Her awards – thought plentiful – don’t define her, but her spirit does
Dad had a degree but no license to practice. Once she began trying to figure her life out and went back to work after becoming a single mother, she realised that despite her legal background she was often helpless
One can conjure up all kinds of super hero imagery to define Nighat Dad, but none quite do justice.
Most recently, the founder and Executive Director of the Digital Rights Foundation has been honoured with the Dutch government’s Human Rights Tulip Award 2016. This would be Dad’s second feather in an already decorated hat this year. In 2016 she was also awarded the Atlantic Council Freedom Award in a decorated ceremony. This is soon after her being placed on Time Magazine’s Next Generation Leaders list for 2015.
For an outsider Nighat has been riding the storm and taming her beasts – but her journey is not a simple one.
“When I started working on these issues I had no idea that things would mushroom to the point that they have,” she said while perpetually multitasking on her laptop.
“I have a personal struggle that has led me to where I am. This is something that I began doing after suffering a personal setback. At that point I realised how disenfranchised I was despite being a lawyer – albeit a non-practicing lawyer at that time,” she recalled.
Dad had a degree but no license to practice. Once she began trying to figure her life out and went back to work after becoming a single mother, she realised that despite her legal background she was often helpless.
“I had to fight eight years to win my child’s custody case. And it was during that time that I thought wow I’m a lawyer and I’m this pressed against the wall – what happens to other women who don’t even know the basics of this stuff?” she said.
It was then that she began working on digital rights. However, it was a few more years before she laid the foundation for her own organisation the Digital Rights Foundation (DRF).
“So DRF started in 2012 and we started with no funding and a very tiny volunteer team. Our aim was to do as much as we possibly could with whatever little resources we had. That team has now grown several times over. I mean we’re still a pretty small organisation, but it’s a small family of committed and passionate young people that I’m proud of,” she said with a smile.
And that goal of doing the most with the least amount of resources has marked much of the lawyer’s work. In 2016, with the Hamara Internet Campaign for example, the project set out to train close to 1,000 young women in colleges and universities across Pakistan – but has instead trained close to 1800 at this point in time.
“It’s important for me to deliver real results. And my team understands my values and replicates them in their work. Honestly, these awards are not just for me, they’re just as much them,” she said.
Dad will be heading to The Hague to receive her award along with training that will help her further her cause. She is slated to receive the honour on Dec 10, which is the Human Rights Day.
Dad believes that her work has evolved and she has evolved with it. “I was a very different person when I started the work that I’m doing here. I’m sure as time goes on I will continue evolving, and so will my work,” she said
Her work pertaining to the promotion of freedom of expression and promoting equal rights for women have been the key ingredients in helping her win the award.
“This is a very exciting time for me and my organisation, but not just because of these awards. It’s more so because of what my team and I are trying to achieve when it comes to digital rights,” she says.
For Dad, innovation is the name of the game. “What we all strive to do is find innovative solutions to the issues that are facing the digital rights landscape in Pakistan. We have a dire need to acknowledge the threats and issues facing vulnerable groups including women and minorities in Pakistan,” she explains.
The helpline isn’t the only thing up her sleeve, Dad is currently also in the middle of developing an app to help victims of harassment. “And we’re also working on a website to help people learn how to stay safe and secure,” she added quickly.
Dad’s award is not just a win for her organisation, but also symbolic of the trust and faith people have shown in the work she does. Before she could win the award Dad had to gather enough votes to land in the top three spots from those nominated. When Dad reached out to the people of Pakistan for help her scorecard included campaigns such as Hamara Internet helped win her support. Her work with human rights defenders, various research projects, and much more, came into the limelight.
Essentially, it isn’t just the Dutch government handing over this award to Dad, but also the people of Pakistan without whom she would have never made it to where she is. “Really I cannot explain what such a tremendous amount of love and support makes me feel. It’s all shades of overwhelming to be honest,” she said.
But the award wasn’t the only thing on her mind when she began looking towards Pakistan for the votes.
“When I reached out to the Pakistani awaam I didn’t do it to ask for help to just win this award. What we hoped to do was win this for the prize money which could be used to build Pakistan’s first online harassment helpline,” she says.
The helpline Dad speaks of has been in the works for a while. “I deal with a lot of cases of online harassment. Somewhere along the way I realised that the numbers had shot up from one or two once in a while to a few on a daily basis. A helpline just made sense,” she explains.
The helpline is slated to begin work in December and will be focusing on helping women and other vulnerable people by not just offering reporting mechanisms and legal help but also offering emotional support.
“Now before you ask let me tell you: no, the helpline is not just for women, we will be helping whoever calls if they are victims of online harassment. It’s just that our research and even Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) numbers have shown that women are more prone to getting harassed. So of course that’s our primary audience,” she explained.
Despite a general focus on digital rights and human rights, Dad’s fight for women empowerment is written all over not just her new initiative but also her past work and current endeavors. She is currently heavily engaged with the Qandeel Baloch case and is working closely with not just the authorities, but also trying to help the family Baloch left behind.
“Qandeel’s case is heartbreaking because she was in her own right an icon. Her parents were simply left without a care in the world by everyone around them. Her murder is a clear case of how online spaces and offline violence can intersect for many women,” she laments.
However, fighting against cases and working for digital rights has had a dangerous side as well. It is this fight to reclaim online spaces that has landed Dad in hot waters. The Dutch Award acknowledges this as well. “Despite the many threats she has received, Nighat Dad continues to fight to improve adherence to human rights in Pakistan in a unique and innovative way. Ms Dad is a pioneer who is working to remove everyday obstacles to internet access, especially those that affect women,” Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said in a statement about the award.
The award has recognised her struggle to defend the rights of the marginalised in digital spaces. “I feel like the internet is one place that was slowly becoming more and more open – although we’re seeing how authorities around the world are desperately trying to close these spaces. What I want is to ensure that the marginalised continue to use digital spaces to empower themselves,” she said.
Despite the threats Dad continues to work for the issues that matter the most to her. When asked if she ever thinks to quit she said: “Sometimes I feel like I no longer know how to exist without working.” And after a pause added: “I just got the precious gift of the support of so many people in the country, I really have no heart to justify quitting the work I do.
At present Dad is working to launch Pakistan’s – and possibly Asia’s – first online harassment helpline, but what’s in store for the future?
“I have no idea to be honest. When I started working on digital rights I realised that there was a need to teach women and other vulnerable groups to stay safe and secure, and thus began awareness raising sessions and trainings. Then when I began training women and marginalised groups in how to remain safe online I found that there was a need for a helpline. From the helpline perhaps I will find something else to focus on,” she said.
Dad believes that her work has evolved and she has evolved with it. “I was a very different person when I started the work that I’m doing here. I’m sure as time goes on I will continue evolving, and so will my work,” she said.
“As I change so shall my work and as my work changes it shall continue to change me. The only thing that won’t change is that I don’t think I will ever give up on digital rights and freedoms,” she added as an afterthought.
Here’s hoping that sentiment never changes Ms. Dad.
