|
Open Letter to Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch, Re: Kurdish Rights Activists
Censored
17.7.2012
By Jihan Muhamad
—
Ekurd.net |
|
|
|
July 17, 2012
Dear Ms. Suzanne Nossel (Executive Director of
Amnesty International USA) and Mr. Kenneth Roth
(Executive Director of Human Rights Watch),
My name is Jihan Muhamad, I am a Kurdish rights
activist based in Canada. I am writing to you today
on behalf of Kurdish rights activists raising
awareness about their cause through social media. I
would like to inform you that in recent months the
voice of the Kurdish cause has been severely
suppressed, not only on the ground, but online by
the social media networks of Facebook and Twitter.
Both Kurds and non-Kurds use social media as an
active base to raise awareness about the Kurdish
cause. Activists have engaged with tools such as
Twitter and Facebook to raise awareness about the
political issues of the Kurds and to shed light on
the vast human rights abuses taking place against
Kurds in the states of Turkey, Syria, Iran, and
Iraq. Being critical of the actions of nation-states
is in itself a challenge, especially if you live in
one of these nations, but when social media networks
deliberately engage in censoring the voice of
activists online for the benefit of the nation this
makes our work as activists even tougher.
In recent months both Facebook and Twitter have
deliberately engaged in censoring the voice of
Kurdish rights activists online. Facebook has been
actively shutting down the accounts of people who
break their content policy, a policy that is in
direct discrimination of the rights of activists
engaging in political awareness about the Kurdish
cause. An article published in the British Daily
Mail speaks to this, as a leaked document shows the
content Facebook chooses to block from its site,
such content includes: maps of Kurdistan, “attacks”
on Turkey’s founder Ataturk, burning of the Turkish
flag, and anything related to the PKK or Ocalan
(unless the content is clearly against them).
Facebook’s policy has resulted in the denial of
freedom of expression of Kurdish rights activists
online. Activists face suspension of their accounts
or removal of information if Facebook deems content
posted to be against their pro-Turkish stance. The
stance Facebook has taken is a dangerous one and has
been broadened to include removing information of
news from Kurdish protests in the region.
In recent demonstrations in Turkey’s South-East
region of Diyarbakir, Kurdish rights activists used
both Facebook and Twitter to engage in raising
awareness about the plight of demonstrators. On July
14th as Kurds and democratically elected Kurdish MPs
were faced with brutal attacks by Turkish forces
during protests--including being faced by gas bombs,
pressurized water, and physically beaten with clubs
while demonstrating--activists took to social media
to raise awareness about events taking place on the
ground.
As Kurdish rights activists attempted to raise
awareness about the demonstrations both Facebook and
Twitter engaged in censorship of Kurdish content
online. For four to five hours during demonstrations
Twitter blocked the hashtag “#TwitterKurds” from its
site--a forum which activists use to raise
awareness about the plight of Kurds. Simultaneously, Facebook blocked content of users portraying images
of the demonstrations taking place on the ground.
Censorship activity by Twitter and Facebook only
adds to the suppression of the Kurdish cause.
Historically the states of Turkey, Iran, Syria, and
Iraq have records of mass human rights abuses
against their Kurdish minorities. Today the state of
Turkey continues to silence the voice of its 25
million Kurds by censoring Kurdish news sources
online and imprisoning Kurdish journalists,www.ekurd.net
lawyers, and politicians. Social media should be a
tool to challenge abuses of states against its
population, not to further suppress the voices of
those most vulnerable.
The censorship activity that Facebook and Twitter
have engaged in is in clear violation of freedom of
expression. This is not only dangerous for the
Kurdish rights cause but for the international
struggle for human rights of all peoples. Social
media has become an important tool for activists in
raising awareness about human rights abuses
worldwide. Therefore, I urge you in your
responsibility as the director of a prominent human
rights organization to condemn the censorship
activity of Facebook and Twitter so activists can
continue to speak out against the oppression that
Kurds face in the region.
Sincerely yours,
Jihan Muhamad
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
July 16, 2012
Copyright
© 2012 Ekurd.net. All rights reserved
Top |
The opinions
expressed in this commentary are solely those of the
author
|
®
