Community

Like anywhere else in the world, in multiethnic and multi-religious Pakistan, socio-economic instability compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, has the potential to foster an environment of increasing ethnic and sectarian tensions. Despite attempts in recent months by the Pakistani government to improve the general human rights situation in the country, an increase in hate speech along ethnic and religious lines and high-profile targeted killings of members of ethnic religious minorities have been reported.

The United Nations has multiplied efforts in many countries since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic to foster diversity and inclusion as well as counter and address hate speech. Not only is this a vital first aid strategy in countering trends of hatred, intolerance and discrimination that are spreading like wildfire across the globe but it is also a sustainable long-term mechanism for shifting the pendulum of human history from polarity towards an empathetic and peaceful middle ground.

In South Asia, where hate speech and sectarian tensions are broader regional problems, the UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) have prioritized Pakistan because of the following reasons:

Pakistan is located at the nexus between the Middle East, South Asia and Central Asia;
Pakistan has one of the largest Muslim populations in the world and has more than ten religious minorities.
Pakistan is the home of some of the major religions of the world: it is the birthplace of Sikhism, the cradle of Buddhism, and home to Hindus, Jains, Parsis, Kalasha, Ba’hais, Muslims, and so forth. These communities will be included in the dialogue and given a respectful voice.
Pakistan has a majority youth population (63 percent is between 15 and 33). The universities of the country are the hubs of potential change. The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is the government body that directly oversees, monitors and has the potential to direct the 200 legitimate universities of the country.
Pakistan is a strategically important country in the region of South Asia and instability here, including of ethnic and religious kind, could have repercussions in the wider sub-region.

The role of Pakistani youth is of particular importance. They come from diverse backgrounds but are united in their ambition to be active change-makers as opposed to passive observers. In this regard, the youth of Pakistan, both young men and women, are actively working in educational, entrepreneurial and development sectors to create and sustain real models of inclusive, peaceful, and respectful societies. It is imperative for the HEC and UN to tap into this resource and include Pakistan’s youth representatives as active and equal stakeholders to build peaceful, inclusive and just societies.

It also needs to be stressed that the vision of the United Nations, embedded in Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and embodied by the pledge to leave no one behind, is fully in line with the HEC Seerat Center’s objective of encouraging peaceful, inclusive, and empathetic communities through tools like active and continuous intersectional participation, dialogue, and collaboration. Of note, the Seerat Center’s work is inspired by Rasul Allah, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), whose very life mission, both before and after prophet-hood, was to create communal harmony, respect, and compassion among people from all walks of life. Rasul Allah was firmly passionate about protecting the rights of minorities and the founding father of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam, and Pakistan’s Constitution is firm about the important space of minorities and respect for all its citizens. Thus, the UN’s goals and that of the Seerat Project at the HEC, go well together.

In this context, the UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect and the Seerat Project of the HEC will organize a series of six virtual webinars which will include key participants from the HEC centers in Karachi, Peshawar, Islamabad and Quetta.

More specifically, this series of webinars will bring together political, religious and community leaders, as well as students (from universities and schools) and will aim to:

Identify good practices and lessons learned in Pakistan in the field of building inclusivity, understanding and dialogue in diverse communities ;
Raise awareness on hate speech, its underlying causes, impact on victim groups;
Act as a platform that gives a voice to minorities;
Build the participants’ ability to address and counter hate speech and prevent incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence;
Identify relevant follow-up actions and actors;
Use a real model case study existing in Pakistan which incorporates the values of respect, inclusion, compassion, and diversity in its working structure and has stakeholders from a diverse range of Pakistan’s population including youth, religious minorities, underprivileged communities, excluded communities, rural people, etc. This model can then be analyzed to come up with practical and sustainable recommendations that do not only exist in the theoretical realm but can actually be implemented.

The series of webinars will result in recommendations on how to counter and address hate speech, prevent incitement to violence and foster peace and inclusivity in Pakistan. The output of the workshops would be a training manual that will be used for raising awareness and respect for diversity amongst school and university students which may be used by the HEC, NGOs and the United Nations in Pakistan, regionally and globally.

The series of webinars will take place virtually in February/March 2021 one after the other.

The series of six virtual webinars will include one high-level opening session, four online workshops inclusive of presentations, plenary discussions and breakout sessions guided by facilitators who will encourage open dialogue, thoughtful criticism and active engagement among participants, and one wrap-up online event.

HEC and UN Body to Sponsor Six Virtual Webinars on Countering Hate Speech and Violence