Monrovia — As part of efforts to curtail personal attacks, the spreading of fake news by politicians, and preventing electoral violence in the country, Integrity Watch Liberia has concluded a one-day interactive forum aimed at finalizing a new project intended to track hate speech or messages from those contesting the ensuing October 10 presidential and legislative elections and their respective supporters.
The project, which is expected to digitally track or capture hate speeches from politicians and report them to local and international human rights organizations was unleashed under the captioned: Countering Hate Speech Tracking for a Peaceful 2023 General and Presidential Elections in Liberia.”
It is being funded by the United Nations Peace Building Fund through the Office of the Human Rights Commission.
Speaking during the forum intended to solicit indicators of hate speech in Monrovia on Wednesday, August 23, IWL Executive Director Harold Aidoo disclosed that the initiative is intended to ensure that Liberia remains stable and peaceful during, before and after the elections.
He said these elections clearly present an opportunity for all Liberians to either consolidate the peace that has been harnessed for a little over two decades, or destroy it.
Mr. Aidoo stated that peace does not necessarily mean the absence of the guns, but it is also the presence of the respect for fundamental human rights and the rule of law.
He added that peace also entails the protection of the rights of citizens irrespective of their ethnicity, gender, geographic location, status and condition and the respect for the rights of all citizens.
“Today’s program which is captioned Countering Hate Speech a trigger of electoral violence is being held at a point in time where we have barely 48 days to our legislative and presidential elections. This is a milestone in August this month which is the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) representing 20 years of sustainable peace following many years of conflict.”
He disclosed that the Countering Hate Speech project of his organization came as a result of intense provocations and negative utterances which intend to undermine the peace Liberians and others have worked so hard for.
He noted that the project will develop a tool that will enable civil society actors and others to be able to monitor and track different kinds of utterances and other provocations that constitute hate speech.
Mr. Aidoo maintained that these provocations and negative utterances being made by politicians have the propensity to undermine the peace and stability of the country and incite violence during the conduct of the elections.
“Today’s event is to validate, contribute to finalize sets of indicators that we’ve develop as an organization to be able to track hate speech. We hope that as we come from diverse background civil society and the media, this represent an opportunity for all of us to contribute to have it develop so that at the end of these elections, we would have also said ‘we contributed to creating the body of knowledge that help to making sure that ultimately we have a peaceful elections and the outcome of the elections is certified and we all can claim the peace that we have.”
Also speaking, the Coordinator of the UN Peace Building Fund John Dennis expressed the hope that the new project will help ensure that “hate speech does not find its way in our politics.”
He indicated that hate speech must be avoided because; it misrepresents the facts in any society.
“I would like to say a big thank you to the UN Peace Building Fund for its continuous support to Liberia. The PBF has specific interest in ensuring that we have peaceful electoral environment on the basis for which they have invested so far US$5M not just for this project we are engaged with; but also inclusive of women political participation.”
He used the occasion to challenge Liberian journalists to always report the facts as part of efforts to sustain peace and stability in the country.
Up to present, he disclosed that the United Nations Peace Building Office, has spent the amount of US$82 on the sustenance of peace and as such, the body does not want to see Liberia return to the dark old days.
“Countering hate speech is something very cardinal for this elections more than ever before,” Roland Kamara, Communication Lead Focal Person of the Elections Coordinating Committee (ECC).
He said the ECC is currently tracking hate speeches dating as far back as 2017 to now.
He pointed out that some of these hate speeches will also be made available to the public, adding that, “this is very cardinal.”
“In countering hate speech, there are few things we should always keep track of. We need to use a mortar sectorial approach in countering hate speeches in Liberia. This means that, one organization cannot do all by itself. The ECC cannot do all by itself and LEON cannot do all alone. We need to bring civil society organizations, women groups, and political parties together to counter hate speech.”
Kamara observed that many of these speeches normally come from politicians and their respective supporters.
He emphasized that the media play a pivotal role in mitigating or amplifying hate speeches in Liberia, and as such, the ECC will also hold a roundtable discussion with media practitioners on the pros and cons of journalists during these elections.
For his part, the Director of Communications and Public Affairs at the National Elections Commission (NEC) Henry Flomo pointed out that the issue of hate speech remains one of the major concerns of the commission
According to him, the electoral house is collaborating with Local Voices supported by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to curtail the spread of misinformation, hate speech and the lack of facts-checking in the Liberian society.
He said the ownership of community radio stations is also another concern of the NEC because, many of these stations are directly owned by politicians.
As a result of this, Mr. Flomo observed that these stations are most often used as vehicles to transmit hate speech and misinformation.
Mr. Flomo said the tracking of hate speech is significant to ensure the safety of the elections.
“This initiative is welcoming and we will continue to collaborate with all of you in making sure, if not eradicate hate speech.”
He further observed that Liberian women, especially those vying for elected positions are being stereotyped in the nation.
According to him, female candidates contesting for public offices should not be stereotyped or misrepresented because of their gender and their decision taken to venture into politics.
“We been telling our media people to look at the women from what they can provide and not necessarily how they look or what they were involved in before coming into politics. So, these trainings will continue and we are happy to be a part of this.”
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