When a digital attack begins, time is rarely on the side of the person facing it. The first hours move quickly, and decisions made in them can be hard to undo later, from deleting content that could serve as evidence to responding publicly in a moment of anger. Because most safety guidance is written to be read calmly, before an incident, it’s seldom within reach at the point it’s actually needed.
HuMENA has published the Public Sphere Safety Pocket Handbook in response to exactly that gap. It’s the condensed version of the full Public Sphere Safety Kit, made to be used under pressure, at the moment there isn’t time to turn to the full Kit. The full Kit is a reference to prepare with and return to in detail; the Pocket Handbook has one job: to help you move quickly and with confidence when an attack starts.
What the Handbook offers
The Pocket Handbook condenses the core response into a few pages, ordered to be followed under pressure rather than read end to end. It begins with recognising the type of attack, since identifying what you’re facing is the first thing that guides the response. It then moves to gauging severity through a rapid triage tool and a simple scoring matrix, helping you read the level of risk without either downplaying or overstating it. Finally it sets out the response over the first 24 to 72 hours, step by step, in the order that keeps you safer and keeps your options open.
When there’s no time for any of that, the Handbook narrows to a single page, meant to carry you safely through the first minutes with three steps in sequence: pause before you respond or delete, document what’s happening while it’s still visible, then reach trusted support. And when you’re unsure how serious a situation is, the rule is to treat it as high risk and move to protective action.
It also includes a list of Lebanese and international organisations you can contact for legal, digital-security, or psychosocial support, some of them available around the clock, in Arabic, and free of charge. The decision at each step stays with you; the Handbook gives you a clear starting point rather than starting from scratch, and doesn’t decide for you.
Who it’s for
The Pocket Handbook is for women human rights defenders, women in public and civic life, candidates, LGBTQI+ people, civic actors, page moderators, allies and support networks, and anyone who may witness a digital attack in Lebanon’s public sphere and needs to know how to act, for themselves or for someone around them.
It isn’t generic advice imported from another context. The Handbook is drawn from the experiences of these communities in Lebanon and reviewed with them, so it stays close to how these attacks actually unfold on the ground.
Built for the Lebanese context
Most digital-safety guidance in circulation assumes a context other than Lebanon’s, and can point someone toward exactly the wrong door. The Pocket Handbook was built the other way round, accounting for what is specific to the situation in Lebanon: the legal risks attached to some formal reporting channels, Article 534 of the Penal Code and the danger it carries for LGBTQI+ people, and what changes when a threat comes from inside the family or from a partner rather than from a stranger.
Because the channel that is safe for one situation can be a risk in another, the Handbook points toward consulting specialised civil society organisations before any contact with official bodies where that applies, and shows which pathways suit which kind of attack.
Its limits, and where responsibility sits
The Pocket Handbook doesn’t replace specialised legal, psychosocial, or digital-security support. Its role is to help you prepare early, read escalation, and act with more confidence when an attack comes.
That individuals need a handbook like this at all points to a wider failure. The responsibility to make public life safe doesn’t rest with the person targeted; it rests with the platforms these attacks are allowed to run on, the parties that benefit from them or look away, employers, and the state. The Handbook supports individuals today, while the more lasting change remains with those who have the power to stop these attacks at the source.
The Public Sphere Safety Pocket Handbook is free to read and download. For the full guidance, you can turn to the complete Public Sphere Safety Kit.
For a copy or more information: [email protected]
