Hate speech, often disseminated online, has surged following the COVID-19 pandemic. Asia Centre in its inaugural baseline study, Hate Speech in Southeast Asia, explains the background and the issues that lead to discrimination, violence and communal strife in the region. It examines the legal framework, in particular a slew of "harmony" bills aimed at securing social, racial or religious harmony as well as non-legal measures to foster social cohesion, interfaith dialogues and social harmony. It also evaluates states in Southeast Asia that signed the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).This study recommends a range of measures to alleviate the challenges arising from hate speech. Among them is a primary recommendation to officially recognise newer forms of hate speech and a set of secondary recommendations to promote understanding and diversity. Do not miss the launch of this very important timely publication.

This launch is part a series of webinars in the lead up to Asia Centre’s international conference on Hate Speech in Asia: Challenges and Solutions scheduled 7-9 October 2020, Bangkok, Thailand. To submit an abstract for the conference, you can do so at this link: https://forms.gle/VDajnQtz66g5xhWZ7
 
 Speakers
 Dr. James Gomez, Regional Director, Asia Centre
 Dr. Robin Ramcharan, Executive Director, Asia Centre
 
 Moderator: Belen Bode, Asia Centre
 
 Date: 22 July 2020
 Time: 2 PM - 3.30 PM (Bangkok, Thailand GMT+7),
 Registration from 1.45PM
 
 Contact: research@asiacentre.org
 Website: http://asiacentre.org/