Pakistan: CFWIJ Supports The New Statement On Digital Violence Against Women Journalists And Demands From All Political Parties To Take Swift Action Against Online Violence
Location: Pakistan, Islamabad
Date: September 7, 2020
Women journalists in Pakistan who are encountering vicious social media attacks, doxing, and hacking attempts by accounts affiliated to the ruling party and conservative, right-wing elements in the country have taken a strong stance against the online violence culture in the past month.
In a joint statement launched on August 12 that CFWIJ was a signatory to, women journalists demanded from the government that members of the governing party shall immediately be restrained from repeatedly targeting women in the media, that such attacks whether directly or indirectly shall be desisted and the perpetrators shall be held accountable.
The severity of gendertrolling however needs joint effort from all fronts of the society and from all political parties. Gendertrolling is a burning issue in Pakistan that needs to be addressed with diligence and full commitment in order to protect the safety and dignity of women journalists.
What is particularly worrying about targeting of women journalists online is that in many
countries where patriarchy is prevalent, such threats are often reflected offline with women getting harassed on the streets or in the worst case scenario getting abducted or murdered. Such atrocities can only be combatted when a concrete zero-tolerance policy is applied and opposition should ensure to hold the government accountable in keeping with their repeated promises to take action against online violence.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism, last week called upon all parties to work together to join the endeavours of women journalists in the country in taking a strong stance against trolling, doxing, hacking and all forms of gender based online violence. In reminding the relevant parties of their obligations to the public we emphasized that words of sympathy and encouragement are not satisfactory any more.
A new statement launched by Pakistani women journalists this week also demands from all political parties to act with dignity and protect the constitution and freedom of the speech. The Coalition For Women In Journalism wholeheartedly endorses this new statement and repeats the demands of the working group. We call upon the members of opposition and other political parties to hold the government accountable by ensuring they acknowledge, apologize and list the actions they will now take to put an end to such a threatening environment. It should also be ensured that the same behaviour is not repeated or goes unnoticed by followers of the opposition either. It is the duty of all politicians to protect freedom of the speech and abide the Constitution.
Below is the new statement:
Statement On Digital Violence Against Women Journalists
Vile and vicious attacks on women journalists by those affiliated with the government, political parties, their supporters and social media wings, are increasingly impacting our work, mental wellbeing and security. These attacks include but are not restricted to gender-based and sexualized abuse, discrediting, targeting and persecution.
We endorse what our fellow colleagues have put on record on 12/02/2020 and hereon widen the scope to reflect the magnitude and degree of trauma being experienced by women in media. The kind of trolling and unfettered vulgarity being experienced subverts every norm of decency with no law enforcement agency, government or any political party taking notice or action of what is clearly transgressing all limits of decency and subverting every ethical standard.
The target of these attacks are women in media, who are often targeted for reporting on issues that are critical of any political party. This may include a journalist differing from the government or a political party’s position on any given issue. A journalist’s criticism of any given policy of the Tehreek-i-Insaaf government or of political parties including Pakistan Muslim League, Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), religious parties and the establishment, may also unleash a barrage of abuse. This is almost always met with indifference and in some cases even encouragement from party leadership which further emboldens trolls and abusers.
Unfounded accusations by government officials and politicians from all parties are hurled at journalists of ‘peddling fake news’, ‘serving political agendas’ and ‘being on the payroll’ of one political party or the other. Such accusations then trigger abusive campaigns targeting journalists. In some instances, our pictures and videos are also used and our social media timelines are then barraged with gender-based slurs, threats of sexual and physical violence.
So vicious is the campaign against women that even the women/female members of our male colleagues’ families are not spared. Their photographs and videos are doctored, distorted and leaked on social media.
In this context, we demand that we be told what the official mandate of the social media cells of the federal and provincial governments operating on tax-payers money is. Often, it seems like the mandate of these social media cells is to discredit journalists and analysts, without any evidence. We also demand of all other political parties, transparency regarding the operations and mandate of their own social media teams. The Election Commission of Pakistan should demand all political parties to submit detailed workings of their social media cells.
These sustained attacks undermine public trust in journalism and go against the basic tenets of democracy. We women journalists now often find it difficult to remain active and engage freely on digital platforms. Out of fear of being hounded and harassed; and our dignity violated through vile abuse, many of us self-censor.
Hence, we refrain from sharing information, giving opinion or actively engaging online. We are being prevented from exercising our right to free speech and fully participating in public discourse. Clearly when we self-censor, the public’s rights under Article 19-A are violated as they are prevented from receiving information. The most worrisome and totally unacceptable fact is that when we are under attack, we do not enjoy the protection of the law as guaranteed under Article 4.
We call upon the government and all political parties to:
1) Immediately draw up and adopt a code of conduct for social media teams of political parties
2) Investigate networks that have been prominently engaged in launching and running coordinated attacks, hashtag campaigns and abusive campaigns against women in the media
3) Include digital attacks against journalists within the ambit of criminalised offences in the upcoming legislation for journalist safety i.e. the Journalist Protection Bill
4) Initiate investigation and take action against government officials who are directly or indirectly engaged in the discrediting and harassing women in media
5) Hold gender sensitivity training sessions for relevant agencies including the Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) and ensure effective implementation of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), specially offences against dignity of a natural person (sec 20).
Finally, we urge the government not to use this statement as an excuse to introduce further regulations and curbs for social media and tackle the problem by having code of conduct for responsible social media use.
We believe that the PTI, as the ruling party holds primary responsibility to set the tone for progressive, positive and inclusive political discourse and should lead by example. We also call upon all political parties, especially those whose members are elected to the legislature, to encourage and ensure civilised social media discourse.
We call upon the Senate and Assembly Committees on Human Rights to take notice and ensure compliance by all political parties. Only then can journalists continue to report and disseminate information in a non-threatening environment where neither our work nor our emotional, mental and physical wellbeing and security are compromised.
The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.
If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.