The media should help
the society better know the online environment. It is important to detect the
reliable sources, differentiate between quality information, facts and fakes,
carry out unbiased journalistic investigations amid the existing hate speech,
trolling and disinformation.
The School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in CA with the support of the Media K Internews (Kyrgyzstan) documents cases of verbal aggression in the online environment as part of the ongoing monitoring and analysis of hate speech.
The hate speech dynamics in public space demonstrates that it remains at a high level.
The results gathered as of the World Press Freedom Day showed that almost one-third part of the monitored content contained hate speech in various forms. It was especially noticeable in online discussions about the referendum on amendments to the constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic, local and extraordinary presidential election that was held in 2021[1].
The outbreak of intolerance and distorted information was found in the last days of April 2021 amid messages about the armed conflict in the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border.
The intense public and political agenda of Kyrgyzstan aggravated by the crisis during the COVID-pandemic encourages the journalists and internet users to voice their opinions more actively. However, it is often accompanied by fake news, unverified information and deliberate misrepresentation of information.
Amid this situation, the experts reported correlations between hate speech, trolling and not always reliable messages that are spread in social media both by identified and fake accounts. Endless data flows, verbal aggression, disinformation make the audience doubt whether information is reliable. Therefore, journalistic investigations about facts, scope of distribution of such information, its actors and purposes are highly required.
The media should play the key role by using new approaches of creating and distributing content to protect and promote truthful information, by encouraging the audience to improve their media literacy skills and to offer opportunities, to evaluate information critically.
The World Press Freedom Day means to raise awareness of governments and the society on the need to respect and protect human rights to the freedom of expression, and to highlight the importance of complying with high standards and ethics for journalists, internet content creators. It will help improve the information ecology and create long-term measures to respond to hate speech and fake news.
[1]Hate speech on the internet during early presidential election in Kyrgyzstan, January 2021, http://ca-mediators.net/ru/ru_news/5396-yazyk-vrazhdy-i-sarkazm-v-internete-v-period-dosrochnyh-prezidentskih-vyborov-v-kr.html
The pandemic has allowed the authorities to further abuse technology and restrict freedom of speech.The restrictions around coronavirus have made people around the world more reliant on the internet as a means of communication – often involving criticism of how the authorities have handled the crisis. Attempts by governments in Central Asia to suppress such censure have generated even more discontent, highlighting ongoing debates about online expression in the region.
IWPR: The pandemic and lockdown have made people spend more time online. Based on this, has Covid-19 influenced the level of internet freedom of speech in Central Asia?
Inga Sikorskaya: The period of the pandemic has become one of the gloomiest for freedom of speech in Central Asia. The authorities have responded with strict restrictive measures that suppressed freedom of speech and the press and increased the risks of threats and attacks against journalists and bloggers, especially those who wrote about coronavirus.
On the one hand, we became dependent on digital technologies. On the other, many measures affected internet freedom as it became the main platform for sharing information during social isolation.
The authorities silenced journalists and refused to accredit media outlets when they covered coronavirus during the lockdown. In Kyrgyzstan, in March-April 2020 the authorities forced bloggers to apologise for criticism that the government had responded poorly to the pandemic.
In Uzbekistan in July 2020, a security agency supervisor forced the administrator of the Troll.uz Telegram channel to delete a post about corruption during the pandemic. In another case, unknown people called bloggers and reminded them of their criminal liability for "spreading panic” in posts about coronavirus.
Insults and threats were directed against independent journalists in Tajikistan who reported on Covid-19 when the authorities denied there were any coronavirus cases in the country. A range of independent web resources were blocked and access to information restricted.
The level of hate speech in the media and on the internet has increased slightly during social isolation because of the increase in comments from people who shifted to the online sphere.
The situation increased the growth of xenophobia and Islamophobia. According to the results of our last survey on the influence of Covid-19 on discrimination, the main targets of hate attacks online in Kyrgyzstan were Muslim pilgrims who returned from hajj just before lockdown. Some users not only accused them of spreading coronavirus, but also urged other people to punish them.
Another target group among hate distributors were ethnic Chinese, the main target of media xenophobia in Kazakstan. In Uzbekistan, there was online hate speech against migrant workers who returned due to the pandemic.
In fact, the dynamics remain the same as in previous years. The only change is in the amount of recorded hate speech against various social groups and the political context that affected narratives of intolerance in the public space.
For example, in Kyrgyzstan – which experienced a disputed parliamentary election, an extraordinary presidential election, a referendum and political shock - hate speech spread on the internet much faster than in quieter neighbouring countries.
Most of the methods that are used to regulate the internet in Central Asia are authoritative and promote censorship. This trend can be seen in other states that experience digital authoritarianism. Instruments are used to strengthen social and political control and to suppress civil liberties. Despite the fact that digital society does suffer from fakes, the implementation of technologies related to online control and regulation requires guaranteed personal data confidentiality and the rule of law. It is difficult to assume that the governments of Central Asian countries will be willing to do this.
Therefore, the problem of fake accounts is best solved by cooperating with technology companies, digital giants such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter. These companies are already actively involved in this issue, developing new algorithms, rules, promoting openness, transparency and their own regulatory mechanisms [alongside] freedom of expression.
Recent trends show a steady decline in internet freedom for several years in a row. There are three main challenges that will further threaten the freedom and development of journalism in Central Asia.
Firstly, this is an increase in the level of online threats, which continue in the offline environment. During the election campaigns of 2020 and 2021 in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakstan, journalists and Internet activists faced an increase in bullying, attacks and seizure of equipment while covering political processes live on the internet.
Therefore, more attention needs to be paid to the digital and physical security of media workers and all fighters for the freedom of expression.
Secondly, there are disinformation campaigns organised on the internet which often aim to entrap the media or active users. This is directly related to a digital tribalism trend. This is when discussion group members or trolls evaluate information not on the basis of compliance with generally accepted standards of evidence or common understanding, but on the basis of whether it supports the values and goals of a given digital tribe and whether this information is confirmed by their leaders.
The third challenge is the continued use of hate speech on social media platforms and under articles by online news agencies. Most of the documented incidents fall under the umbrella of freedom of expression and, if necessary, are regulated by the development of correct polemics, education and social disapproval.
However, there is a danger that the dissemination of hateful content could provoke outbreaks of offline violence against minorities and social groups. Therefore, the media community must act carefully here, with an understanding of the flexible structure of hate speech so as not to cause a baseless attack on freedom of expression.
The pandemic has changed not only attitudes but also technologies. Censorship will grow through the expansion of technology and the export of digital authoritarianism in Central Asia's big neighbours, Russia and China. The surveillance and control of internet freedom advocates will grow. This challenge to democratic principles and human rights shows that we are moving in the opposite direction. Only new, alternative strategies can win.
These can be joint programmes of digital companies, media, civil society and governments, which must agree on a basic set of rules and values, taking into account the importance of preserving freedom of expression for the development of an open and inclusive society.
Timur Toktonaliev is IWPR’s Central Asia editor.
Inga Sikorskaya, a former senior IWPR editor for Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, now heads the School of Peacemaking and Media Technologies research organisation. She warns that government responses to freedom of speech amid the crisis heralds a worrying trend for future attempts to control online expression.
Female journalists and activists have discussed the situation with gender stereotypes and stigma on the Internet and have learned to understand discrimination and tools to counter, assess risk factors to improve their psycho-emotional state during aggression in the online sphere.
The workshop was organized by the School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in Central Asia with the support of the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI).
Women participants from different regions of Kyrgyzstan have gathered at the training organized under the project designed to promote gender equality and women’s rights via monitoring, documenting, analysis of the level of stereotypes, stigma regarding women in the media, on the Internet and public discourse.
Female journalists and activists, many of whom encounter threats, aggression, and stereotypical behavior in their professional activities have learned about modern methods of detection of gender intolerance on the internet, preventive techniques and ways to mitigate negative consequences.
Women participants have trained to determine the kinds of discrimination and to discern between them during group practice sessions on detection and classification of discrimination.
The last session focused on the analysis of psycho-emotional state of journalists and activists during their work. Many participants have understood how to use their innate resources and to organize mental self-help by means of analytical exercise and interactive discussion designed to detect risk factors and develop personal defense mechanisms.
The research "Gender stereotypes in the media sphere of Kyrgyzstan” was also presented during the event. It demonstrated frequently used stereotypes, intolerance and threats regarding women in Kyrgyzstan.
The participants of the event discussed the recommendations prepared on the basis of the research. The recommendations will be directed to the authorities, the media, and civil society organizations.
School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in
Central Asia with the support of Media K Internews in the Kyrgyz Republic
Project presents the "Hate Speech and Sarcasm in the
2021 Kyrgyzstan Presidential Election Discourse ” research held from December 15, 2020 to January 20,
2021.
The research was aimed to find hate speech in the discussions about early presidential election in Kyrgyzstan based on multilingual media monitoring and content analysis of selected online media outlets and social media. The level of reported hate speech during the presidential election campaign was two times less than that during the parliamentary election. However, it does not mean that the society’s culture of polemic or the level of network ethics has increased.
Experts explain it by passive election campaign, "early” election, undifferentiated list of candidates, "social burnout” of journalists, users, speakers because of a lot of public and political events that reflected on lower concern for the events and affected the public discourse. The researchers have studied the hate speech trends and dynamics, classified it by types of intolerance and identified reasons of prevalence of one trend over another one.
Moreover, a range of ironic and sarcastic comments and images containing obscene vocabulary, slang, discriminatory expressions was found on social media and forums posted under materials in online media outlets. Sarcasm was often used to add to the negative public perception of a certain individual and to disguise hate speech.
Also, flawed arguments that caused discrepancies in wording, distortion of opponents’ positions were reported in online discussions and in the media. This type of hate speech was revealed in anti-western rhetoric, drawing false parallels between candidates and various identities, formation of dehumanizing metaphors based on comparison of people and animals, according to the report.
The experts recommend developing and implementing public awareness campaigns regarding the efficiency of tolerant technologies in public discourse, continuing to introduce editorial media practices of politically correct vocabulary and stylistics based on pluralism of opinions and freedom of expression. Also, minority, social and discriminated groups must have a voice, and the public awareness on constitutional rights should be raised. In addition, responsible work with comments (moderation, pre-moderation) posted under articles published in the media must be promoted among journalists.
School
of Peacemaking and Media Technology in Central Asia condemns the attacks on
freedom of expression in Kyrgyzstan. Two events has been taken place in the
past few days indicate the desire of the
authorities to control both offline and online content.
On December 2, 2019, the Kyrgyz authorities, under pressure of fringe radical groups, cracked down on the1st Feminnale of Contemporary Art international exhibition "Kormilitsa”. Economic freedom. Woman” that was held in the G.Aitiev Kyrgyz National Museum of Fine Arts in Bishkek.
According to local media, it happened after the museum’s staff, organisers of the exhibition received threats and after the meeting between a far-right ultra-nationalists groups with the minister of culture of the Kyrgyz Republic[1]. The fringes demanded that expositions that, in their opinion, "were contrary to the mindset of the Kyrgyz people” be closed.
Among the display exhibits, there was a performance – a girl that was washing sheep casings in a bowl and a naked woman, who symbolised the powerlessness and vindication of the rights of women.
These very exhibits were censored, found "provocative” by a specially established committee by the ministry of culture, and then take away from the exhibition. Thus, the agency, under pressure of fringe aggressive groups, used censorship to restrict the artistic freedom.
There are articles 31 and 33 its guarantees every citizen the right to freely seek, obtain, distribute information and exercise the freedom of expression in the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic. International conventions ratified by Kyrgyzstan encourage creation and to support the artistic freedom as a freedomto imagine, create and distribute diverse cultural expressionsfreeof governmental censorship, political interference or the pressures of non-state actors for further development of contemporary art and encouragement of human rights.
We call on the authorities to refuse any attempts of content control because the Kyrgyzstan’s society has grown out of censorship a long time ago and lives in the age of freedom of expression and media freedom and can able to estimates of contents its own.
This also refers to the recent fact of restriction of the Internet freedom of expression by reason of critical comments were posted.
On November 24, 2019, Avtandil Zhorobekov, an administrator of the Facebook page "BespredelKG”, was arrested and placed into the pre-trial detention facility of GKNB [State National Security Committee]. A criminal case was initiated against him for "inciting interregional discord” and distribution of "knowingly false and provocative information about the head of the state”. The reason was the comments to the posts, which mentioned the persons discussed in the journalistic investigation of smuggling and corruption at the customs service[2].
GKNB claimed these statements allegedly "made people feel hatred toward each other in the form of interregional discord.” However, it’s unclear who and how qualified this discord, how it manifested itself, what media content was analysed, what verified methodology was applied, and what is the expert knowledge of experts who qualified it as incitement of interregional discord.
Many questions arose especially because the arrest of the administrator of BespredelKG occurred amid the scandal with corruption schemes following the journalistic investigation was published.
School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in Central Asia calls on the Kyrgyz authoritiesto stop repressive practices against the freedom of expression, to stop exerting pressure on online discussions in order to enforce censorship among users.
about: School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in Central Asia is a media development and media communicationorganisation, encouragement of freedom of expression diversity and human rights, and countering the hate speech. It focuses on studies and expert reviews of online content, hate speech in media, on the internet and in public discourse, holding media campaigns on sensitive issues, trainings for journalists, activists and online content creators, including in conflict areas. For more information see:www.ca-mediators.net https://www.facebook.com/peacemakingS/e-mail: peacemakingschool@gmail.com
[1] We can see briefs at the market, naked people on the internet. The opponents of the feminnale describe their complaints https://24.kg/obschestvo/136587_trusyi_myividim_nabazare_golyih_vinternete_protivniki_feminale_pro_pretenzii/
Inveterate low scorers: level of the freedom of expression in Central Asian states is below 4
School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in CA published a report "FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN CENTRAL ASIA: TRENDS AND PECULIARITIES-2019.”
The full report in Russian is available at http://ca-mediators.net/ru/ru_news/5309-svoboda-vyrazheniya-v-centralnoy-azii-regionalnye-trendy.html
This research differs from previous ones by a wider focus on the freedom of expression, and the authors didn’t focus on the media freedom level only. Comments on own or public affairs, public opinion polls, discussion of human rights, journalism, expression of ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identities, creative self-expression, topics and discussions at various events and trainings are the examples of the forms of expression, so they were tested for the purpose of rankings.
The researchers prepared this index on a 5-point scale, where 5 - excellent; 4 - good; 3 - fair; 2 - poor; 1- very poor.
Turkmenistan holds the worst position in the Central Asia. Respondents and researchers summarised all data and put this country to the lowest place by giving it a 1. "1” means the legitimate freedom of expression, yet it cannot be exercised. People have no alternative sources of information, content is widely blocked, people don’t take part in political discussions because of fear of repressions[1].)
Tajikistan has 2 in the freedom of expression and follows Turkmenistan as it has blocked access to independent web sites and social media, while the level of censorship in the media remain very high. The authorities strengthen online censorship when the social and political situation in the country gets tense[2].
Despite positive changes in Uzbekistan emphasised by some international indexes, namely release of journalists who had been arrested during Karimov’s regime from prison, this country of "nominal shift of power” keeps controlling internet and censoring the users.
Somewhat more than "2” in the index means that respondents think there’s still a long way to go before the real improvement of the freedom of expression situation[3].
A critical situation with the freedom of expression has developed in Kazakhstan; the country was given a bit above 2 in this index. On April 21, 2019, two activists – Asiya Tulesova and Beibaris Tolymbekov – were detained in Almaty for 15 days for holding a banner with a slogan "You cannot run from the truth – I have a choice”[4]. It happened during the marathon with 17 thousand participants, when the activists were holding a banner along the route and expressed their opinion that way. The sports campaign was dedicated to the presidential election to be held in Kazakhstan this June[5].
Kyrgyzstan, which takes the highest position – 3+, and cannot reach 4, adopts the methods used in neighbouring countries to repress freedom of expression[6].
The level of the freedom of expression in Central Asia states was assessed by experts according to the following 5-point scale:
5 Freedom of expression is encouraged, democracy is thriving, lack of censorship, understandable legislation, citizens express their opinions openly.
4 Freedom of expression is encouraged, access to information is available, citizens take part in political discussions, existing legislation, yet interpretation and enforcement issues remain; improvement of the skills of media literacy, media culture and network ethics.
3 Freedom of expression is secured in legislation, access to information is partially available, information is filtered, citizens take part in political issues discussions on online platforms only, communications are not protected, content may be blocked partially to restrict the freedom of expression, users may be interrogated for their statements.
2 Freedom of expression is secured in legislation, access to information is limited via various mechanisms, including countering dissent, citizens rarely express their opinion on political issues, detentions and arrests for expression of opinions are practised.
1 Freedom of expression is secured in legislation, yet not implemented, people have no alternative sources of information, content is widely blocked, citizens don’t take part in political discussions because of fear of repressions.
Opinions of respondents about the improvement of the freedom of
expression:
84% of 100% of respondents think
political changes, more freedoms and media pluralism are needed;
79% of 100% are confident that the
existing laws may be enforced by political will;
63% of 100% spoke about the need to
change the laws and make the authorities and the society follow them;
49% of 100% think the freedom of
expression will expand further without internet blocking because it has immense
limits;
33% of 100% hope more on the active civil society with a sustainable stance and capacities to promote the freedom of expression;
16% of 100% said the society should seek
the freedom of expression;
4% of 100% were pessimistic and said
nothing could be done to change the current situation.
Main trends influencing the freedom of expression in central Asia
One of the trends that has a negative influence on the freedom of expression in Central Asian states is the existing law enforcement practice based on wide interpretation of the incitement of hatred and hostility in local criminal statutes (1), which makes them even more dangerous. Kazakhstan is the leader in the region in the restriction of the freedom of expression by charging journalists, users and activists with the incitement of various kinds of hatred[7].Misuse antiextremism (2) is the second trend used to restrict the freedom of expression in the majority of Central Asian states in the contexts of the above statutes. On the one hand, it is due to the vague wording of the definition of "extremism” in local laws, which is the heritage of criminal statutes of the former Soviet Union. On the other hand, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which comprise a military-political bloc, Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) supervised by Russia, use the common anti-extremist legislation, where such vague concepts enable their misuse to restrict the freedom of expression. The on-going references to the threat of extremisms/terrorism trend allow Central Asian authorities to block online resources.
The growing penetration of the internet in Central Asia, the increase in the number of users created third trend - implementation of user-generated content into professional journalism (3). And finally, researchers recorded rather high level of propaganda and hate speech (4) in the media. However, despite the fact that government propaganda is reported in media outlets of all five Central Asian states, hate speech prevails in Kyrgyzstan, to a lesser extent it exists in Kazakhstan, and is almost missing in the media outlets in other countries.
About methodology: The level of the freedom of expression was determined based on the findings of annual media monitoring for hate speech in public discourse, surveys and in-depth interviews with journalists, editors and media specialists of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and analysis of journalistic articles and user generated content based on a special scale, as well as reports about media situation. 2,189 documented media texts and visual content were analyzed in total, which were published on 79 open media resources. Also, verbal and written surveys were held and covered 500 respondents, including journalists, editors, bloggers, human rights activists of the five countries. Moreover, we used opinions of nearly 700 participants of trainings and conferences conducted by the School of Peacemaking in 2018-2019 about the current level of the freedom of expression and threats in Central Asian states. All comments were documented, processed by experts of the media monitoring application, and then systematised for the general rating. Guests of on-going open consultations on the freedom of expression and hate speech regularly held by the School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in Central Asia contributed to the rating. Their opinions were taken into account when assessing the basic level of the freedom of expression and cases of its restriction.
The freedom of expression is reviewed in the report in several aspects:
An opportunity to seek, obtain and distribute information regardless of boundaries, including on the internet;
The level of media pluralism, tolerance to a variety of manifestations of the freedom of expression;
Admissible criteria of the rhetoric of hate according to the local laws and contexts;
Available restrictions of the right of the freedom of expression.
[1] For more information, please see full report at http://ca-mediators.net/ru/ru_news/5309-svoboda-vyrazheniya-v-centralnoy-azii-regionalnye-trendy.html
[7]For details see report at http://ca-mediators.net/ru/ru_news/5309-svoboda-vyrazheniya-v-centralnoy-azii-regionalnye-trendy.html
School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in Central Asia hereby appeals to the authorities of the Kyrgyz Republic to expedite
the issue of orders for expert examination and to conduct impartial
investigation of a traffic accident that occurred on November 24, 2018 under strange
circumstances, which resulted in injuries and brain concussion of programme
director Inga Sikorskaia.
So far, the investigation has not issued order for two forensic psychiatric examinations on this traffic accident case.
On February 8, 2019, Zamir Zhooshev, lawyer of Precedent Partner Group, counsel for the plaintiff, requested the Bishkek GUVD [Chief Directorate of Internal Affairs] to carry out two forensic psychiatric examinations of the driver who committed the traffic accident and of the victim. Under the law, an order for or denial of examinations should have been issued after the request.
The request for forensic psychiatric examination of the victim was made due to the fact that the Republican Centre for Forensic Examination of the Kyrgyz Republic "refused to determine the severity of the harm inflicted to health of I. Sikorskaia (as written in the report) and at the same time doubted the diagnosis made by a neurologist of a Bishkek-based MEDI clinic "Brain concussion”, which resulted in retrograde amnesia, after which I. Sikorskaia was treated for one and a half months.
Another diagnosis, "post-commotionsyndrome”, was made to the victim in the Republican Mental Health Centre, where she was prescribed a course of treatment and recommended an attenuated regimen for three months.
The victim, in her initial statement, requested for forensic psychiatric examination of the Namba taxi driver, who committed the traffic accident. The driver, according to her, "didn’t know the route, didn’t understand where to go, arbitrarily changed the route and didn’t take any measure to avoid the accident on a half-empty road.”
We are concerned with the sluggishness and uncertainty of the investigation.
We received the report of the Republican Centre for Forensic Examination of the Kyrgyz Republic on the health condition of I. Sikorskaia from the traffic accident investigator of GUVD of Bishkek, Police Lieutenant Colonel S. Booronbaev on January 25, 2019 despite the fact that medical examination of the victim was conducted on December 7, 2018.
On December 19, 2018, Harlem Désir, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, during his visit to Kyrgyzstan, raised the issue of a strange traffic accident with I. Sikorskaia at the meeting with the relevant committee members of Kyrgyz Parlament.
On December 9, 2018, the Coalition for Security Issues and Defence of Human Rights Defenders in Central Asia (Kazakhstan) requestedK.A. Dzhunushaliev, minister of interior affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, to take all reasonable efforts to protect the rights of I. Sikorskaia and to assist in the impartial investigation of the traffic accident.
On December 6, 2018, Harlem Désir, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, during his meeting with Chingiz Aidarbekov, minister of foreign affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, in Milan (Italy), pointed the need to expedite the investigation of this accident. In turn, the head of the ministry assured this case would be followed up.
Inga Sikorskaia is a prominent journalist, human rights defender, researcher and speaker on freedom of expression, combating hate speech, anti-discrimination and trainer on media freedom. She is a regular participant of UN, OSCE conferences on the freedom of speech, human rights, conflict-sensitive matters, an author of a range of articles and study guides. In March 2018, she was deniedentry to Turkmenistan, where she should have participated at the OSCE conference.
Since 2017, I. Sikoskaia has been under pressure for her professional activities. Kyrgyz authorities blacklisted Sikorskaia to control her movement abroad. From April 2017, she was closely checked at the border 19 times.Moreover, in June 2018, after such complicated check, her photo in international passport was damaged ripped off.
School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in Central Asia, where I. Sikorskaia is a programme director, promotes the freedom of speech, hate speech researches and examinations, implements training programmes on countering the propaganda of extremism through media, encouraging diversity, developing independent media sphere.
Harlem Desir, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media visited Kyrgyzstan at the end of December 2018. His country visit dedicated to the 1st Regional Conference of Representatives of the Judicial Branch of Central Asia. Its theme is ensuring freedom of speech and the media in the context of the fight against extremism and terrorism. It was attended by international experts. The issues of media freedom were discussed within the framework of designated measures to counter extremism in the Central Asian states.
In an interview with 24.kg news agency, Harlem Dezir told how the vague wordings in the laws affected journalists and why freedom of speech should not be limited.
— We understand the importance and the need to counter the incitement of ethnic hatred, the spread of various kinds of extremist materials. But at the same time, we also recall the importance of respecting freedom of speech and the media. For example, at the conference we discussed particularly problematic issues in the legislation. In some countries, the laws have rather vague notions of extremism and extremist materials.
— How does this affect journalists?
— There are precedents in the states of the region, when both individual journalists and news outlets in general were persecuted or closed on the basis of rather vague and imprecise definitions. And we discuss with the judges how to ensure work in this direction to be carried out in accordance with the commitments that the countries of Central Asia as OSCE members have assumed.
— What specifically do you recommend?
— We discuss the issue of the implementation of the international covenant on political and civil rights in general, in particular, part 2 of article 119. This section regulates the circumstances that relate to media freedom.
— Who else have you discussed these issues with?
— I met with the head of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, deputies of the relevant committee of the Parliament. In addition, on the eve of my visit to Kyrgyzstan, in the framework of the meeting of Foreign Ministers of the OSCE states in Milan, I had a meeting with the new Foreign Affairs Minister, Chingiz Aidarbekov. We talked about the reforms being carried out in the Kyrgyz Republic and about the protection of the media.
— Are there any risks for Central Asian journalists due to imperfect legislation?
— Yes, there are. I shared a number of risks that my organization and I see. It’s about the interpretation of the legislation on the protection of the reputation of certain categories of officials.
— How do you assess the current level of freedom of speech in Kyrgyzstan? How has it changed over the past year?
— If you look at Kyrgyzstan, there have been many changes even for the last month. I hope that they will be aimed at ensuring the development of a democratic course and freedom of speech. I welcome the fact that a number of lawsuits filed on behalf of the president against journalists have been withdrawn. This case suggests that you need to learn from what happened, to evolve and change the legislation on the basis of these cases.
During the meetings with my Kyrgyz colleagues, I mentioned article 299 of the Criminal Code. It is obvious that there is a need for further joint work in this area. In addition, there are rules in the law that impose self-censorship on journalists. This position needs to be changed.
— What are other cases you draw attention of the authorities to?Restriction of media freedom is unworkable solution. Instead, it is necessary to give the media freedom for development to such a level when the public will trust them.
Harlem Desir
— We are concerned about the strange traffic accident involving Inga Sikorskaya. We would like to have a full investigation of this case. We raised the issue with journalist Elnura Alkanova, who was accused of divulging bank secrecy. We welcome the fact that claims have been dropped.
We very much welcomed the fact that claims against 24.kg news agency and journalist Kabai Karabekov were withdrawn.
Harlem Desir
— Since we started talking about access to information, what about access to information of journalists from Central Asian countries?
— I will not compile a ranking. But there is a large number of countries with too many restrictions regarding the access of journalists to information. At the same time, we see an increasing number of complaints from the authorities that journalists, when covering topics of public interest, do it without a sufficient degree of credibility.
In this regard, we advise our colleagues from the branches of government to facilitate access to information, including to how government decisions are made. This will help ensure sufficient share of objectivity.
This can be achieved with the help of Open Government, when the data on the work of the Cabinet of Ministers are publicly available. There is a large reserve for work in this sphere in most countries of the region.The state is obliged to make information accessible to both journalists and ordinary citizens.
Harlem Desir
Inga Sikorskaia, independent journalist, human rights activist, program director for School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in Central Asia injured in the strange car accident.
School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in CA hereby expresses concern about the traffic accident that occurred on November 24, 2018 in Bishkek with I.Sikorskaia, who was hospitalized with head injuries at the Bishkek National Hospital.
Currently, she is undergoing outpatient treatment.
On November 24, 2018, a Namba Comfort taxi driver of Daewoo Ravon R3 with number plate 01 KG1274H, cab 7992, arrived at her call and had to take her from Kensuiskaya Street/ Intergelpo to K.Akiev/Toktogul Street. For unknown reason driver changed the route to a longer one, at the intersection of K. Akiev and Sydykov Streets rammed deliberately into a white car parked on the right-hand side of the road.
"I was sitting in the back seat on the right and when we turned to K. Akiev Street, I saw that our car was going straight to the car parked on the right-hand side of the road,” the victim said. "I was clearly going to ram into it. Although the taxi driver had a few seconds to swerve (since the left-hand side of the road was empty), he didn’t make any measure to avoid the accident and kept on driving and thus put my life at risk and the accident occurred.”
The taxi started rolling side over side and then immediately stopped. As a result, Inga Sikorskaia hit her head on the roof of the car a few times, hit the seat with her left shoulder and the door with her right hand. Then she fainted.
"When I woke up, some people were standing by me (they turned out to be passers-by), they were feeling my pulse and trying to bring me round, looking for ammonia in the driver’s first aid kit,” Sikorskaia said. "Two girls called an ambulance 103, and also dialled the first incoming number from my phone, which was lying under my feet, it was Interfax agency journalist Natalia Liubeznova and asked her to come urgently. Then I went faint again.”
According to Natalia Liubeznova, who arrived immediately to the place of accident, the taxi driver who was standing near the car said he didn’t "remember anything”.
The victim woke up when the ambulance arrived and took her to the emergency neurotrauma department of the National Hospital, where she was examined and administered treatment.
On November 26, 2018, the staff of the School of Peacemaking visited the police control room of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (GUOBDD), where they were told that a case was filed on this accident. The case was given to investigator Samudin and they gave a telephone number to the staff.
The staff have failed to meet the investigator at the time of publication.
Although the victim wrote a detailed statement with all the facts, we tried to hand it over to the investigator, called him on November 26, he said he was not there at the moment and we should come on November 27 from 8 to 17. The next day, after some medical treatment, Sikorskaia accompanied by her assistant, arrived at GUOBDD at 11.50 and called him out of the car, but the investigator rudely said,
"Listen, dear, am I a robot? Can’t I have my lunch? It’s lunch time now, come back at 2 p.m.”
When we said we could leave the statement in the police control room for him to take it later, the investigator said, "No one will accept it or hand it over to me. Don’t you understand that I am having a lunch?”
In this regard, on November 28, 2018, we sent the statement to the investigative department of GUOBDD of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic by registered mail hoping it would reach the addressee.
School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in CA hereby asks the investigative authorities to carry out a fair investigation of the accident, in which Inga Sikorskaia, journalist, human rights activist, a program director, media trainer, researcher known in Central Asia and other countries, was injured. Her activities are aimed at the promotion of the freedom of expression, investigative journalism, encouraging diversity, countering intolerance and discrimination in the media and on the internet, protection of minority rights. She is a media professional, she spent seven years as a senior editor for Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting Central Asia.
Since 2017, I.Sikoskaia has been under pressure for her professional activities. Kyrgyz authorities blacklisted Sikorskaia to control her movement abroad. From April 2017, she was closely checked at the border 19 times. Moreover, in June, 2018, after such complicated check, her photo in international passport was damaged ripped off.
This is the statement by the participants
of the laboratory "Political space for
CSOs: democracy + human rights= sustainable development”.
The event was held on November 15, 2018 within the framework of the XII International Festival of Human Rights Documentary Films in Bishkek.
Participants were welcomed by Dimitris Christopoulos, president of the International Federation for Human Rights, FIDH (France), who arrived in Kyrgyzstan specifically at the festival, official meetings and interactions with the civil society.
Over 30 participants of the workshop were human rights activists, leaders of CSOs, experts, representatives of the Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic, activists from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Italy, France, Czech Republic who worked in the four groups: "Freedom of expression”, "Freedom of assembly”, "Freedom of association”, "Participation of women and migrant workers”. These working groups were created for a discussion of promotion of key liberties required to make political space function and to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. Experts delivered their reports on the situation of these freedoms amid current realities and civil society issues in Central Asia.
"The situation of the freedom of expression is similar in all the three countries – Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan,” Inga Sikorskaya, programme director of the School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in CA (Kyrgyzstan), said presenting her speech on "Freedom of expression in CA: challenges, trends, solutions”. "The main risks are broad interpretation of the laws on inciting hatred, confusion of this interpretation with extremism, which allows prosecuting independent activists, journalists, human rights defenders; growth of hate against socially disapproved groups in our countries, as well as the constantly high level of propaganda, which affects the shaping of public opinion and public discourse.”
For a few hours, working groups were discussing and developing recommendations and action plans. As a result, every team represented their packages of solutions.
Muattar Khaydarova, an expert from Tajikistan, speaking about the trends and risks in the sphere of freedom of association, announced the recommendations worked out by the group of participants specifying the need to improve the laws on financing NGOs from internal sources, emergency adoption of law on charitable organisations, stopping the use of tax law abuse as a leverage on the civil society in Tajikistan.
Gulshaiyr Abdirasulova, a representative of Kylym Shamy (Kyrgyzstan), introduced the audience to the peculiarities of legal proceedings related to the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. The working group with her participation suggested a series of steps to improve of this sphere. In particular, the group recommended developing and introducing a programme on the compliance with the freedom of peaceful assembly into training modules for judges, implementing the process of evaluation of judges and law-enforcement bodies regarding the human rights knowledge, shaping the practice of decision-making by the UN Human Rights Committee, an entity supervising the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in member states.
Aina Shormonbayeva, president of International Legal Initiative Public Foundation (Kazakhstan) presented recommendations of her group "Participation of women and migrant workers”.
"The governments and the parliament must respond to public interest and demands, which is the key principle of the open political space for CSOs”, Shormonbayeva said. Residents of villages Min Kush, Zhumgal district of Naryn oblast, Kyrgyzstan, arrived specifically to take part in this workshop because they live in an environmentally fragile area due to uranium mining implications, where people suffer from diseases and poverty. The activists recommended that the authorities should handle this situation as soon as possible. Particularly, they recommended developing a special mechanism of enforcement of the decision to relocate the residents of 23 houses in the village of Min Kush.
Ermek Baisalov,an editor of analytical portal CABAR.asia, emphasised the importance of interaction between the expert community and civil society organisations in Central Asia. The expert capacity is a serious basis for joint solution of issues, he emphasised.
The four working groups suggested their action plans to promote the stated freedoms that are needed by the countries to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. Some of suggestions were to obtain the decision of the Plenum of Supreme Court regarding the interpretation of articles related to the incitement of hatred and concerning the freedom of expression in media and on the internet, to adopt the anti-discrimination law of the Kyrgyz Republic in order to protect the rights and freedoms of diverse groups in the society, to adopt the law on charitable organisations, joint work to reduce unemployment and labour migration, to introduce 40 per cent quota for the representation of women in government, to introduce the practice of public hearing of public meeting law enforcement, to encourage the use of UN human rights monitoring mechanisms: use of specific UN procedures, individual appeals to the UN Human Rights Committee, appeals to special UN rapporteurs.
All the recommendations will be sent to the government, parliament, international organisations, media outlets.
The laboratory was organised by the School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in CA jointly with the human rights movement Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan and the representative office of theInstitute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) in CA.
A photo report of the laboratory is available on the official page of the XII International Festival of Human Rights Documentary Films on Facebook: http://catcut.net/JWhx
Alina Amilaeva, programme assistant of the School of Peacemaking and Media Technology, Kazakhstan.
The article was prepared by the School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in CA, an official media campaign partner to the XII International Festival.
Военные возле рынка запчастей в во время массовых беспорядков, г. Ош, июнь 2010 год
Участники тренинга по медиации и урегулированию конфликтов строят "Башню мира", Бишкек, апрель, 2011 год
Тренинг для журналистов по разрушению стереотипов, Бишкек, апрель, 2012 год
Семинар по производству командных репортажей в мультинациональных журналистких группах, Бишкек, август, 2012 год
Состоялась онлайн конференция, на которой обсуждались риски транснациональных репрессий в работе активистов, медиаработников, юристов и…
Можете ли вы ответить на вопрос: что такое миротворческая журналистика или журналистика мира, как это принято говорить в международной практике?
Это – позитивная журналистика?
Это – смягчение конфликта за счет историй, где говорится о том, как власти решают проблему?
Или это – баланс фактов и мнений, построенных на беспристрастной хронологии освещаемого вами конфликта?
Ни один из трех предложенных вопросов не является миротворческой журналистикой, поскольку она строится на других принципах.
Смотрите видеоурок от Инги Сикорской, директора Школы миротворчества и медиатехнологий в ЦА, медиаэксперта, исследователя, журналистки.
Инга освещала разные конфликтные события, работала в Афганистане, написала ряд учебных пособий для журналистов и активистов, в том числе "Как женщине-журналисту делать визуальные репортажи из Афганистана",
"Как освещать многообразие и этнические конфликты,"Как журналистам избегать языка вражды в своих репортажах" и другие.
Инга проводит семинары по медиа, кризисным и миротворческим коммуникациям в Центральной Азии и других странах.
Смотрите видео-урок с примерами и пояснениями, а потом выполните упражнение.
Группа независимого мониторинга,
экспертизы, анализа и образования Школы миротворчества и медиатехнологий в ЦА
оказывает услуги в НКО секторе, проводит консультации, экспертизу тренинги по
вопросам, связанным с медиасферой и публичным дискурсом.
Мы проводим медиа-мониторинги, медиа-исследования, разрабатываем медиа-планы и стратегии, готовим медиа-аналитику по заданным тематикам, а также предлагаем следующие услуги:
·исследование медиа-сферы на основе мониторинга СМИ на предмет освещения по заданной тематике с использованием уникальной методики, анализ, выработка рекомендаций;
·полный медиа-мониторинг и анализ выделенных публикаций по различным индикаторам, в зависимости от задачи– сбор всех материалов об объекте мониторинга по максимально широкому списку с помощью специальных электронных систем мониторинга, ручного поиска и интеллектуальных инструментов для анализа (кыргызский, русский, английский языки);
·по ограниченному медиа-списку – поиск публикаций об объекте мониторинга по определенному списку СМИ (обычно наиболее авторитетные, популярные, значимые с точки зрения достижения ЦА, издания);
·аналитические обзоры по заданной тематике;
·разработка моделей информационно-просветительских кампаний( интеллектуальная логистика, исследование и анализ ситуации, планирование мероприятий, определение аудитории, стратегия, сбор информации, анализ, разработка послания, определение ожидаемых результатов, тестирование кампании, разработка публичных мероприятий, отслеживание результатов кампании);
·разработка медиа-планов, мониторинг и анализ медиа-активности, кризисный медиа-мониторинг, архивный/ретроспективный медиа-мониторинг;
·консультации по созданию медиа-кампаний;
·тренинговые/обучающие услуги, мастер-классы: разработка тематики и программы тренинга;
·проведение медиа-тренингов/мастер-классов;
·информационные услуги (создание релизов, адаптация пресс-релизов под веб-публикацию. линкование, ссылки, теги и т д);
·разработка сценария и создание видео- и аудио-интервью, тезисы;
·подготовка спикеров для пресс-конференций, разработка сценария пресс-конференции и брифингов, тезисы их выступления;
·разработка медиа-плана для участия, выступающего в тематических программах по социально-значимым вопросам;
·редактирование и обработка текстов (кыргызский, русский, английский языки).
Вышеперечисленные услуги осуществляются по договору оказания платных услуг в некоммерческом секторе и рассчитаны в соответствии с калькуляцией платных услуг на текущий год. За подробной информацией обращаться на peacemakingschool@gmail.com или написать сообщение на Фейсбук https://www.facebook.com/Alinapeacemaker
