ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday emphasized the need for agreeing on an “International Plan of Action” to counter disinformation, online and offline, in the public and private domain with a view to expose and dismantle disinformation networks.
Addressing the first online meeting of “Group of Friends on Countering Disinformation for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms”, the foreign minister said that like many other countries, Pakistan and its people had been the victims of targeted campaigns of disinformation. Indeed, in this information age, disinformation has emerged as a global pandemic.
He said the exponential proliferation of disinformation, especially through online platforms and social media, had spread social discord; fostered hate speech, racism, discrimination, xenophobia, and Islamophobia; and exacerbated competing nationalisms and inter-State tensions and conflict. Disinformation has often justified and intensified the violations of human rights.
“And, “hybrid warfare”, pursued through disinformation, is often the opening salvo of intervention and conflict,” he said, adding that this pandemic of disinformation must be confronted, countered and defeated at the national and international level.
“We can succeed in doing so only through comprehensive international cooperation,” he asserted. Pakistan, he added, together with a number of like-minded countries, took the initiative last year in the UN General Assembly against disinformation.
These painstaking efforts led to the adoption of the landmark General Assembly Resolution No. 76/227 on “Countering Disinformation for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms”, he said, adding that this was the first formal effort by the UN Member States to develop an agreed international response to the scourge of disinformation.
He said the “Group of Friends” has been established to promote the implementation of that resolution. “We are grateful to all the countries who have joined the Group. They represent all the regions of the world,” he said, adding that “by utilising this platform, we should agree on an International Plan of Action to counter disinformation, online and offline, in the public and private domain.”
The foreign minister suggested an enhanced public awareness about disinformation through information campaigns promoted by Member States and the United Nations and build societal resistance and resilience against disinformation.
Second, he underscored the need for enhancing the capacity of governments and their relevant institutions to detect, analyze, and expose disinformation and disinformation campaigns and networks. To this end, he added that the UN and its agencies should help to build the capacity of Member States, especially the developing countries, to analyze, fact-check and filter information, especially online information.
Moreover, he added that financial and technical support should be extended to national and international researchers and institutions which were involved in detecting disinformation. The UN Department of Information could play a critical role in this context, he added.
“Such a concerted international effort can help to expose and dismantle disinformation networks - some of which have been operating against my country for over 30 years,” he added.
He stated that there was a need for a concerted effort, through cooperation, to minimise the negative impact of disinformation on human rights and relations between communities and States, by building firewalls against false information, ensuring transparency, adhering to human rights principles, such as respect for personal privacy and reputation, preventing the propagation of racism, discrimination and hate speech.
The UN can develop a compendium of “best practices” and guidelines for actions, including through the use of advanced technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), to serve as guidelines for national and international action, he added.
He added that the UN’s human rights mechanisms should highlight the negative impact of disinformation on the enjoyment of human rights and, for their part, also exercise due diligence in the use of unsubstantiated or questionable information in evaluating human rights situations.
The UN should develop rules, standards and regulations for adherence by the private sector, social media companies and other non-governmental actors. Such standards must also enforce transparency rules on the media and social platforms, he added.
To discharge its extensive role and responsibilities, he stated the UN Secretary-General should create an inter-Agency Task Force on Disinformation and appoint a focal point, for regular and ongoing interactions with member states, the private media and online companies and other stakeholders.
The foreign minister further stated that the UN, perhaps through its Committee on Information, should open a comprehensive dialogue, led by Member States, and with the participation of the private sector, business enterprises, media and social media platforms and civil society stakeholders, to develop a coherent consensus on international cooperation to combat disinformation.
The event was also addressed by Ambassador Munir Akram, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN, Melissa Fleming, Under Secretary-General Department of Global Communication, United Nations, Nada Youssef A Al Nashif, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion, Cristian Espinosa, Permanent Representative, Ecuador, Dr Sarah Lister, Head of Governance (Expert) UNDP, Scott Campbell, Senior Human Rights Officer, lead on digital technology of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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