29 October 2012 (GenderIT.org)

This edition of GenderIT.org explores the online safety of women human rights defenders from the perspective of national security and counter-terrorism. While online & offline security measures adversely impact on women’s and sexual rights, women and sexual minorities are still two of the most invisible stakeholders in national security debates.

This edition of GenderIT.org explores the online safety of women human rights defenders from the perspective of national security and counter-terrorism. National security often encompasses a variety of security threats, including those in cyberspace. While national security measures are meant to protect the security of a nation and its citizen, in many contexts they serve as a pretext for suppressing unfavourable political and social views. Despite the fact that online & offline security measures adversely impact on women’s and sexual rights, women and sexual minorities are still two of the most invisible stakeholders in national security debates. This editions delves into some of these risks and examines explicitly messages that we have touched on before (that link this edition to previous one), particularly why & how women human rights defenders can become players in the spaces that govern cyberspace.

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