Khaberni - The Cybercrime Unit of the Public Security Directorate revealed its involvement with approximately 24,000 cases last year, whether through reports and complaints or by monitoring electronic patrols.
This was during a forum of the Jordanian Women's Union yesterday, where two studies were launched, the first titled "The Impact of Gender-Based Violence through Technology on Survivors in Jordan," and the second "The Electronic Environment Affecting Human Rights Activists in Jordan," in partnership with the Jordan Open Source Association "JOSA", and the Canadian Gender Equality Knowledge and Information Center "kvinfo", according to Al-Ghad.
At the forum, during an extended dialogue session, representatives from "Cyber Crimes" and the Technical Support Department of the Family and Juvenile Protection Administration, the Ministry of Social Development, and the Women's Solidarity Institute and Earth organization discussed the protective efforts for victims of cybercrime, the legislative frameworks regulating the work of law enforcement institutions and their procedures, and the mechanisms to report extortion and electronic fraud crimes, and groups vulnerable to digital violence.
During the main session, Captain Ayoub Aburabie from Cyber Crimes said, “The unit dealt last year with approximately 24,000 cases through the main center and branches: Aqaba, Karak, Irbid, and Zarqa, whether through reports or through monitoring in cooperation with international partners.”
Aburabie pointed out that the cases varied between financial electronic fraud, extortion, and hacking, apart from issues related to threatening community peace, monitored through electronic patrols. He confirmed that the unit's efforts extend to coordination with international partners like Interpol, noting that the time periods in the procedures followed vary from one case to another.
From the Technical Support Unit at "Family Protection," Captains Hussam Al-Zyoud and Zaid Al-Abadi spoke about their efforts in tracking and combating cases of online sexual exploitation, which the unit specializes in coordinating with Cyber Crimes.
Al-Zyoud said that there has been an increase in the number of cases and reports in recent years, pointing to a knowledge and legal gap among families and parents regarding protection and issues of extortion or sexual exploitation, noting that social media platforms have become a "fertile environment" for this type of cases.
Al-Zyoud also mentioned that the Technical Support Unit specializing in cases of sexual exploitation works in partnership with Interpol and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which acts as a repository for information and data, to track perpetrators of sexual exploitation crimes in Jordan and abroad.
In his turn, Al-Abadi highlighted the importance of the awareness efforts implemented by "Family Protection", adopting both preventive and therapeutic approaches in dealing with these issues, emphasizing that one of the most important tools of prevention is legal culture, noting the importance of applying the laws of crime prevention and protection from family violence in dealing with perpetrators of this type of crimes, and referring them to the administrative governor or to the judiciary.
Attorney In'am Al-'Ashah from the Solidarity Institute pointed to the need for providing greater protection guarantees for victims to overcome the difficulties of reporting and pursuing perpetrators, while Ahmad Dabash from the Ministry of Development reviewed the role of social service offices and coordination among partner institutions in tracking cases of online violence, especially for women.
Nadia Shamroukh, in her speech about the union, said that the goal of launching the two studies is to focus on the required protection methods to confront digital violence and its effects, particularly on women and Jordanian activists in the public space, indicating that the aim of these studies is to launch an advocacy and cooperative alliance with many partners around combating digital violence against activist women and raising awareness about it.
In this context, Yara Al-Rafie from the Open Source Association presented the study related to the impact of gender-based violence, and its methodology, noting that global figures speak of one in every three women experiencing gender-based violence, explaining that the study relied on discussing four focused groups, comprising experts in technical support, legal, psychological, and social services, and conducting interviews with survivors of digital violence or technology-mediated violence and service providers, 14 civil society organizations, and 2 international and governmental organizations as primary sources for the study.
Dr. Riyadh Al-Subh presented the study of the electronic environment affecting female activists, focusing on the practices and forms of digital violence against human rights activists in Jordan in terms of its causes, forms, and the protection system, including a sample of women working in human rights organizations, human rights activists, journalists, lawyers, and political activists.
