New North Macedonia Online Sex Abuse Scandal Targets Roma Women

North Maceodnian police on Monday said they were aware of a case in which human rights activists have alerted that explicit photos and videos of Roma girls and women are being posted on a Facebook group, and are "working to apprehending the persons responsible".

The police said that they are also working on removing the explicit online content, adding that instances of online sexual abuse have increased over the past two years, since the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The case was first reported in the media over the weekend.

"The posts contain private photos and videos of Roma women living in the Republic of North Macedonia but also outside our country," the Suto Orizari Women's Initiative, a human rights group from Skopje's mainly Roma municipality of Shuto Orizari, said on Sunday.

"All the posts on the Facebook page are provoking an avalanche of harassing comments and hate speech from individuals, as well as calls for a public lynching, which violates the dignity of the Roma women whose photos have been published," it added.

The organisation said the Facebook fan page has been active for some two months, since August 21, and has over 1,600 followers.

Reportedly the Facebook page also contains calls for collecting more photos and videos in order to post them and expose "dishonest women", along with teases from the page administrators, who ask members whether they would like to see uncensored videos.

The Facebook page was also reported to the authorities last Friday by CIVIL - Center for Freedom, a prominent human rights NGO.

"CIVIL condemns this gruesome act and reported this Facebook page on Friday to the Interior Ministry's department for computer crime and digital forensics, and to the Public...