LAHORE - Pakistani digital rights activist Nighat Dad, founder of Pakistan’s Digital Rights Foundation, has become member of a panel of 25 people from 18 countries with the aim of drafting an international declaration on information and democracy.
The Digital Rights Foundation in press release issued on Wednesday stated that Dad was honoured to be part of this prestigious committee and would be focusing on digital rights and human rights in online spaces. She will be highlighting the spike in fake news and the pivotal role played by social media companies and governments when dealing with fake news.
On becoming member, Dad notes, “I hope to represent a South Asian perspective that is both part of a global, multi-stakeholder initiative and speak to the particularities of experience and identities of all. Through this platform I hope to focus on the digital rights discourse across the globe and right to free speech and expression for all.”
This initiative’s ultimate goal is an international commitment by governments, private-sector companies and civil society representatives.
Letters have already been sent to leaders in all continents of the world, and RSF hopes that they will commit as early as mid-November, when dozens of heads of state and government meet in Paris for commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War (11 November), for the Paris Peace Forum (11-13 November) and the Internet Governance Forum (12-14 November).
Paris-based international NGO Reporters Without Borders announced the formation of a panel of 25 prominent figures with the aim of drafting an International Declaration on Information and Democracy.
Cochaired by Nobel peace laureate, Shirin Ebadi, and RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire, the “Information and Democracy Commission” includes Nobel economics laureates Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen, Peruvian novelist and Nobel literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa and Nigerian human rights lawyer Hauwa Ibrahim, a recipient of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize.
The Commission is meeting for the first time on the 11th and 12th September 2018 in Paris and has set itself the goal of completing its work within two months.
