Islamabad, 24 June 2022 (TDI): Foreign Minister of Pakistan Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, addressed the first virtual meeting of the Group of Friends for Countering Disinformation and promoting and protecting Human Rights and Fundamental freedom.
Today, FM @BBhuttoZardari addressed the First Meeting of Group of Friends on Countering Disinformation for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, virtually.
🇵🇰🤝🇺🇳 pic.twitter.com/khqlMAuBx2
— Spokesperson 🇵🇰 MoFA (@ForeignOfficePk) June 23, 2022
Foreign Minister highlighted that Pakistan like many other countries has been a victim of targeted campaigns of disinformation.
Additionally, he stated that disinformation is a global pandemic, considering that we are living in the age of information.
The exponential proliferation of disinformation is using online and social media platforms. It has fostered hate speech, racism, discrimination, xenophobia, and islamophobia, as well as, infuriated competition for nationalism, interstate tensions, and conflicts.
Similarly, he pressed that disinformation has often justified and intensified the violation of human rights.
A call for a multilateral approach
Furthermore, at all national and international levels, Pakistan has been countering, confronting, and defeating this pandemic of disinformation. This can be achieved only through comprehensive international cooperation.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari commended the efforts of Pakistan and the other like-minded countries for taking the initiative against disinformation in UN General Assembly.
These painstaking efforts led to the adoption of the landmark resolution of General Assembly 76/227 for countering disinformation for the promotion and protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom.
He highlighted that it was the first formal effort by the member states of the United Nations to develop an agreed global response to the scourge of disinformation.
Mentioning that the ‘Group of Friends’ has been established to promote the implementation of the General Assembly resolution, also, the Foreign Minister of Pakistan paid his gratitude to all the states who joined this group.
He called upon the meeting members to devise an international plan of action to counter disinformation, whether online or offline or in public or private domains.
This meeting covered all the legal and normative aspects of countering disinformation.
In sum, these aspects included the role and impact of policy measures and a range of tools employed, including awareness-raising campaigns in countering disinformation on an international level.
