LAHORE: National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) organised the first out of the four conferences in collaboration with UNDP to devise a Code of Ethics to prohibit the hate speech against women in provincial capital on Monday.

Parliamentarians, members from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), security agencies, civil society and media personnel attended the consultation.

NCSW has recommended and is pushing the Election Commission of Pakistan to bring provisions and restrictions to the code of conduct for political parties, media, political workers and bloggers to control the hate speech spewed against women. They also recommended severe consequences and disqualification for a person from contesting elections who commit any such violations. Moreover, the Code of Conduct will also cover ethical use of online spaces and have necessary measures to counter election related misinformation.

The participants of conference recommended that PTA should prohibit the hate material on social media against women and formation of a separate cell. The also recommended punishment such as fine, imprisonment, blocking of accounts for a certain period of time, public apology or de-seating of a politician; refer to Harassment Law, exemplary punishment to set a precedent, ban the entire party and financial sanctions for hate speech. They also stressed that these measures and punishments must be made mandatory for drafting Code of Ethics. NCSW Chairperson Nilofar Bakhtiar stressed that everyone irrespective of party affiliations and gender must discourage derogatory remarks and disrespect towards women in every way.

Source: The News