Disinformation and human rights: Amnesty International trains journalists

2023-11-27 17:23:23

Disinformation constitutes a factor that crystallizes hate speech online but also in the emergence of conflicts. Their ability to spread like wildfire increases their impact on information tenfold. Continuous capacity building of information actors appears to be a necessity, particularly from the perspective of promoting human rights.

It is aware of this issue and in the face of the growing threat that the regional office of Amnesty International for West and Central Africa has initiated training for the benefit of around fifteen journalists. The training workshop took place on November 22 and 23, 2023 in Dakar, Senegal. It was intended to help media professionals understand the interactions between disinformation and human rights. A subject which increasingly fuels reflection within Amnesty International. “This is an important and emerging theme within Amnesty. This is a subject that concerns us,” said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s regional director for West and Central Africa..

Challenges

Aware of the issues linked to these new concerns, journalists found great interest in the initiative. “It is important for journalists to arm themselves against the rise of disinformation, which has a direct impact on human rights, the construction of democracy and the consolidation of the rule of law,” explained Jean Ferdinand Koenan, journalist in the Central African Republic.

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The training therefore allowed participants to become familiar with information verification techniques. “For the first time, I followed training on disinformation where professionals in this sector taught us how to use tools that can allow us to verify that photos, videos, voices have not been manipulated“, confided Yves-Laurent Ngoma, journalist and founder of “Gabon Actu”.

For De Laure Nesmon Pie, an Ivorian journalist, “itwas high-level training on civil and political rights, the right to information, freedom of expression, artificial intelligence”. The manager of “Médiacitoyen” learned several lessons from these two days of workshop: “I am urged to exercise caution, not only to avoid spreading false news, but above all to avoid allowing myself to be manipulated by disinformation and hate speech networks.”

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Media education

The workshop was also an opportunity for journalists to learn about the legal framework that governs the dissemination of false news and the mechanisms for protecting journalists in the event of a violation of their rights. The different themes were developed by specialists from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Reporters Without Borders, Africa Check, Article 19 and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( Unesco).

To effectively combat false information, the 13 journalists who took part in the workshop decided to create an informal network of journalists. They are committed to sharing the knowledge gained with their peers in their respective countries.

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Fulgencia Hountondji