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expression and hate speech has come increasingly under focus.’125 There are a number of international human rights treaties that attempt to find a fair balance between the two including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Article 19 of the ICCPR states that ‘everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.’ This does not come without restriction however; article 20 adds that ‘any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.’ 126 It should be noted that Myanmar is not a signatory of the ICCPR, however, but if they were a signatory, would it help to prevent incitement of hatred online? Wirathu would undoubtedly be going against article 20, but so do many online hate groups such as the UK’s Britain First, whose content could be classed as advocacy of national and religious hatred, yet they are not considered to be breaking any laws. As Foxman and Wolf observe, the ICCPR has had little impact on U.S. jurisprudence.127 For this reason, I would highlight the need for methods of prevention and counter narratives over legal regulation; as a participant of focus group one said, it is our responsibility to be considerate of other people, and restricting freedom of speech will not solve the underlying issue here.128 We have seen how difficulties not only arise when trying to permit freedom of speech and prohibit encouragement of hatred, but the fine line between what is classified as ‘hate speech’ and what can be considered ‘incitement to genocide’ leads to further complications. Knowing how to counter and control this therefore requires careful consideration and any action that we take must be done in accordance with international human rights standards. Monitoring Social Media 125 United Nations Human Rights: Office for the High Commissioner of Human Rights (2012) ‘Striking a balance between freedom of expression and the prohibition of incitement to hatred’, available at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/Strikingabalancebetweenfreedomofexpression.aspx [October 2015]. 126 ‘International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights’, United Nations Human Rights, available at: http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx [November 2015]. 127 Foxman and Wolf, (2013) p. 128 Participant, Focus Group One, Interview by Davis, B., (2015). - 54 -

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Religion, hate speech and social media in Myanmar: Analysing methods of intervention

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English

Topic

Hate Speech
Rohingya Crisis

Author(s)

Bethany Davis

Date Published: Dec 1, 2015

Abstract: Myanmar is home to one of the longest running intrastate conflicts in the world, involving a series of ethnic and religious clashes that have caused harm to all parties involved. The ideology of a homogeneity based on Buddhism and the Bamar ethnicity has marginalized minority groups, which make up a third of the population, and has particularly affected the Rakhine state’s Buddhist and Muslim communities, the latter of which are subject to what international human rights organizations are calling an ethnic cleansing. Since the government relaxed restrictions to the access of foreign websites, the social media site Facebook has become a popular means to disseminate misinformation and rumours, and this has created mistrust and hatred against Muslims across the country, heightening the polarization between Buddhist and Muslim groups. This study will combine conflict analysis with the assessment of different approaches of countering hate speech to propose which methods of intervention are most suitable for this situation in Myanmar. Lederach argues that to counter hatred and avoid reoccurrence of violence, deep alterations of the parties’ relationships is needed. This idea forms the basis for chapter three which examines educational methods, interfaith projects and social media campaigns to both prevent and change negative attitudes towards the religious ‘Other’. It argues that education and awareness campaigns are more effective than the implementation of legal regulation as we need to combat the underlying issue. In addition to secondary sources, this study involved field research to collect information about how the youth are influence by hate speech and counter hate campaigns in Myanmar.

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Religion, hate speech and social media in Myanmar: Analysing methods of intervention

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