Campaigning against the use of hate speech in Kyrgyzstan elections

Under the EU Media Dialogue programme, WFD delivered a campaign against the use of hate speech in Kyrgyzstani elections. In the run up to the November 2021 parliamentary elections, WFD targeted political parties, candidates, activists, and the media, to raise awareness of the concept of hate speech, the legal implications of its use, and positive measures that could be taken to prevent or avoid it. Political parties demonstrated their agreement with the aims of the campaign, when they included points discussed at WFD activities in the cross-party memorandum on holding elections within the law.

Download resource

27 January 2022

Theme

Accountability and transparency

Summary

Election campaigns provide particularly fertile ground for hate speech and incitement to hatred. Political parties, candidates, opinion makers, and members of civil society can be influential spreaders of hate speech in the tense atmosphere of political contestation. In Kyrgyzstan, civil society and media actors have reported an increase of hate speech in and around election periods.

Responding to this problem, the anti-hate speech campaign, run by WFD as part of the Media Dialogue programme funded by the EU, was delivered during this period. It aimed to raise awareness of the issue, relevant legislation and positive measures to identify and challenge hate speech.