UNESCO on Monday said its global survey revealed that 73 per cent of women journalists
experience online abuse, harassment, threats and attacks.
Dr Tawfik Jelassi, Assistant Director-General, Communication and Information, UNESCO, disclosed this at a session to welcome participants to the Global Media and Information Literacy Week in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the week-long event with the theme: “Nurturing Trust: A Media and Information Literacy imperative,” is being attended by 193 UNESCO member countries physically and virtually.
Jelassi said the problem of online violence was increasingly spilling offline, with potentially deadly consequences.
Specifically, he said, 20 per cent of women journalists and media workers were being targeted with offline abuse and attacks believed to be connected with online violence they had experienced.
Jelassi said it was imperative for the world to take immediate action and that was the essence of the literacy week to create awareness for consumers of online information.
He said majority of the citizens of every country globally, now relied on digital platforms as their primary source of information.
“From America to northern Europe, from Asia to North Africa they shared with us their experiences in this and the challenge is all the same.
“Seventy-eight per cent of Brazilians take WhatsApp, as a primary source of information and these are contents that are not verified,” he said.
The UNESCO official underscored the need for the citizens to be educated on the use of information for public good and guide against hate speech and online bullying.
He said the week would be devoted to finding solutions to the global challenge by experts that would participate in different sessions.
Jelassi thanked President Muhammadu Buhari, the government and people of Nigeria for accepting to host the week-long event.
Earlier, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, welcomed participants to the country.
“I have no doubt that you will have a very good time in Abuja; our welcoming capital city, and that the various interactions here will form the basis for a lasting friendship, long after this event would have ended.”
The minister said he looked forward to insightful and rich contributions from participants.
NAN
