18 JUNE 2024,
DEAR CHIEF EDITOR,
PRESS STATEMENT
INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR COUNTERING HATE SPEECH: MERHROM CALL UPON EVERYONE TO WORK TOGETHER TO COMBAT HATE SPEECH FOR FUTURE GENERATION.
In conjunction with International Day for Countering Hate Speech on 18th June 2024, Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organization in Malaysia (MERHROM) called upon everyone to work together to combat hate speech and xenophobia for our future generation.
Recognising the dangerous and disastrous impacts of hate speech towards the victims and their families, community, society, state and global society, we have no other option but to fight the hate speech. As a victim of fake news and hate speech in 2020, I received tremendous death threats, threats of physical violence, harassment, insults and my dignity were stripped off. All these led to trauma, depression, restriction of movement, denial of livelihood and restriction on my capacity as a human rights defender. I must emphasize that the impact of hate speech is permanent. Hate speech destroys an individual person, their family unit, community, society, state and the global society as it anchors hatred, violence, distrust and disrespect.
With the advancement of social media, hate speech spread massively without boundaries, without thinking of the dangerous impact on the victims and their families and without thinking the long-lasting trauma victims had to suffer without protection and justice. Most of the time the perpetrators of hate speech go scot free without accountability, leaving behind victims without support, protection and justice.
Hate speech is a crime as it leads to violence and hate crime. Hate speech can kill people. Hate speech and hate crime is equal to crime against humanity. Therefore, it is crucial to combat such crime for our future generation. We welcome the call made by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres to empower youth to combat hate speech. I would like to emphasize that we must empower babies even before they are born to this world. As babies learn to recognize words in the wombs, it is very crucial to reflect on what we have done wrong in the past and this is the time to correct it for our future generation.
Recognizing the main source of the hate speech is social media platforms and mass media among others, we really hope they make fair assessments on the impact of their content not only to the victims but also to the society and the state before publishing the contents.
We still observed that some media narratives are promoting hate speech and xenophobia against refugees and migrants. This is very dangerous as it leads to violence and hate crime against the affected communities. I really hope the mass media will be more cautious of the impact of their articles on the vulnerable communities like refugees and migrants.
Both mass media and social media platforms must be accountable for their content. Producing articles containing elements of hate speech and xenophobia does not help anyone and only leads to more hatred day by day. It is very stressful for everyone to live in this environment where there is no respect and trust between locals and migrant communities.
Following hate speech and xenophobia, many refugees who fled war and genocide faced harassment, violence and hate crime. Some refugees were evicted from their houses together with their family members. On June 4, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Volker Turk made a remark that investment inflow would suffer if businesses don’t respect human rights. This is one example of the impact of hate speech which impacted the economy of a country.
Last year on June 8, 2023, the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), in partnership with the office of the Speaker of Malaysia’s House of Representatives (Dewan Rakyat), has launched the Toolkit for Parliamentarians to Promote Counter Narrative to Hate Speech Towards Migrants and Refugees in Malaysia.
The launch was held in the Malaysian parliament and attended by members of parliament (MPs), the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in Malaysia, ambassadors and representatives of foreign embassies in Malaysia, members of civil society, and media.
This toolkit aims to empower Malaysian MPs to take action against hate speech towards migrants and refugees. The content of the Toolkit is very good, very practical and informative. The Toolkit provides a clear pathway for MPs to counter hate speech and xenophobia against refugees and migrants. However, it was not utilised to serve its objective. The Toolkit is a great resource to mitigate the impact of hate speech and xenophobia against refugees and migrants but it was not utilised by the MPs while the affected communities are struggling facing the hate speech and xenophobia on a daily basis.
We thanked APHR who made lots of efforts to develop this very useful Toolkit with lots of resources. However, by not utilising this Toolkit it will be wasted. Therefore, we must find a way how this Toolkit can be used by the MPs effectively to counter hate speech as hate speech and xenophobia is still ongoing.
Recognizing hate speech towards refugees and migrants has been increasing in many countries in different regions, we urge the Member of Parliaments to discuss this issue in the parliament to avoid the negative and dangerous impact on the affected communities. MPs in their constituency must engage with the locals, refugees and migrants to identify issues and find solutions to it. Efforts must be initiated to foster mutual understanding and respect between locals, refugees and migrants.
Today, we call upon the United Nations, EU, ASEAN, Media, CSOs and the international community to focus on prevention of hate speech. On top of this, it is very crucial to prosecute the perpetrators of hate speech due to the disastrous impacts. We must put proper mechanisms to protect the victims of hate speech and their families as well as the affected community. Hate speech is a threat to democracy and therefore it must be fought till the end of our lives. The root causes of hate speech must be dealt with and a strategic solution must be drawn.
It is crucial to educate parents and our society on the impacts of hate speech. It is our responsibility and accountability to prevent hate speech, to combat hate speech and to protect the victims of hate speech regardless of their race, religion, status, gender, age, etc.
We must emphasize that the enactment of hate speech law is a crucial step to prevent hate speech and to protect the victims of hate speech. Without the law, we will continue living in hatred without trust and respect towards one another. The vulnerable communities such as refugees and migrants will continue to become victims of hate speech without protection and justice. Society will start thinking it is perfectly fine to conduct hate speech against refugees and migrants. This only creates a hostile environment and disrupts the peaceful existence between locals and migrant communities.
While the Rohingya in Arakan State @ Rakhine State have been killed and trapped in Buthidaung and Maungdaw Township, the hate speech continues against the Rohingya leaving us without support, protection and denial of humanitarian aid and justice.
MERHROM urges the United Nations, EU and ASEAN to advocate more on combating hate speech with its member states, media, social media platforms, CSOs, FBOs, CBOs and the global community.
We must have a political will to combat hate speech against refugees, migrants and other vulnerable communities. Combating hate speech is a crucial step to promote a peaceful environment between locals, refugees and migrants which is crucial for our future generation.
Thank you.
“SAY NO TO HATE SPEECH. PROTECT THE VICTIMS”.
Yours sincerely,
Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani
President
Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organization in Malaysia (MERHROM)
Tel No: +6016-6827 287
Blog: www.merhrom.wordpress.com
Email: rights4rohingyas@gmail.com
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Mr. Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani, President Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organization in Malaysia (MERHROM)
Myanmar Ethnic Rohingyas Human Rights Organization Malaysia (MERHROM) 