Raise the Minorities Rights

Background:

Pakistan constitutes three of the world’s most challenging contexts for securing freedom of religion.
Political transition, though offering opportunities for democratization, has been accompanied in each case by a decline in freedom of religion or belief. Religious minorities are particularly vulnerable in Pakistan.

Religious minorities are specifically targeted for their beliefs and at the same time the discrimination and/or persecution they experience greatly compromises their freedom of religion. Furthermore a culture of impunity exists with regard to human rights abuses.

Recently, On September 22, 2013, two suicide bombers carried out an attack outside of the church, killing 127 people and injuring 170. Around 600 parishioners were on the front lawn of the church, receiving free food, when two explosions occurred, leaving the church scattered with body parts. Victims included an estimated 37 children. This was the second attack on churches in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in a year, where another church in Mardan was burnt exactly a year before this incident.

“Many times minorities’ rights are violated in every single way. So, it is very important that journalists do cover and do report on what is happening in minority communities, but they must insure that the reporting that they undertake is free from discrimination. Their rights might be violated through discrimination, but if you report them in the wrong way, their rights are violated again.”  UNICEF CEE/CIS Regional Chief of Communication John Budd

Many journalists have stated that they are not confident when reporting on development issues. Journalists have to adapt to new ways of covering development issues as being the ears and eyes of society and the voices of the voiceless through bottom-up reporting. Indeed, this acclaimed “watchdog” role, report ages on development issues that bring attention to issues that are overlooked or under-represented often only raises awareness of problems.

Nevertheless, significant opportunities exist to improve relations between communities. Civil society is vibrant and active in all provinces of Pakistan, and there are a number of initiatives that aim to improve coexistence.

Aim:

The main purpose is to promote freedom of religion and pluralism in KPK. We aim to challenge discrimination against religious minorities and empower communities to effectively advocate for implementation of their human rights, including their freedom of religion and belief, at local, national and regional levels, and to take action to promote better relations between different religious communities. This program will provide journalists with essential skills and tools to research and produce high quality, high interest stories concerning minority and indigenous peoples and development.

Importance:

The study confirms in particular the challenges facing media reporting on ethnicity and religion where journalists often struggle to balance cultural and religious values and the right to freedom of expression. Journalism can be seen as a human right - right to inform and be informed - but, in the case of hate speech, can be seen as an instrument for human rights violations. Journalism provides means for promoting human rights by:

·         Reporting events where violations occur.

·         Analyzing, interpreting and providing space for commentary on acts of discrimination.

·         generally increasing audiences’ knowledge and understanding of these issues.

Reasons:

 There are several reasons why your society may contain minority communities. These include:

·Ethnic or language groups which were absorbed into your nation when borders were re-drawn, possibly by colonial powers or on independence. Examples of this are the Kurdish minority in Turkey or the Ndebele people in Zimbabwe.

·People who were brought into your country, perhaps centuries ago, either to provide special labour, such as the Indians in Fiji and South Africa or the Chinese and Tamils in Malaysia; or to deal with overcrowding in their home country, such as the Gilbertese in the Solomon Islands; or for some other reason.

·People who have escaped neighboring countries as refugees, such as the Palestinians in Lebanon or the West Irianese in Papua New Guinea.

·People who have come to your country as individuals looking for a better life, such as Afro-Caribbean people in Britain or Italians in Australia.

·Indigenous people who have become a minority in their own land because of migration from elsewhere, such as the Amazonian Indians of Brazil or the Maoris of New Zealand.

·People who have developed separate identities because of their religion, such as the Sikhs in India or the Bahais in Iran.

Methodology:

1.         Produce and air a thematic radio show series on minority issues.
2.     Conduct FGDs (Focus Group Discussion), training workshops, community meetings etc. in the major cities for identification of common issues faced by the minorities & to prepare the advocacy plan and strategy accordingly.
3.     Implement national networking and coalition-building training events in each country for religious minorities, human rights activists and journalists to strengthen collaboration and develop advocacy strategies;
4.     Deliver an on line training course to strengthen the capacity of activists and journalists;
5.     Raise awareness of the challenges faced by religious minorities’ via media campaigns, research, reports, round table events and a short film (If applicable);
6.         Implement activities through civil society organizations to promote better relations between communities;
7.     Carry out field work supporting minority activists in identifying, monitoring and addressing discrimination;
8.         Litigate strategic cases;
9.         Carry out video advocacy campaigns.