This innovative approach was suggested by Inga Sikorskaia, director of School of Peacemaking and Media Technology on October 26 in Astana (Kazakhstan) at the conference "New challenges and approaches to regional and global security in Central Asia”.
Based on researches and proprietary developments of training programmes, the expert has emphasised that one of the methods of youth de-radicalisation can be education and raising awareness of the younger generation, teaching it the skills of information literacy, development of critical thinking and forming new media culture. This helps them better understand the legitimacy of extremist views and their narratives, be resistant to propaganda.
"When countering radicalisation, our young people must have skills of perceiving conflict-sensitive content and rules of responding to it, must be able to detect hate speech, which is a negative content, in information consumed, and illegal information, extremist propaganda and media xenophobia that leads to violence,” I.Sikorskaia said.
The new media culture is a special type of culture in the digital age, when disintermediation prevails, no boundaries between traditional and social media information exist, which has caused the new type of thinking that is characterised by information awareness, skills of its creation and distribution. These two aspects make us look at media culture at a new angle and use it as a tool of deradicalization.
The main five elements of the new media culture are: culture of information consumption, dissemination, perception, analysis and media creativity. Mastering the culture of information consumption is a key factor that shows how audience perceive distributed information, including radical narratives, his level of critical perception and level of trust to information received and its further use.
According to I.Sikorskaia, the culture of information consumption enables development of further skills of media creativity and easy orientation in the rich information environment. "A young user that has all of the above skills can independently deconstruct radical narratives in information that contains extremist propaganda, and can help his peers to do that,” she emphasised, "while good education and good competencies will help create conditions that will hinder the ideology of violent extremism, its distribution and improve resistance of students to radical narratives.”
It can be achieved via a content-based aspect of education, introduction of flexible modules and teaching techniques.
The expert has presented a package of recommendations, some of which are to separate training and retraining of teachers in the standards and techniques of using skills of information literacy and new media culture, inclusion of five elements of new media culture and information literacy into general syllabuses, providing access to media education to vulnerable groups exposed to recruitment, via flexible modules designed to motivate and involve young people in projects to be implemented in their communities and some others.
Since now ideology is used by recruiters via new media and internet, the knowledge of creation, receipt, distribution, critical analysis, verification of information and communications in the digital sphere must become mandatory.
The event was held with participation of some experts from Central Asian region, Afghanistan, Europe and the United States, scholars, representatives of the diplomatic corps with the support of the OSCE Programme Office.
Over 450 documentary films from different countries of the world have been
demonstrated during 11 festivals held in Kyrgyzstan, including documentaries
from Eastern European and Central Asian countries. All films have been designed
to raise legal awareness and encourage directors that make films about acute
social problems and human rights.
Tolekan Ismailova, leader of human rights movement Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan, founder of film festival, has made examples of past festivals that emphasised the importance of such events in Kyrgyzstan.
Photo of the 11th international festival of
documentary films
Tolekan Ismailova:
It was the 2010 festival, when we witnessed the dependency of our government from foreign policy. They prohibited the screening of documentary "10 conditions of love” about the fate of the prominent human rights activist, head of the World Uighur Congress, Rabiya Kadyr. Ex-head of the presidential administration of the Kyrgyz Republic, Emil Kaptagaev, said that it was the intelligence agencies that prohibited the screening saying the embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Kyrgyz Republic was dissatisfied with it.
We appreciate the visits of our leading experts from various countries of the world, and we were especially impressed by the visit of Igor Blazhevich, ex-director of international festival of human rights documentary films "One World”, from Prague who came twice. He emphasised our festival was a folk festival! It involves active young people and leaders. We have the future! They are creative and free from stigma. Since the festivals topics always raise the most painful problems of vulnerable people, we are always aware of what happens in the world and we have a chance to prevent conflicts and focus on high principles and standards of human rights and liberties in terms of sustainable development.
And the third important thing is not only about
watching and discussing films, but also about a wide platform for partnership
and solidarity, sharing experiences, civic bridging. The key thing here is the
development of the Kyrgyz language as all documentaries come with captions in
different languages. This is a festival
for everyone!
During the 12thinternational festival of human rights documentary films "Bir Duino
Kyrgyzstan-2018”, innovative laboratories and master classes will be held on topical
issues in the framework of Sustainable Development Goals consistent with a human
rights-based approach. Current global challenges of political and religious
fundamentalism, violent extremism and terrorism have become a threat to public
security, obstacles to peaceful co-existence and barriers to sustainable
development for many countries in the world.
The labs will be held in November 13 to 15, 2018 in Bishkek.
The participants of events will be working over the tools and recommendations on empowerment of children, labour rights, cases of torture in penal setting.
The Global Storm: Growing Fundamentalism and Threats to the Future laboratory will focus on the issues of equality and human dignity; human rights defenders will discuss the financial literacy issues and the impact of Kyrgyzstan’s foreign debt on sustainable development. Jointly with the Bishkek mayor’s office Agency for Development, a workshop "Cities to Cities: The Role of Citizens, Partnership for Development” will be organised; while the Forum of Women’s NGOs, together with other organisations, will discuss "How to become a master of your own country?” by applying global experience of sustainable development with a human rights-based approach.
Master class on innovations in documentary films will be held by leading documentary filmmakers from Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and the laboratory of the Coalition for Equality will focus on raising awareness about the principles of equality and non-discrimination.
The last day of the festival will be dedicated to the development of political space for civil society organisations. The School of Peacemaking and Media Technology, together with key partners, will hold this workshop based on the following principle: democracy + human rights + fair and open government and equal partnership = sustainable development.
"The format of labs this year differs from the previous year’s as they are focused on topical issues,” said Lira Asylbek, director of Alternative Centre. - Workshops give an opportunity to key experts, representatives of civil society, CSOs, and authorities to focus on key present-day challenges, to understand what and who impedes the implementation of human rights, what happens around, how to mitigate these threats, which countries have successful outcomes of positive changes, and how to build equal partnership with the government, business entities for positive changes.”
Sharing experience, opinions, joint work over social problems will help find best innovative approaches and solutions. IT will also play its unique role in this process.
The programme of laboratories is here
More Information about the human development configuration
People: Human development focuses on improving people’s lives,
not just on the assumption that economic development automatically leads to social
welfare for all. Growth of income is seen as a means for development, not the outcome.
Opportunities: Human development gives people more freedom to live an
important life. In fact, it means to develop people’s skills and to enable them
to use these skills. For example, training helps shape skills, but they will be
useless if a person doesn’t have a job or their skills don’t fit the local
labour market needs. Human development is based on three components: a person
must live a long, healthy and creative life, must be well-informed and must
have access to resources that ensure a decent life.
Right of choice: Human development is based on a wide choice. People are given opportunities; however, they don’t have to use them.
No one can guarantee happiness to a person; every person makes their own choice based on their own decision. The process of development – human development – must at least create an environment for people, individually and collectively, to enable the development of their potential in full and to create reasonable opportunities for them to live a productive and creative life.
The School of Peacemaking and Media Technology is official partner of Fest-2018 on media campaign.
The 12th International Festival of Human Rights Documentary Films 2018 "For human dignity!” is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights will be held under the slogan "Today we work for tomorrow!”.
The annual festival organised by Bir Duino-Kyrgyzstan will take place in Bishkek in November 12-16, 2018.
55 films of 18 countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Norway, Sweden, China, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Russia, Germany, Poland, Belgium, USA, Australia, India, United Kingdom, Canada, Ukraine, Paraguay, Republic of South Africa have been submitted to the festival. The committee has selected 24 most vivid and striking films.
This year, the scenarios of documentary films focus on the problems of children, women and vulnerable groups, on torture in closed institutions, on migrants, discriminated-against people who have no access to fair justice. The films also tell about citizens who live in environmental hazardous regions and suffer from diseases and poverty. These topics is diverse, yet they are common in that they promote decent life for everyone.
This year, the idea of the festival has been supported by the Bishkek Mayor’s Office, local authorities. The films will be shown for free to anyone in every district of the city, in cinemas Manas, Rossiya, Oktyabr, Ala-Too. Following every film, producers will meet the audience to talk with them and answer their questions. Together with the audience, the films will be discussed with the characters of films, representatives of authorities, experts and journalists. All recommendations by results of this discussions will be submitted to government agencies, national human rights institutions and spread via solidarity networks.
On the last day of the festival, non-competition films will be shown that reveal various discrimination issues and social injustice faced by communities with intersecting identities.
"We are proud to have this festival for several years – this is not a project, but a joint volunteer work of likeminded people, activists, artistic people and human rights defenders,” Tolekan Ismailova, director of human rights movement Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan, said. "Today, in search of new approaches, innovative ways, we try to make an efficient contribution to the Sustainable Development Strategy with the human rights agenda and gender equality.”
The film festival takes place during new initiatives by the Kyrgyzstan’s authorities aimed at supporting small and medium enterprises in regions, attracting investments, and stepping up the efforts of financial institutions and funds that provide loans for projects address economic development and job creation.[1]
10 innovative labs and master classes will be held within the festival in terms of sustainable development goals, whose achievement is possible only through partnership with the government and private business, as well as through creative approaches to solution of vulnerable groups’ problems. The labs will create a platform for civil education, encouragement of citizens’ participation in decision-making, will contribute to the new development policies, including at the domestic level, promoting the good governance principles in the Kyrgyz Republic[2]. These workshops will be carried out by prominent foreign and regional experts under the auspices of national and international partners of Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan. And a Kazakhstan-based media group Partizanskoye Kino [Guerrilla filmmaking] will share its experience during the master class for documentary film makers.
For information: The international festival of human rights documentary film is an active civic platform that has been raising key issues of rights and liberties in a changing world since 2007. This is a unique festival in Central Asia that provides a great opportunity to discuss documentary truth in the human rights sphere by involving filmmakers from different countries.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which 70th anniversary is being celebrated this year, was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948[3]. This document declares interdependence of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights that every person has.
The School of Peacemaking and Media Technology is the official media partner of the festival.
For more information see: www.birduino.kg
https://www.facebook.com/birduinofest/?notif_id=1540181629171346¬if_t=page_admin&ref=notif
E-mail: birduinokyrgyzstan@gmail.com тел: +996312 383330
Inga Sikorskaia was closely checked at the border 19 times.
Inga, a program director for the School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in Central Asia is constantly detained by the border control bodies when passing through passport control at Kyrgyzstan’s border.
She specialises in investigative journalism, media studies for freedom of expression, trainings for journalists and activists on countering hate speech and extremists’ propaganda in the media, public discourse, including in conflict areas. Sikorskaia has told to Kaktus.media about the border checks her person during her business trips she has faced for 19 times this year.
"The order was to inform!” a border officer said when he was verifying my data in the electronic system after I showed him my passport at the control zone at the International Manas Airport in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) on June 16, 2018. Then they took my passport somewhere without explanation. Nobody explained anything to me. When they gave my passport back after half an hour and I was checked again, the story repeated. The border officer said that my document needed to be checked again. In fact, I went through the border control procedure twice. They gave me the document only after I made a phone call to my colleague who addressed the border service. I passed through passport control when boarding was almost complete.
Moreover, after this complicated check, the photo on my international passport was damaged – ripped off by one third. But I learned about this later: I did not check the passport pages because I was in a hurry to board the plane. Upon arrival in Almaty, the Kazakh border officer pointed out this defect to me and agreed to let me in only after I had shown my internal passport to him.
It was for the 19th time since May 2017, when I was thoroughly checked at checkpoints, where my name was blacklisted, or as local border officers call it, a "secondary” special register.
I don’t mean those whose freedom of movement can be restricted by law, for example, during an investigation, or those debtors who are under travel restrictions, offenders or child support payers. After all, neither my organisation nor I am involved in any court cases. It seems that our country makes blacklists based on the experience of neighbouring repressive states, and listing independent journalists, civil activists, and human rights defenders there.
From my experience when I worked as a senior editor on Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, I remember great problems of my colleagues from these countries who were on the blacklist. As a result, they are either restricted to leave the country for many years, or are exposed to direct violation of their civil rights upon leaving or returning to the country.
All of my 19 cases when it took me a long time to pass passport control, when officers asked me to step aside, sit and wait (until my border crossing was agreed and registered?), I travelled from Kyrgyzstan to Europe and Central Asian countries to international conferences organised by the OSCE , UN, other international and partner organisations. I delivered reports on the freedom of expression, xenophobia and countering the propaganda of extremism there, presented media researches, held trainings on the tools of monitoring the right to non-discrimination in the public sphere, trainings for journalists, researchers, and human rights activists.
This March, during my trip to Brussels for an OSCE/ODIHR event, in addition to time-consuming examination and scanning of my passport, my small suitcase with a lock that was checked did apparently undergo a real attack in my absence. Upon arrival in Brussels, I received it cut, without a lock, with things all mixed up. Other participants of the event, who saw my suitcase initially at the Manas International airport in Bishkek, were not even surprised. They travel with hand luggage only, also because some inappropriate things could be placed inside luggage and used against them.
Last year, when I was passing the border, I was asked weird questions about whether I had bank debts or whether I was wanted by police. Next time, they took my passport for a long time, and when I asked them to give my document back they wondered, "Why, didn't we give it to you?” When I was crossing the land border at the Kyrgyz- Kazak Ak-Zhol checkpoint in the autumn of 2017, the officers took my passport away, locked the doors on both sides and left me in the room.
I consider such a strict control over my movements as unjustified attempts to restrict my constitutional freedom. I have already addressed the State National Security Committee [GKNB] and the border service of the Kyrgyz Republic, while the group of lawyers of the School of Peacemaking and Media Technology collect documentary justifications for further actions.
UN Committee on the Elimination of
Racial Discrimination recommends Kyrgyzstan to combat racist media coverage and
incidents of hate speech against ethnic minorities.
School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in CA, an entity focusing on the research of hate speech and discrimination in the media and public discourse, media development, and encouragement of diversity, calls on the authorities, media entities of Kyrgyzstan, and civil society to pay attention to the concluding observations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
On May 11, 2018, by results of the regular session the members of the UN Committee published concernsand recommendations after listening to the periodic report of Kyrgyzstan.
Human rights entities of the country also delivered their alternative report.
The meeting was held from April 23 to May 11, 2018 in Geneva.
Having studied the reports, the UN Committee has recommended that the authorities of Kyrgyzstan should take necessary measures to combat racist media coverage and incidents of hate speech committed including by politicians and other public figures, and ensure that such cases are thoroughly investigated and, where appropriate sanctions be imposed.
"The Committee is concerned about the prevalence of stereotyping and stigmatization of ethnic minorities, including Uzbeks, Turks, Uighurs and Mugat, as well as the incidence of hate speech against them in the media and by public and political figures”, as reads the section "Hate speech and ethnic profiling” of the concluding observations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in CA for the last 7 years has held regular monitoring and research of hate speech that indicate the established trends of hate speech use against various groups.The stereotypic coverage of ethnic issues by local media has led to the transmission of discriminatory language spoken by public speakers or respondents against minorities by journalists. The development of internet has expanded the opportunities of the freedom of expression and increased the spread of nationalistic expressions.
No clear understanding of the difference between the negative-value and unlawful (criminalized) content in publications, which can lead to hate speech crimes, is the result of low awareness and education in ethics and combating intolerance and also low awareness of political, social and cultural rights of ethnic minorities guaranteed by the Kyrgyz Constitution. These factors influence the capability of the media to objectively raise the sensitive issues of ethnic minorities, which leads to even greater stereotyping, stigmatization, thus making the minorities invisible and aloof from society.
Kyrgyzstan has some experience of encouragement of ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity through the media developed by local experts. We urge that these practices be introduced into educational and outreach campaigns on media literacy, that we keep on raising awareness and skills of journalists, media workers, communication experts, counsellors, activists in order to reduce the incidence of hate speech and incitement to hatred.
Among other recommendations by the UN Committee for Kyrgyzstan have been: to expedite the adoption of anti-discrimination law, to take effective measures to ensure that journalists and human rights defenders (including those working on the rights of ethnic minorities), are able to carry out their work effectively without fear of reprisal, to strengthen awareness-raising campaigns, to combat ethnic or racial stereotypes and stigma with a view to promoting tolerance and understanding.
On March 29, 2018, a working discussion meeting was
held with participation of the representatives of media, civil society and
state bodies to discuss the recommendations on countering the propaganda of
extremism developed by the experts of the project "Combating the propaganda of violent extremism through media andawareness” on the basis of media monitoring.
The participants were provided with the findings of the media research "Islamophobia and Propaganda in Online Media and Social Networks of Kyrgyzstan”, where experts have emphasised the alarming trend when media outlets draw parallels between the Islam and extremism. In 60 per cent of articles analysed, authors mentioned Islam even when neither the Islamic religion, nor extremism was the topic of the story. Thus, a narrative connection is created between the Islam and extremism, fear is imposed on the audience, and Islamophobic public discussions are encouraged.
Among main recommendations that can help mitigate the consequences of a negative discourse are the need to use peacemaking approaches to overcome hate speech in media, which can be an early prevention of the spread of extremists’ propaganda, to work constantly to reduce the discriminatory language used in the media and on the internet.
Project experts think that such measures will create the conditions for effective and quick response to the radical discourse.
See recommendations here.
The event was organised by School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in CA under the project "Combating the propaganda of violent extremism through media and awareness” funded by the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek.
25 journalists and media workers from various regions
of Kyrgyzstan have been trained to counter the propaganda of violent extremism
and hate in the media. The training programme was developed by a team of local
and international trainers based on the findings of the media-monitoring sphere
of Kyrgyzstan and with the use of new interactive tools.
The participants have learned about the media used by
banned groups to spread extremist propaganda, the mistakes made by journalists
and users that lead to the propaganda of extremism, how hate speech and
Islamophobia affect the radicalisation of the media. A few sessions have been
dedicated to the key aspects of religious safety of Kyrgyzstan, legal standards
of international laws on violent extremism, radicalism and terrorism, communication’s
methods between official bodies and media outlets when covering security
issues.
The participants have applied the skills they acquired
to situational group games and practical exercises, and have jointly developed
recommendations on "What journalists can and must do to cover the events
related to extremism and terrorism, and what they should not do.”
On the last day, a presentation of handbook "How to
counter extremist propaganda” in Kyrgyz and Russian developed by the project
experts exclusively for the media outlets was delivered. The handbooks have
been given to the media in Osh, Jalal-Abad, Batken regions and Bishkek, as well
as to the universities to the departments of journalism and communications.
The two-day training-workshop was organised by School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in CA under the "Combatting Violent Extremism Through Media and Awareness’ Project implemented with the financial support of the US Embassy in Bishkek.
School of Peacemaking and Media Technology
in Central Asia supported by the Democracy
Commission of the US Embassy Bishkek announces a competition among journalists who
want to take part in the three-day training workshop on Countering Extremists Propaganda
and Hate in Media to be held in February 26-27-28 February, 2018 in Bishkek. All
costs shall be borne by organizers.
The training program is based on modern challenges and current needs of journalists. Participants will be taught the methods and tools of coverage of signs of extremism, terrorism and related issues. They will also learn how the hate speech and its communication aspects influence the spread of radical content in the media and on the Internet, understand what errors of journalists and users lead to propaganda of extremism, learn the difference between harmful and illegal content in order to prevent the consequences of transmitting extremist ideology, practice the skills of journalism ethics and legal security.
The training will be held by international and local experts having solid experience.
We are inviting journalists and media activists aged below 35 from all the regions of Kyrgyzstan.
Participants of the training will be selected on a competitive basis. Those selected shall be obliged to take the training program from the beginning to the end.
In order to take part in the competition, please email the following documents to: peacemakingschool@gmail.com:
— a completed application form for participation in the training (download
here)
— a CV,
— a scan of ID.
Only a complete set of documents will be accepted.
Deadline for applications— 5:00 pm February 16, 2018.
Late applications will not be considered.
The School of
Peacemaking and Media Technology in Central Asia with the financial support of the Democracy Commission of US Embassy in the
Kyrgyz Republic is implementing the project intended for early warning of
extremist propaganda, by building rapid response for radical discourse via the
media and communications strategies.
The analysis of media sphere and internet carried out by the project experts shows that religious intolerance takes one of the top places among all media phobias and can contribute to the conveyance of extremist ideology. The media often form their content based on news events found on the internet. On the one hand, they provide the audience with more diverse information; on the other hand, they can retransmit the ideas of extremism once they get caught by the propaganda. Moreover, when covering extremism and related issues visual content from various online sources is being widely used. This content is often the propaganda of radical narratives leading to violent extremism.
Based on the researche findings, project staff has developed recommendations and tools of combating the propaganda of violent extremism in media and internet such as training programs for journalists and activistc, as well as models of media campaigns on how to treat these issues in the public domain.
"In our project activity, we apply the peacemaking approach to countering hate in the media as an early warning of extremist propaganda” I. Sikorskaya, Director of the School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in CA, said. "Today journalists, internet activists and communicators have found themselves vulnerable to the propaganda of extremism; so our task is to teach them how to effectively respond to the radical discourse.”
In the framework of the project, journalists and activists will be trained the tools that will help them detect extremist propaganda, use advanced methods to report extremism, humanize Islam in stories to overcome the image of the enemy and reduce the risks of extremism propaganda, respond adequately to destructive online communications.
Military men near the aftermarket during mass clashes, Osh, June 201
Training’s participants on mediation and conflict management are building the Tower of Peace, Bishkek, April 2011
Training in destroying stereotypes for journalists, Bishkek, April 2012
Workshop on production of team reporting in multinational journalist groups, Bishkek, August 2012
The School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in Central Asia announces an annual competition among students from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan,…
25 journalists and media workers from various regions of Kyrgyzstan have been trained to counter the propaganda of violent extremism and hate in…
Within the current context, media and journalists in Central Asia face the following dilemmas: How to cover issues happening in Afghanistan now? How to communicate information to the audience while describing the Taliban, whose image has been presented mainly in reports on terrorist attacks for almost 20 years? Can journalists offer audiences updated and redesigned narratives about a seemingly ex-terrorist group, while complying with standards and ethics?
Conflict-sensitive approaches, peace and solutions journalism tools, and new media formats can help create strategies to offer audiences a sufficiently clear and objective story.
Not Terrorists Anymore?
Kazakhstan was the first Central Asian country to officially remove the Taliban from the list of banned terrorist organisations. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said Astana took this step based on "the importance of developing trade and economic cooperation with present-day Afghanistan and understanding that this regime is a long-term factor”.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan soon reported the same decision, emphasising that it was "aimed at strengthening regional stability and maintaining a dialogue”.
In mid-September 2024, the media reported on the "unofficial visit” of the head of Tajikistan’s State Committee for National Security Saimumin Yatimov to Kabul and his meeting with the Taliban security chiefs. It was noted that the visit was made to "strengthen bilateral relations between Tajikistan and the Taliban”.
Official Dushanbe has not yet made any statements on this, however, at the time of writing this article, the Taliban were not on the list of terrorist and extremist organisations. Economic interests play their role. Tajikistan exports electricity to Afghanistan and has reopened five markets in border towns where goods are traded on both sides. Foreign trade turnover between the two countries totalled about $46 million in the first six months of 2024.
In Uzbekistan, the Taliban were not included in the 2016 list of 22 terrorist organisations banned by the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan. After the Taliban came to power, official Tashkent opened the Uzbek-Afghan border for the delivery of essential goods and humanitarian aid.
This August, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov visited Kabul. According to media reports, Aripov met with Taliban leaders and discussed bilateral relations and strengthening trade and business between the two countries. As a result, five trade and investment agreements were signed in the energy, agricultural, and industrial sectors.
Turkmenistan had been in contact with the Taliban representatives even before they came to power amid growing tensions over the paramilitary attacks across Afghanistan. On September 11, 2024, in the border town of Serhetabad, Turkmenistan and the Taliban representatives relaunched the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Natural Gas Pipeline Project. This large-scale project was first initiated almost 10 years ago.
The pipeline is expected to transport up to 33 billion cubic metres of natural Turkmen gas to South Asia annually.
On the one hand, the Central Asian region is becoming an important partner for Afghanistan offering infrastructure and trade projects and increasing cooperation with the regime in Kabul. This cooperation is taking place despite violations of the rights of women, girls, and minorities, restrictions on media freedom, arbitrary executions, and active calls by the UN and other international human rights bodies to put an end to such violations. The regime’s representatives in Kabul are still on the UN Security Council Consolidated Sanctions List.
On the other hand, Central Asian countries are concerned about security issues.
For example, in early September, a suicide bomber, a member of ISIS (an organisation banned in Central Asia), detonated an explosive device near the Kabul prosecutor’s office killing 6 people and injuring 13.
This fact and the length of the common Central Asian border with Afghanistan, which is more than two thousand kilometres long, pose a danger of infiltration into the region by members of ‘sleeper terrorist cells’.
Where Do We Start?
Define the unified terminology you will use in reporting on Afghanistan-related topics.
How should we describe the formerly banned and terrorist Taliban movement now?
Refer to international documents. Look up the UN-used terminology in the Case Law Database. In the latest speech of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, the regime in Kabul is referred to as the ‘de facto authorities’. This is quite a correct phrasing as it does not legitimise the authorities but only shows the reality.
In statements and reports of the European Union, the authorities in Kabul are called ‘the Taliban’. Many foreign media – BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, and others – also use this term. For the Central Asian media, it is less acceptable because for several years, the phrase ‘the Taliban’ was necessarily labelled in brackets as ‘the terrorist and banned movement’.
The following is a list of terms that may be acceptable to use.
To use definitions correctly, it is necessary to update editorial guidelines and compile a list of terms for reporting on Afghan issues.
More precise terminology is necessary to create a balanced and impartial narrative when describing events related to Afghanistan.
What Events Should I Select for Reporting?
The most suitable topics may include:
Human Rights and Other Sensitive Topics
Many media avoid reporting on this sensitive issue amid Central Asian countries’ selective cooperation with Afghanistan. However, reporting on human rights violations is a journalist’s ethical obligation.
The exclusion of women and girls from education and employment opportunities, as well as from public spaces, continues in Afghanistan. Extreme forms of violence occur. In addition to forced early marriages and sexual violence, the Taliban has adopted a decree on public flogging and stoning women to death.
The UN Women estimates that since the Taliban came to power, they have adopted 70 documents restricting women’s rights and freedoms. Such policy is carried out with no regard for the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which Afghanistan ratified in 2003.
At the end of August 2024, the law on ‘Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice’ was announced by the de facto authorities, which prohibits women from saying anything out loud in public and demonstrating their faces outside the house. This law cements policies that completely erase women’s presence in public – depriving them of their autonomy, attempting to render them into faceless, voiceless shadows.
Pay attention to the following topics:
Use Teamwork to Prepare the Material
Teamwork and cross-border reporting are great methods to gather information from different sides. Create a team of journalists and experts from several countries, including Afghanistan. Identify the topic and the person responsible for finalising the gathered information.
Citations, Statistics, and Online Resources
To keep up to date, create a similar list of Afghan media and keep track of the information. Pay attention to Afghan media amu.tv, which is based abroad. It has a separate constantly updated section on cooperation with Central Asia.
When reporting on violations of women’s rights and violence against women, in addition to using international reports, monitor incidents of gender discrimination on Rukhshana.media. This is an Afghan women’s media organisation created in memory of Rukhshana, a young woman stoned to death in Ghor province for running away after a forced marriage.
Be careful with citations. If you are going to use official press releases, it will be necessary to give some explanation in brackets after phrases such as ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’ (note: This is the title of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan used by the de facto authorities since 2021), etc. The same should be considered when republishing materials from Afghan official media. If you use Russian-language versions of Afghan websites, it is worth double-checking the information several times, as problems with translation accuracy are common.
If references to Afghan statistics are needed, you can use data from the National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA). However, there is no comprehensive information available. There is a lack of data on the ethnic composition of the population. This problem dates to 1979, the last time a population census was conducted. After a failed attempt in 2008, another census began in 2013 and was expected to be completed in six years. According to the Minority Rights Group, it was decided that the census would not include questions on language or ethnic background for fear that the results would be too politicised and lead to another failed census. However, the census was never completed.
What Background Information Should Be Used?
Reports on issues in Afghanistan should always contain background information to better explain to the audience what is happening. Since the Central Asian aspect is more focused on the events after August 2021, it is necessary to mention the process of peace negotiations in Afghanistan, why all the conditions of the Peace Deal were not fulfilled, and how the society lived before that.
For example: "De facto authorities came to power in Kabul after the previous Afghan government led by President Ashraf Ghani collapsed amid the US troops withdrawal from the country in August 2021. Earlier, in February 2020, a Peace Deal was signed between the US and the Taliban in Doha (Qatar) after more than eighteen years. The Deal addressed a reduction in violence, withdrawal of foreign troops, the start of intra-Afghan negotiations, and guarantees that Afghanistan won’t again become a refuge for terrorists. However, the Taliban failed to fulfil several conditions of the Peace Deal. The Taliban was formed in Pakistan in the 1990s after the Soviet Union’s troops withdrew from Afghanistan. Many of its early militants were trained in Pakistani madrassas. After NATO troops’ deployment, Pakistan gave the Taliban refuge”.
Such background can be shorter or longer according to the topic you are reporting on.
If the material is to cover the state structure of Afghanistan, the focus should be on comparing the Constitution of the country legally in force since 2004 with the draft Constitution that de facto authorities proposed and then abandoned.
It is also important to note that Afghanistan is a party to several international conventions, such as the Convention Against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (1984), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979), the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (1965), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006). In addition, the country ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (2002), the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (2000), the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography (2000). Explore the report describing the impact of the situation on human rights.
It is necessary to use the links to these documents in the context of human rights reporting.
Visual Design of the Materials
When using visuals, such as illustrative photos or collages, it is important to consider the nuances of traditional dress that identify different groups. If you want to show a group of Afghan men wearing dastmols (Persian: دستمال) – traditional headscarves, you need to know that these are most often soft-textured, black, grey, white, brown, mixed tones of these colours, or brown and turquoise scarves in a checked pattern.
The group of people from the de facto government can be identified by the white or black turbans on their heads. If it is not possible to find original photos, search for such illustrations.
A man wearing a red and white chequered scarf of hard texture represents Arabic or Middle Eastern style and the use of such an illustration would be wrong.
When designing visuals for the material on women’s issues, it is correct to refer to a woman’s head and face garment in the Afghan dialect as chodari (Persian: چادری) rather than burqa. It is most often a blue-coloured garment, but other colours are also found.
