April 4, 2021
This Week in Human Rights News
Telegram chat groups sharing images of Singaporean women and schoolgirls without consent
Sources: The Straits Times (1, 2), TODAY, AWARE Singapore (1, 2)
Please note that this story contains mention of image-based sexual abuse.
Singapore media reported the resurgence of chat groups on the messaging app Telegram circulating explicit images of Singaporean women and schoolgirls.
These groups have been found to each contain thousands of followers.
Most of the images circulated were likely captured and shared without the consent of subjects.
The chat groups also distribute images of women and minors on public transportation or in school uniforms, and share their personal information.
These groups are similar to the now-defunct Telegram chat group ‘SG Nasi Lemak’, a platform that was active between November 2018 to October 2019, similarly circulating obscene images of women as well as promoting vice activities.
The group had over 44,000 members and 29 administrators when it was active.
Four men were arrested for their involvement in ‘SG Nasi Lemak’. Of the three who have been sentenced so far, only one was jailed - for nine weeks - and fined. The other two men were merely given a year’s probation.
Image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) in Singapore
Image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) refers to the “non-consensual creation, obtainment and/or distribution of sexual images or videos of another person”.
Reported cases of IBSA and other forms of technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV) have been on the rise in Singapore.
The Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) Singapore reported that its Sexual Assault Care Centre (Sacc) has seen the number of TFSV cases jump from 88 to 2017 to 140 in 2019.