground forces, naval units, and air strikes, but in the context of Ethiopia, the ongoing conflicts also utilise cyberspace as a technological facilitator of violence, representing a fourth dimension of warfare. As a result of weaponising online platforms, it also exacerbates Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) which puts the already vulnerable segments of society even more at risk.
Years into the bloody conflict in Ethiopia, with various episodes of hostilities throughout the country, first in Tigray and currently in the two most populous regions, Amhara and Oromia, civilians are being impacted on a daily basis, and women and children are brutally assaulted according to various reports. On top of the severity of the problem, when it is coupled with technology, gender-based violence becomes deeper and more meticulous.
A full-scale war typically involves the deployment of ground forces, naval units, and air strikes, but in the context of Ethiopia, the ongoing conflicts also utilise cyberspace as a technological facilitator of violence, representing a fourth dimension of warfare.
Misinformation and disinformation prevail and reach new heights whenever conflict erupts in the country, further escalating hostility. The widespread dissemination of information disorder throughout the nation makes it very difficult to mitigate the problem, worsening the situation on the ground. Fact-checkers are limited in number and resources, and there is recklessness on the part of law enforcement, which is unable to detect the actors actively engaged in inciting violence online.
As a result, it has been challenging for independent investigators, concerned organisations, and the government to assess the situation and obtain genuine information to intervene and address the problem. Moreover, women from war-affected areas are primarily targeted by technology-facilitated violence, and the information disorder severely impacts them both physically and psychologically.
Understanding Multifaceted TFGBV Amid the Escalation
The complex political dynamics and the deteriorating security situation of the country play a pivotal role in worsening GBV in the country, and when it comes to technology facilitated gender based violence (TFGBV), the issue becomes even more complex. The fact is that different forms of propaganda-infused dehumanisation of victims of war is mostly performed in online spaces using various social media platforms. Case in point a lawyer in Kenya has sued META for contributing to the escalation of the war in Ethiopia by refusing to take down inflammable contents. What made the problem more sophisticated is the fact that the digital world has no location barriers, it can involve anyone with an internet connection and interest in Ethiopian politics. Not necessarily, these individuals or organisations have a stake in Ethiopia’s future, nor do they need to be citizens but have access to the politics of Ethiopia to actively engage in the situation, often with obliviousness to human life, which directly aggravates gender-based violence on the ground as they fuel the hostilities in the country. The complexity of the issue makes it challenging to pinpoint, particularly because several human rights organisations tend to overlook the role of technology in promoting violence. From their perspective, they perceive technologically advanced weaponry as the primary cause of casualties, rather than recognizing the underlying discourse that drives such violence.
Though multiple reports vividly reveal cases of GBVs in various parts of the country, notably where dreadful war takes place, the impact of TFGBV is not mentioned or decried by the human rights organisations locally or internationally. Furthermore, the dis and misinformation with regard to GBV misled the stakeholders from centering the crisis as part of the emergency response.
Meseret Ali, a human rights advocate who had spoken to GBV survivors across the country, says, that the cyber plays an equal role in the actual war alongside a rifle, tank, or other heavy artillery ground force, or any other forms of adversary to commit, to overlook, or to reshape facts. As an active social media user and critical observer of the dynamics of the social media campaign, Meseret sees the impact of technology on GBV. When it comes to TFGBV in Ethiopia, it TFGBV in Ethiopia takes multiple forms and is intertwined with various circumstances and actors with different socio-political and economical interests in the region. In this regard, Meseret speaks about the moment when the online violence escalated during the war, “[tech facilitated] GBV also escalates accordingly.” According to Meseret, “The fact that due to the traffic that was generated by the social media campaigns, news by multiple media outlets, statements from the government, the rebels, the international community, opinion pieces, propaganda by waring parties etc, cases of gender based violence, sometimes as it happens online, get overlooked or intentionally pushed back or used for political purposes, leading to potential change in narratives.”
TFGBV in the time of war severely impacts the lives of survivors of war who are already living under uncertain and unprecedented violent times. This is particularly seen when survivors’ photos start circulating on various social media platforms without their consent, causing stress as their suffering is used to bully and shame them, further retraumatising them by making them relive that horrible experience, leading to well-researched implications of cyber harassment, including social isolation, and in worst cases, suicide.
The fact that due to the traffic that was generated by the social media campaigns, news by multiple media outlets, statements from the government, the rebels, the international community, opinion pieces, propaganda by waring parties etc, cases of gender based violence, sometimes as it happens online, get overlooked or intentionally pushed back or used for political purposes, leading to potential change in narratives
We spoke to a survivor of gender based violence who says she faced one of the most horrible experiences of her life, and is sure that she will not witness more soul-crushing phenomena again. Someone shared photos of her without her consent that were being circulated on the internet. She says that only a few people knew about it until a relative from afar called her and her family informing them about the photos. This incident has placed her in a difficult situation mentally, emotionally and financially, some of the most common impacts of online gender based violence on the victims and survivors which are very often than not long lasting and require a lot of support as she does. To protect her privacy, she requested to not share any more details of her experience in this article. However, it should be noted that she is currently at a crossroads and is fighting to move forward in life.
Information Disorder: Pouring Fuel to the Fire of TFGBV
Hostilities have been amplified by social media, online media, and other digital platforms as the series of wars have their own stakeholders and actors who come up with various narratives and motives to alter facts. In this regard, referring to the information disorder that opinion leaders in the country spread, Meseret remarks, “Opinion leaders have the power to shape reality, that means, facts can be distorted the way they like it to be, and even at times these opinion leaders come up with numbers of GBV [that are not real], and that thing flares up on social media, trying to show the severity of the conflict but not to address the issue on the ground.”
Technology is an open platform for every user, and it is also a free field to create personal facts regardless of whether the fact is substantiated or not. The information disorder or infodemic prevailed in the current situation of Ethiopia, and TFGBV also increased accordingly. In theory, or as the trend indicates, during times of war and escalations, information disorder tends to increase, further exacerbating the ongoing conflict. Various unsubstantiated pieces of information spread widely among the population regarding the conflict, its causes, ramifications, and other related topics, adding to the already heightened chaos. In this context, cases of technology-facilitated GBV in the form of misinformation and disinformation, also tend to rise accordingly. Moreover, numerous statistics, which necessitate thorough study and investigation, are disseminated to the general public.
A fact checker who wishes to remain anonymous, says that a lot of numbers and cases of GBV can be spread on social media, and debunking numbers is really difficult and requires extra effort. Furthermore, unrelated pictures of the incident [that] happens outside of the country but people post them on social media as if it happens in Ethiopia [also adds to the conflict]. GBV can be disseminated on social media based on false contents, this doesn’t mean the issue doesn’t exist or is small, but it lacks credibility.
Furthermore, women human rights defenders are subjected to relentless online harassment when they advocate against TFGBV (Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence) and other forms of GBV. As a result, they often withdraw from the fight and disengage from digital platforms, allowing those perpetuating violence to dominate the discourse. These issues affect women both individually and collectively, effectively silencing them and impeding their efforts to raise awareness about the issue. Consequently, the imbalance in the technology space is exacerbated, enabling TFGBV to persist unchecked. This underscores the urgent need for action to address these challenges and ensure that women's voices are heard and respected in digital spaces.
Eden*, a gender expert who works for an international humanitarian organisation, asserts that there is always a debate over the number of GBV cases whenever a report comes out. Some groups say it is inflated, and the other says it is underreported. The information disorder plays a significant role in shifting the attitude of the people towards the matter. The fact that the debate revolves around the number frustrates her as it totally forgets about the survivors and the enduring issue of GBV.
Women human rights defenders are subjected to relentless online harassment when they advocate against TFGBV (Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence) and other forms of GBV. As a result, they often withdraw from the fight and disengage from digital platforms, allowing those perpetuating violence to dominate the discourse.
In addition to the infodemics, advocates also experience TFGBV once they start being a voice for people who are subjected to brutal targeting amid the escalation of war. Advocates are routinely labelled as, “መርጦ አልቃሽ”, a derogatory phrase in Amharic translating to, “Selective sympathiser”, for their assumed silence on violence that other ethnic groups in the country might have faced in the past. The advocates of violence then become targets of campaigns of harassment, bullying or other kinds of TFGBV, leading to silence of others who witness these attacks online.
Multitude Gaps Lead to the increase of TFGBV
In Ethiopia, the issue of TFGBV is complex. Eden* say that the people who are assigned to address GBV do not even have enough knowledge, and they do not adhere to the basic principles and protocols of addressing GBV. The fact that frontline personnel are not careful enough when they handle cases of survivors. According to her, the issue is super delicate, and it requires extra caution and mindfulness, which the experts lack, and there are times when the survivors’ names will be posted on notice boards of the local government offices, and that could go to social media which can then retraumatise survivors with targeted TFGBV.
Not only do social media users engage in TFGBV campaigns deliberately or unintentionally, but designated GBV responders also have knowledge gaps. Their negligence and lack of caution can compromise confidentiality, proper documentation of cases, integrity, and other core values of the GBV response process. As a result, survivors face numerous problems on various steps while dealing with and reporting their experience.
In addition, according to the fact-checker I interviewed, the digital space fiasco sets ablaze whenever the hostilities of war erupt, and every group strives to dominate the digital space, and most of the time, women get bullied and harassed., As a result, they deactivate their accounts, and the gender imbalance in online spaces is created leading to men dominating the platforms.
Final Remarks
The cases of TFGBV are surging by the day due to the lack of mitigation processes on various steps of law enforcement and policy making in Ethiopia. This is not the time to falter; mitigating TFGBV, which is motivated by infodemics, is severely impacting the vulnerable society that is already dealing with instability in times of ongoing war. It is crucial that stakeholders act to campaign against information disorder and conduct rigorous technology and information literacy campaigns.
Awareness will be concrete if the topic is included in the educational curriculum, and various amendments in the law are mandatory. Still, information disorder, notably GBV-related information, doesn’t seem to draw much attention, and it is rare to bring suspects before the court. However, this is an issue for everyone, and everyone must rise up for its mitigation.
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Acknowledgement: I extend my sincere gratitude to Tigist Shewarega Hussien for her invaluable support, mentoring, and diligent content editing. Tigist's dedication and meticulous approach significantly contributed to the refinement and presentation of this article. Her unwavering commitment to excellence is truly commendable. While this endeavour was a collaborative effort, Tigist's exceptional contribution deserves special recognition.
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