Upcoming webinar on Gaza: Genocide and the Internet

By APCNews

Published on 5 December 2023
Page last updated on 13 December 2023

Webinar: Gaza: Genocide and the Internet

When: Monday, 11 December 13 UTC for about 70 minutes

Register: https://limesurvey.apc.org/index.php/117319?lang=en

Translation: Into Arabic/English/Spanish available

7amleh, SMEX and APC are hosting a webinar on Monday, 11 December to commemorate Human Rights Day and to shed light on the ongoing violations that are affecting civil society organisations, the internet and communications infrastructure in Gaza and internet spaces in general.

The event will be an opportunity to highlight the different themes of content moderation, hate speech, internet shutdowns and funding issues that have surfaced in light of the ongoing genocide.

It is being co-organised given the continuing aggressions in Gaza and the need to understand how the internet plays an important role in the humanitarian scenario. Issues such as attacks on and use of communications infrastructure, internet shutdowns, censorship and disinformation aggravate the situation further and contribute to its maintenance, which is unfolding into a genocide.

Speakers will include Nadim Nashif from 7amleh, Ahmad Al Sadeh from ISOC Palestine, representatives from The Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD) and SMEX, while Marwa Fatafta from Access Now will be moderator.

Human Rights Day, 10 December 2023, is the 75th Anniversary of “one of the world's most groundbreaking global pledges: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This landmark document enshrines the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being - regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status… it is the most translated document in the world.” The 2023 theme for Human Rights Day is “Freedom, Equality and Justice for All”. This special day is also a chance to look back at how the human rights system was created for countries, how it’s working in the present, and how it was not meant for companies that now exert significant influence in these spheres.

Two months after Palestinian armed groups targeted/killed civilians in Israel & took hostages, civilians in Gaza are relentlessly bombarded & collectively punished. Intl community needs to insist with one voice on immediate ceasefire - on human rights/humanitarian grounds pic.twitter.com/Eyb9MNuZlW

— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) December 6, 2023

Further resources:

• Joint letter on several European governments’ decisions to suspend or review their funding to Palestinian and Israeli civil society organisations

• APC urges 119 governments to respect human rights and law at the UNGA emergency session on Gaza

• APC condemns violence against Palestinians and demands protection of human rights for all

• Civil society organisations call for tech companies to respect Palestinian digital rights in times of crisis

• Meta is silencing genocide

• 7amleh Documents Over a Million Instances of Violent Speech in Hebrew Against Palestinians on Social Media Platforms

• eSIMs in Gaza: An Imperfect and Potentially Dangerous Alternative

• Statements and other resources by the UN Human Rights Office and other UN human rights mechanisms regarding the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel since 7 October 2023.