Civil Society Strongly Condemns the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Ordinance, 2022
February 22, 2022February 2022 Newsletter: DRF Launches its Pro-bono Legal Network to Support Women and Girls Experiencing Gender-based Violence Cases.
April 7, 2022Policy Initiatives
DRF Launches 5th Edition of Digital 50.50; Feminist E-Magazine on GBV
DRF launched it’s last edition of Digital 50.50 for 2021 in January. The issue focused on fighting gender based violence and covered features and research articles penned down by our network of women journalists. It can be accessed on DRF’s website here:
New Issue of Hamara Internet
After a successful relaunch of our Hamara Internet website, DRF launched new content on the website! New Vlogs, Blogs and E-Bulletin articles were shared on the website with the theme being gender based violence.The content shed light on varying forms and aspects of gender based violence on society at large.
Visit the HI website here: https://hamarainternet.org/
DRF backs Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, Amendment 2022.
The Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Amendment) Act, 2022, drafted by the Ministry of Human Rights with input from women’s rights groups & lawyers has been lauded as a ‘revolutionary step’.
Submission to Special Rapporteur on Right to Freedom of Expression
DRF made a submission to the Special Rapporteur on Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression for a report on “Opportunities, Challenges and Threats to Media in the Digital Age”.
Submission can be found on our website here.
Stories of Women Journalists: Initiative launched by DRF to support Journalists in Pakistan
DRF launched its “Stories of Women Journalists” an important initiative thatt sheds light on the real life experiences of women journalists in relation to experiencing cyber harassment and online abuse. The stories are real life accounts of the varying forms of harassment women in the field have had to face as a consequence of choosing a profession in journalism in Pakistan.
DRF Commemorates Annual Data Privacy Day
In honour of Data Privacy Day being observed world over on 28th January. DRF shared important discussions held at its 8th National Data Privacy Conference in Islamabad, which occurred in November of 2021. DRF has done extensive work on data privacy through it’s Data Protection & Privacy portfolio. Privacy is a core tenet of the advocacy work we do, and we have conducted various studies & researches on this topic.
Here is some of our research:https://tinyurl.com/mv4626a
Also, you can access all the panels held at the conference at the link to our YouTube channel here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cweQhKjqU4Q
Panels and Webinars
Nighat Dad speaks as Guest Lecturer at ITU on Surveillance and Data Privacy
Nighat spoke at Information Technology University as a guest lecturer for a course on 24th January, 2022. She discussed the relevant topics of surveillance and Data Privacy in today’s day and age.The theme discussed was contextualized in Pakistan.
Nighat Dad speaks at American Bar Association Virtual Event on Data Security and Digital Privacy
Our Executive Director, Nighat, spoke at the virtual session hosted by the American Bar Association on ‘Data security and digital privacy in the Asia-Pacific region’, on 26th Jan alongside Michael Pang (@Protiviti), and Patel Champa @patel_champa (@CrisisGroup).
Events and Training Sessions
DRF Attends Stakeholder Consultation Hosted by UNDP on Gender Gap in Tech
DRF attended the Stakeholder Consultation: Time to Close the Gender Gap in Tech by UNDP in which a much needed discussion around gender and technology took place. DRF shared it’s own research on the subject and how more needs to be done in order to make the internet a safer and inclusive space.
Media Coverage
Executive Director of DRF, Nighat Dad was mentioned in an article produced by UNDP regarding the Development Advocate Pakistan project review. For the report, “The Equality Paradigm, Nighat was quoted saying, “Digital technologies are central to human rights activism in bearing witness of lived realities, developing campaigns for human rights and placing demands of govts & the international community.”
DRF Speaks with Creators of Comic “Digital Rights and Feminist Futures”
DRF spoke to the creators of the Comic “Digital Rights and Feminist Futures” and to gain an insight into the motivation, creative process and ideation that went behind the brilliant piece.
Read the blog featuring @azizalaziza & @SiddiquiZuha here: https://t.co/O1sEKnylJw
Nighat Dad’s Work Featured in Feminish Tech Principles Initiative
Our Executive Director Nighat Dad was featured in Feminist Tech Principles put together with Superrr Lab. She was asked to share her “Feminist Tech Principle” which she stated as “acccessibility, equitable participation and representation.” You can find her contributions here: https://tinyurl.com/485c4jjt
You can access groovy and interesting website for Feminist Tech Principles here: http://feministtech.org
Covid-19 Updates
In January of 2022, the Cyber Harassment Helpline recorded 191 complaints received, out of which 160 complaints were calls.
We predominately dealt with cases or cyber harassment & received a number of complaints by journalists who were receiving threats and ongoing instances of hacking. If you are experiencing any form of cyber harassment or suspect someone may be, do not hesitate to reach us at 0800-39393 or contact us on our social media platforms.
