In an ever-evolving digital environment where disinformation remains a persistent challenge, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) has taken a step forward in promoting a safe and inclusive digital space.
Over two days, on 26 and 27 January, the Mission brought together around fifty young activists, influencers, bloggers and content creators for consultations focused on combating gender-based disinformation.
This initiative, officially launched by MONUSCO through its Public Information and Communication Division, aims to equip digital actors so that they can serve as bulwarks against hate speech and false information specifically targeting women and girls.
“The role of the United Nations is a catalytic one. Together with the Government and other partners, we organized this activity to analyse how these dynamics are currently operating,” explained David Fundi Sumaili of MONUSCO, one of the facilitators of the meeting.
Silencing
The discussions highlighted the devastating impact of gender-based disinformation, which is often used to silence women’s voices in the public sphere. To address this, training modules were developed to contextualize the situation, particularly around cyberharassment.
According to journalist Hugues Mpaka, women activists often abandon their engagement following campaigns launched against them on social media.
“Gender-based harassment aims to control, to silence, to remind certain people that they should stay in their place,” confirmed content creator Pridia Diasilua.
Towards a digital ethics charter
During the two days of exchanges, participants notably learned techniques to detect false information and counter disinformation.
“The tools we learned will help us verify whether information is true and reliable, trace it back to the original publication, reassure ourselves of its accuracy, and understand how to alert the authorities,” said content creator Ben Tshikangu.
For his part, Junior Maneno Shuma, representative of the Secretary-General for the Digital Economy, emphasized that the initiative seeks to contribute to the fight against information manipulation. “This is about preventing the manipulation of information and hate speech. We must produce a digital ethics charter to provide guidance; otherwise, sanctions are prepared under the codes,” he stated.
The highlight of this consultation was the collective reflection on the development of a digital ethics charter. This tool is intended to serve as a compass for content creators, ensuring respect for basic rules in the fields of information and communication and alignment with the requirements of the digital code in force in the DRC.
