Over the years, SMEX has documented and reported online human rights violations in West Asia and North Africa, advocating for a free and open internet. In response to these evolving challenges, SMEX launched the Digital Rights Fund for WANA (DRF). This initiative aims to empower individuals, informal groups, and entities to effectively counter digital rights threats and violations online. Through grants and support, they seek to foster a more inclusive and equitable digital society, united in protecting digital freedoms even amidst adversity.

Grant Focus Areas

Applicants working on topics related to the below focus areas are encouraged to apply to the Digital Rights Fund for WANA.

Surveillance, Spyware and Cybercrime: Surveillance has a chilling effect on the work of social justice organizations. It can expose sensitive information to silence activists and discourage them from carrying out their work. Combined with offline tactics such as judicial harassment, imprisonment, and severe restrictions of fundamental rights and freedoms essential to the work of civil society, such practices have contributed to the shrinking of civic spaces.

Investigations and leaked documents have long exposed the use of intrusive surveillance technologies and spyware to target thousands of regional and global rights workers, activists and journalists. Cybercrime is also on the rise with frequent incidents of hacking, phishing, identity theft, and ransomware attacks. One of the major challenges to addressing cybercrime in the WANA region is the lack of cybersecurity infrastructure and resources. Many organizations in the region do not have adequate cybersecurity measures in place, leaving them vulnerable to attacks. 

Internet censorship and content moderation: While most countries in the region have constitutional provisions guaranteeing the right to freedom of expression, in practice, such guarantees are restricted by vague and broad legislation that violate international human rights standards and criminalize peaceful and legitimate speech. 

This creates an environment where social justice organizations risk legal harassment and having their staff members detained, prosecuted, and jailed for publishing and campaigning online. Additionally, freedom of expression is an enabler of other fundamental rights such as freedom of assembly, protest and association, and in a region where such rights are severely restricted offline, criminalization of speech online further hinders the ability of organizations to properly and safely do their work. Finally, the filtering of content from tech companies and blocking of websites prevents organizations not only from effectively communicating with their audiences and disseminating information, but also from accessing content that can be essential to their work. 

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