"Caste discrimination remains one of the world’s most serious human rights issues. It is intrinsically linked with hate speech, but as this report has demonstrated, insufficient attention has been paid to the caste-based aspects of hate speech. All too often, caste-hate speech is allowed to contin
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ue unchecked, not least on social media platforms. Campaigners against caste discrimination rightly argue that unless caste is specifically mentioned in the human rights discourse instead of being “hidden” under other headlines, there is a huge risk that the issue will be ignored. This warning also applies to caste-hate speech. Consequently, it is essential that caste-hate speech is recognised as a protected characteristic in international covenants – and as a distinctive form of hate speech – and that Dalits are included in actions to mitigate caste-hate speech online and offline, at every level. Anything less will enable abusers to continue practising this form of hate speech – and condemn Dalits and other groups to even more abuse and violence." (Conclusion)
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"Draws together thinking and analysis that covers the breadth and depth of the media development landscape. The opening section, 'Why Media Matters: Global Perspectives' gathers the work of several thought leaders on major trends that cut across both the communications and development policy arenas;
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this is followed by an examination of the current debate that is engaging researchers, development professionals and media assistance experts alike, namely 'How Media Matters: Measuring its Impact'. The third section, 'Challenges in Media Matters: Practitioner Experiences' presents a range of regional and sectoral case studies, and the final section forms a guide to current information sources and studies of the field of media support, in 'Mapping the Sector - Literature, Surveys and Resources'. Media matters has four key aims: 1 To help development policy makers and practitioners understand the relevance of vibrant, independent media systems to their wider goals; 2 To highlight work on the evidence of the relationship between media, communications and the development agenda; 3 To flag key global and regional trends and opportunities in media assistance; 4 To map the media assistance sector, its growing body of literature, and the emerging international research partnerships that will help define its priorities to 2015." (Overview + executive summary)
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