Written by Mahratun Samha (Edited by Jenna Manhau Fung)
Training session 3 – Human Rights Online was held successfully on January 19, 2023. The whole session consisted of a few case study presentations, speeches from three honorable guest speakers – Nalini Elumalai, Kadesiree Thossaphonpaisan, and Jennifer Chung, and three different breakout sessions. Attendees discussed priorly decided topics in the breakout rooms.
The first thirty minutes presented four cases regarding cyberbullying and deepfake technology. The first case study showed how a certain fake group on Twitter abused Digital Millennium Act to take down a group of LGBTQ activists with a false complaint. This indicates moral degradation and cybercrime and how easy it is to fake a complaint and abuse digital laws. The second case study was about the dark side of DeepFake Technology. DeeepFake Technology is used to replace a person’s image with a fake one without keeping any proof of it. Three cases were presented where an Indian Model, an Australian woman, and a Pakistani political personality were victims of DFT. Their images were fakely created to defame them.
After the case study presentation, the guest speaker Nalini Elumalai, a Malaysian Program Officer, shared introduced to the UDHR Centred Approach: Freedom of Expression. After observing the cruel WW1, United Nations Human Rights Council was created to protect human rights in 1946. UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) is a treaty proposed by them. It has 30 articles in total. Article 19 declares that everyone has freedom of expression. Nalini also brought up the ICCPR (International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights), which explains what Article 19 is about. Article 19 under ICCPR says that everyone has a right to hold opinions without interference in any sort of media, whether art or words. However, a part of this article also implies that sometimes these expressions may be subject to certain restrictions by the government under a national policy because it might violate some’s rights or safety. The point here is these rights should be protected on online platforms too. In an autocratic country, most people cannot enjoy online freedom of expression. People should claim their rights online under article 19.
The next guest speaker, Kadesiree Thossaphonpaisan, discussed concerns regarding gender equality online. She explained the digital gender division and how women are falling behind men in online access and becoming victims of online crimes. The digital gender gap is the gender gap between connected men and women. 60% of women use mobile internet today. But still, 264 million fewer women use mobile internet than men. Power inequalities, sociocultural norms, affordability, geographical isolation, etc, are the main factors behind this inequality. Kadesiree implied that women should claim the rights to privacy, freedom of work, education, expression, and cultural association. She especially mentioned that women with disabilities, girls, and children are often victims of online violence. She suggested educational access, women’s participation in STEM subjects, and ensuring online access for women can achieve digital gender equality. Policy reformations such as reducing the cost of connectivity, providing free and fair information to women, digital security, and online identity will go a long way.
Later on, Jennifer Chung shared her thoughts on child online safety. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most ratified convention in the world. A child’s right to protection, privacy, survival, and Freedom 0f Expression. Anyone who is under 18 is considered a child or young adult. In the online arena, ensuring that children are not accessing inappropriate content over the internet is very tough. Data breaches, a common phenomenon, can happen to any child. A child’s privacy can be easily violated by predators online. People under 13 are not protected from harmful and restricted content. Some content may encourage suicide, inappropriate sexual activity, and unexpected online interaction, and children are not fully protected from them. Children should have an agency to freely express themselves online.
Later on Q&A session and breakout discussions were held. For instance, Riad Hasan asked, “How can children be empowered to understand and assert their rights to freedom of expression and privacy in the digital age.” Jennifer Chung responded that digital literacy is how children can learn how to use the internet safely and protect data privacy. Yassine Savadogo asked, “Have we made any progress in reducing human rights violations?”. Nalini Elumalai replied we could empower ourselves online by becoming more active, even though it is hard in authoritarian countries.
Lastly, three different breakout group discussions took place at a time. The previously discussed problems, e.g., cyberbullying, online privacy, etc., came up. Most people in the group talked about the necessity of applicable policies. Members of group 2 focused on being aware of online rights. In group 3, a relevant case was described. Last but not least, Jennifer Chung talked about how people excluded from the majority in different terms become victims of online violence every day.