5th UNAOC symposium on hate speech held Wednesday in Cairo

CAIRO – 13 December 2017: #SpreadNoHate is the official slogan of the UNAOC’s symposium and it is the second most trending tweet in Egypt.

The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) in collaboration with Egypt Media Development Program (EMDP), held its fifth symposium on countering hate speech against migrants and refugees in the media.

"The impact of people’s mass movements is now more pronounced than ever before... we've witnessed solidarity with refugees, but also xenophobia in the media," says Chief of Cabinet Nihal Saad, who is also the spokesperson for the High Representative of the UNAOC.

During the panel entitled “Traditional Media as a Vehicle for Hate speech,” Saad stressed the negative role that social media might play in propagating hate speech against refugees which could make them feel threatened and intimidated and she therefore calls for laws to regulate the usage on social media platforms.

Head of the Arabic Language Service at the Associated Press, Lamiaa Radi, underscored the international community’s unified efforts to tackle hate speech against migrants and refugees by spreading awareness through media campaigns and conferences.

Aligning with Radi, Sami Zaptia, the co-founder and managing editor of Libya Herald, said that “[we] should integrate new glossaries in English and Arabic to describe the events that the migrants and refugees witness throughout their journey.”

"Journalists - professionals and those in training - have to learn about fact-checking," says journalist and author Randa Habib, adding that journalists must truly digest the “red lines” and refrain from crossing them while doing their job abroad.

During the session “Understanding Hate Speech in a Global Context and Across Cultures,” Habib also said that refugees and migrants are the most targeted group in terms of hate speech.

We have to raise and show awareness in dealing with immigration issues that have become a global issue,” Ezzat Ibrahim, editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram Weekly, said during the panel.