Noura Aljizawi of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy writes:
Rawia* is a Syrian activist in Turkey and a mother of three beautiful children. She kept her children at home, locked the doors, closed the windows, and told them not to speak loudly so people wouldn’t hear them speak Arabic. Her fear for their safety increased after the outbreak of racist violence invoked against Syrians in the Turkish town of Kayseri, which spread like wildfire to other cities. She hoped the walls would shield them, so she kept her kids at home. Nonetheless, this sense of relative safety shattered when she learned about the leak of Syrian refugees’ data. She hurried to her device, searching for her name, and was shocked when she found her name, her children’s names, and all their personal information listed in the leaked database.
“Safety became a distant dream for us. They attacked us in the streets, forcing us to seek refuge in our homes. But when our data was leaked, the walls of our homes could no longer protect us,” she told TIMEP.
The data—which included information of children and minors—contains names, dates of birth, parents’ names, ID numbers, and places of residence
The massive leak of personal data of over 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey occurred amidst a sequence of violence against Syrians and has raised deep concerns among refugees and human rights advocates. The data—which included information of children and minors—contains names, dates of birth, parents’ names, ID numbers, and places of residence. Notably, Syrians who were previously registered as protected persons and relocated to other countries or obtained the Turkish citizenship also found their data in the leaked database.
This leak cannot be seen as an isolated incident, as it coincides with escalating racist violence and systemic discrimination against Syrian refugees in multiple Turkish cities. Despite the severity of the breach, the Turkish government has not provided any concrete action plans to mitigate the harm or protect those affected, nor has the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) commented on the leak or offered any support to the impacted individuals, leaving them vulnerable to further exploitation and harm.
Read more at TIMEP.
h/t, Joe Cadillic