“…there is violence at different levels and there are so many organisations and individuals and even state addressing that issue on some level. But there has been no discourse around online violence against women. Moreover there has been no acknowledgment that the harassment women face online is actually violence. People shouldn’t dismiss threats that women receive online thinking that since it’s happening online so it’s not real.”
Nighat Daad is a lawyer and digital rights activist. She is the executive director of Digital Rights Foundation (DRF), through which she educates Pakistani internet users, especially women to protect themselves from online harassment and to safely and securely use the technology. On June 3rd, 2016 Nighat was honored withAtlantic Council Digital Freedom Award-2016 at the Global Forum in Wroclaw, Poland. The award was delivered by former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. Before Dad, the award has only ever been given to one Pakistani: Malala Yousafzai
She gave DNA an exclusive interview. Picture courtesy of the Atlantic Council.
DNA: What does the Atlantic Freedom Award mean to you?
Nighat Daad: The award is a recognition of our work that we have been doing. I guess it is very important to recognize people of what they are doing. It reassures them that they are doing something right. It also reaffirms the importance of this work (digital rights). Sometimes people say that you are just making noise. I don’t think it is that. I think it is a much needed thing which is very important to be raised in a country like Pakistan.
I am so glad in Pakistan there are women who are working on digital rights. More and more women are coming into this space and they are talking about civil liberties in the online spaces. So the award not only gives recognition but also puts huge responsibility on us that if we have received such a recognition we really need to work harder towards the accessibility of technology and towards bridging the digital divide in Pakistan and also to provide safe and secure internet to the internet users.
DNA: Why did you feel the need to create Digital Rights Foundation (DRF)?
ND: I have been working on digital rights as an individual since 2009. Small discourse around digital rights already started in Pakistan but I felt that there was a need to integrate gender perspective into it. I felt that people were talking about digital rights but where does the gender come in? 70% of Pakistani population is using mobile phones and there was a lot of news about access to technology. I wondered where is the news about how it is becoming difficult for women to access technology? What are the issues that women face on internet or while using mobile technology and why nobody is talking about them? And that’s where I really felt that it’s important to initiate a platform where not only women but vulnerable communities in Pakistan can find internet as a space where they can exercise their freedom of expression or exercise their fundamental right of access to information freely; something that which they are unable to do in offline spaces.
So internet wasn’t only providing space for women but also minorities and LGBT community and other vulnerable groups who don’t find these spaces in the physical world.
So that was the main objective of initiating DRF; digital rights for everyone. It is not just about the general discourse or debate on digital rights in Pakistan but also about looking into the gender perspective and perspective of the vulnerable communities.
DNA: What are the issues that women face in the online space in Pakistan?
ND: Online spaces for women are shrinking because the patriarchal mindset is still shifting on to the online spaces as well.
Online violence is not Pakistan specific, it is a global issue. But what makes Pakistan a bit different is the context, the legal landscape and also the societal mindset. We know that Pakistani society is very patriarchal. It’s not only the online space; there have been discussions for decades in Pakistan on how women are facing violence in the offline world by their families, by the society at large, by the colleagues at workplace. So there is violence at different levels and there are so many organizations and individuals and even state addressing that issue on some level. But there has been no discourse around online violence against women. Moreover there has been no acknowledgment that the harassment women face online is actually violence. People shouldn’t dismiss threats that women receive online thinking that since it’s happening online so it’s not real.
Most of the issues of harassment that women are facing is in terms of blackmailing. If they are or were in a relationship, their data is manipulated by their ex partner, ex fiance or the ex husband or ex colleague which was given to them when they were in a relationship. They get blackmailed because of the data they had given to their ex-partners who then become abusers. This is one very common issue that we are facing in Pakistan
Fake Facebook pages and impersonation is another big issue that women are facing in Pakistan. Abusers and harassers share personal details of the victim which is called doxing in tech language where all the personal details of the victim is being thrown online and being shared with strangers.
Rape threats and death threats are also a huge problem faced by women. It mostly happens with the outspoken women such as female activists, human rights defenders etc. We have seen in the past how bold and strong headed women are using online pages and how they have to face different comments from strangers. Mawra Hussain was slut shamed on social media in Pakistan because her only fault was that she went to India and made a movie there. Even the parliamentarians face character assassination.
The threats are mostly faced by women who dare to speak and who reclaim these spaces the way men claim these online spaces. So when they challenge the stereotypes, it’s very hard for the other half of the population to tolerate it. So this is the kind of mindset we have in the online spaces.
And there are a lot of other abuses that we cannot even imagine.
DNA: What response did you get towards your work? Did you face any resistance?
ND: We have been getting very good response. We have been working on the issues of minorities as well . We have been going to the universities and talking to the young women and girls about the issues of harassment and telling them how to fight back. We have been getting very good response not just from the young girls but also from the universities. They really want these sessions in their universities and they want their students to be educated on these issues.
But we have faced a little bit resistance from the government on our campaign against cybercrime bill. I won’t call it a resistance. I guess that’s how governments respond when anyone criticizes their policy; in return they call them anti-state. So that is the only label that we have got from the government.
DNA: If there is one thing that you could change about internet, what would it be?
ND: One thing that I would like to change is the equal access to internet; actually equal access to face an open internet in Pakistan.
DNA: What are your future plans?
ND: When it comes to policy side I really want that Pakistani state make legislations which are friendly to human rights in the online spaces. They should not enact any draconian legislation which sets really bad precedent even for the neighboring countries. Because that’s how states act; they look into the bad examples of the neighboring countries and try to do the same thing in their own country. That is what is happening in Pakistan. So I want human rights friendly legislation or policies related to cybercrime and cyber spaces.
Secondly, existing legislations that are now being misused in internet space in Pakistan should be stopped. One example is blasphemy law. This blasphemy law is easily being misused in the online space and several people are behind the bars and prosecuted under the legislation due to what they posted on Facebook.
Thirdly people should know how to use internet and mobile technology safely and securely. Not only access but safety and security of internet users is a paramount thing that should be done and that’s what we are doing.
At the moment we are reaching out to the young women and girls because I feel that’s the most vulnerable community at the moment. They are most affected from the insecure usage of internet and face a lot of harassment on the internet.
We are also reaching out to people who are using internet for their own work e.g. activists, NGOs or journalists telling them about how they can use it more effectively, safely and actively. So that’s something we have in our plan and want to do it at massive level.
At the moment we are reaching out to small communities because of fewer resources but we want to expand it. I really hope that DRF takes it to a larger scale and reach out to every single internet user or mobile user in Pakistan so they can use the technology more effectively, safely and securely.
