15th March 2022, Center for Defending Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ) announced the launch of an online awareness campaign on its social media platforms that aims to define and raise awareness about hate speech and its consequences, and seeks to urge the public to eliminate it.
CDFJ said that the campaign will start on 15 March 2022, and ends on the 31st of the same month, calling on users of social media platforms to participate in the campaign and support it to achieve its desired objective.
The Center stressed that there is a difference between freedom of expression that is guaranteed by the constitution and international treaties and conventions, and between incitement to violence and hatred that is criminalized by the law.
CDFJ called to defend the right to freedom of expression because it serves democracy and enhances political participation, stressing that freedom of expression is a human right that cannot be neglected.
The Center added that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization “UNESCO” has made efforts to define hate speech, adding that the internationally agreed Camden Principles set a definition of what hate speech can apply to, which is “a state of mind characterized by sharp and irrational emotions of hostility, resentment, and contempt toward the group or person incited against it.”
CDFJ indicated that the most prominent determinants of hate speech according to the Rabat Action Plan are: context, speaker, intent, content or form, extent of the speech, and likelihood of harm occurring, noting that the campaign will highlight these determinants to present them to the public in a simpler way that would increase their awareness about hate speech.
The Center stated that to achieve the campaign’s goals and objectives, it will be providing continuous awareness-raising that includes information, figures, and terms about hate speech, freedom of expression, and renunciation of violence, by publishing a number of posts, infographics, and videos on the Center’s social media platforms.