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Policy Brief No. 93
Toda Peace Institute
additional content. It provides mediators with insights into risk management and tradeoffs
in using technology in specific contexts.92
18. Digital Inclusion in Peace Processes
In Ukraine, the Donbass Dialogue enabled hundreds of participants to exchange ideas in an
online dialogue forum to brainstorm ideas for an inclusive peace process. The platform
enabled crowdsourcing prioritising of issues and a robust, ongoing exchange of views in
civil society.93
Researchers at the University of Notre Dame found that social media was an important
method of communication about the Colombian referendum on the peace process. They
hypothesised that social media could have helped to engage the public on various options
for ending the armed conflict in Colombia and building public support for the peace plan.94
In 2019, the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies, in partnership
with Build Up and US Institute of Peace, conducted a project on Digital Inclusion in
Peacemaking to enable mediators to effectively use digital technologies in their efforts to
enhance inclusion in peace processes. Digital technologies can improve digital inclusion to
build the legitimacy of peace processes and their outcomes by involving a broad range of
stakeholders, to empower marginalised groups by providing opportunities for participation
in peace processes and political institutions, to transform relationships underlying conflict
and to protect vulnerable groups.95
19. Digital Upstanding
Digital upstanding is a component of digital citizenship, defined as an individual taking
responsibility for the safety and culture in their community.96 Upstanding is the opposite of
silent bystanding that occurs on digital communication technologies when many people
witness an example of hate or disinformation but are afraid to intervene. Upstanders use
digital media to respond to negative behaviours when they experience them online.
Upstanders can interrupt disinformation, hate speech, or bullying.
The #Iamhere civil society movement, mentioned earlier in this paper, involves tens of
thousands of volunteer “upstanders” who support victims of digital harassment and
misogynist, racist, and anti-immigrant hate speech. The Lithuanian citizen armies of “elves”
For more information on the United Nations Digital Mediation Toolkit see their website: https://peacemaker.un.org/digitaltoolkit
93 For more information on the Donbass Dialogue see their website: https://www.donbassdialog.org.ua/p/about.html
94 Aastha Nigam, Henry K. Dambanemuya, Madhav Joshi, and Nitesh V. Chawla. "Harvesting Social Signals to
Inform Peace Processes Implementation and Monitoring." Big Data 5 (4) 2017. Pp. 337-355.
95 Andreas Hirblinger. “Designing Digital Inclusion in Peacemaking: Summary of Findings”, Geneva: Graduate
Institute for International and Development Studies. 2020.
96 Jennifer Petrella. “How to be an Upstanding “Digital Citizen.” Digital Media and Cyberculture. 8 May 2014.
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