DRF attended RightsCon this year in San Jose, Costa Rica from July 6th - 8th. The organisation hosted three sessions and spoke at

DRF hosted a dialogue on “Demystifying Self-Regulation Models for Tech Accountability” with Catalina Botero-Marino and Pamela Saint-Martín from the Meta Oversight Board, Mark Howard Stephens, and Maria Luisa Stasi, Head of Law & Policy for digital markets, Article 19. Furthermore, DRF co-hosted two workshops on “Responding to online gender-based violence: co-creating guiding principles for the global south” along with other organisations from South Asia, Delete Nothing and Point of View and on “Co-designing guidelines with first responders”.

The organisation’s Executive Director, Nighat Dad, spoke at 8 panels and Director of Policy and Research at 3 panels on subjects varying from digital regulations, data localisation, transparency, internet shutdowns, online gender-based violence, and digital futures.

 

 

 

Online Campaigns:

#InternationalDayForCounteringHateSpeech

This #InternationalDayForCounteringHateSpeech let's pledge to make our online spaces more safe and inclusive for all.

#StopCyberbullyingDay

Cyberbullying refers to threatening or harassing individuals online using electronic mediums through intimidation and discriminatory messages.

Let's pledge to put a stop to cyberbullying on this #stopcyberbullyingday

DRF Annual Report 2022

DRF's Annual Report 2022 is out now! You can see what we've been up to in 2022 and all our achievements in the link below:

https://digitalrightsfoundation.pk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Annual-Report-2022.pdf

Policy Initiatives:

Task Force for a Trustworthy Future Web’s report

DRF’s Nighat Dad is now part of the steering committee and bringing the perspective of the global majority in the report by the task Force for a Trustworthy Future Web.

Click here for more information:

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/report/scaling-trust/

Press Release:

Gender and the Disaster Response Framework in Pakistan

Last year, our contributor for Digital 50.50, Sana Rizwan Gondal, wrote about Gender & the Disaster Response Framework in Pakistan. A year ahead, we are sharing this to shed light on how relevant it is to talk about disaster response amid the current monsoon & flooding situation.

Read the piece here:

https://www.canva.com/design/DAFQBoYqigE/ukiaqgpXqr1MspxP1ogJAQ/view?utm_content=DAFQBoYqigE&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=homepage_design_menu#5

Events:

Chatham House Rules Cyber Conference 2023

DRF’s Nighat Dad spoke at the Chatham House Cyber Conference and discussed how we can make an open and free internet a reality in an increasingly fragmented world.

London Tech Week

DRF’s Nighat Dad spoke at the London Tech Week focusing on how the internet has empowered women and how technological innovations are important in this day and age.

DRF at NUR Student Leadership Program

DRF’s Seerat Khan conducted a workshop with Nur Student Leadership program on Anti Cyberbullying and Digital awareness with young adults from olevels and alevels. A discussion around what is cyberbullying, consent and safe practices online took place at the workshop.

Sub Regional Launch Addressing Hate Speech Through Education - Nepal 20 - 21 June 2023

DRF was part of the sub-regional launch addressing hate speech through education in Nepal with other UN agencies, regulatory bodies, internet and social media companies, educational stakeholders and youth leaders throughout South Asia in Kathmandu, Nepal on 20 and 21 June 2023. The event marked the launch of the new policy guide published in English – Addressing Hate Speech through Education: a guide for Policy-makers. The event explored the root causes of hate speech in the region and the role that education can play to counter-narratives of hate and promote global citizenship and digital citizenship based on human rights.

Legal Experts Consultation on the Implementation of the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence (Amendment) Act 2022

DRF participated in a consultation arranged by the Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law, LUMS, Social Welfare Department Government of Punjab, Punjab Women Protection Authority (PWPA) and Dastak Charitable on the 5th and 6th June. The dialogue between the participants entailed reviewing and discussing the implementation of the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act 2016 in light of Sindh’s approach. Besides the procedural and legal ambiguities persistent within the Act, the problems faced by lawyers and human rights defenders were also elaborated upon. The consultation was a healthy discussion about basic women rights and the available forums for women to seek redressal for their domestic issues.

DRF conducted two workshops with the journalist community in Lahore and Islamabad on the 14th and 21st June 2023

As part of DRF’s ongoing work on online safety, DRF conducted two workshops in June with the journalist community to build their capacity in using online space safely and effectively. The workshops were held on 14th and 21st June and were attended by 33 and 27 journalists respectively. The workshop was focused on enhancing the ability of journalists to better utilise online platforms for their work.

MeedanxDRF

DRF was invited to address Meedan’s weekly in-organization meeting on 21 June. The presentation focused on the ways in which gendered disinformation manifests in Pakistan and its effects. The Meedan community engaged enthusiastically with the presentation and had a lot of questions for Nighat and DRF.

HRCP National Consultation on Enshrining the Right to Health

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) conducted a national consultation on enshrining the right to health in the Constitution of Pakistan on the 16th of June, 2023 in Islamabad. The event included policymakers and parliamentarians as well as healthcare and public policy veterans, leading to a robust conversation from a myriad of relevant perspectives.

Program Manager Zainab Durrani attended the consultation on behalf of DRF and shared our report on Data Privacy in Pakistan’s Healthcare Sector while highlighting the need to push for privacy and confidentiality protections within the right to health that HRCP and the civil society are seeking to constitutionally codify and protect.

Oxford Internet Institute (University of Oxford) Community Consultation on UNESCO’s Guidelines for Regulating Digital Platforms (Version 3.0)

On June 20th 2023, DRF’s Senior Research Associate, Noor Waheed,  participated in a hybrid online/in-person community consultation organized by the  Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford to discuss UNESCO’s v3.0 draft of the Guidelines on Regulating Digital Platforms. The session brought together a remarkable group of participants from various stakeholder groups, including doctoral candidates, researchers, policy makers etc. each offering unique research interests and global perspectives, and valuable insights on contentious perspectives that had emerged in previous rounds of consultation.

DRF Updates:

Cyber Harassment Helpline

The Cyber Harassment Helpline received 195 complaints in June, with 55% of the cases being of women. If you’re encountering a problem online, you can reach out to our helpline at 0800-39393, email us at [email protected] or reach out to us on our social media accounts. We’re available for assistance from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Sunday.

DRF NCHR Complaint Cell for Journalists

DRF and NCHR are operating a Complaint Cell to support journalists that have been the target of human rights abuses. The contact information for the Journalist Complaint Cell is available on the NCHR website at https://nchr.gov.pk/contact-us/

IWF Portal

DRF in collaboration with Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and the Global Fund to End Violence Against Children launched a portal to combat children’s online safety in Pakistan. The new portal allows internet users in Pakistan to anonymously report child sexual abuse material in three different languages- English, Urdu, and Pashto.

www.report.iwf.org.uk/pk

StopNCII.org

Meta along with Revenge Porn Helpline (RPH) has launched a portal to support victims of Non-Consensual Intimate Image Abuse (NCII). NCII is a free portal for reporting cases of sensitive or sexual content existing online. Once you report a case, the necessary steps will be taken to block the images from the platform.