We regularly participate in international meetings, conferences, and coalitions tackling online hate and extremism. We are regularly engaged to undertake international work in support of the United Nations, international bodies, national governments, and civil society organisations. The work includes strategic consulting, research, training, and expert presentations.
Below are some of our international engagements which we can share. Other international work is carried out on a strictly confidential basis.
International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance
The Online Hate Prevention Institute’s CEO, Dr Andre Oboler, has served as an expert member of the Australian Government’s delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance since 2015. Our work has been regularly presented to international experts at IHRA plenaries and conferences and our efforts have contributed to the broader IHRA program of work.
IEEE Digital Platforms and Societal Harms Event
Our CEO has served as co-chair of the IEEE Computer Society’s Digital Platforms and Societal Harms events in 2021, 2022 and the forthcoming event in Washington DC in 2023. These events have brought together experts from government, industry, academia, and civil society to address online hate, extremism, exploitation, misinformation and disinformation. At the 2022 forum we launched our report “Anti-Asian Racism in Australian Social Media“.
International Taskforce for Combating Online Antisemitism
We have supported the International Taskforce for Combating Online Antisemitism and testified to its first hearings which occured online in 2020, attended the summit in Washington DC in 2022, and testified to hearing in the European Parliament in 2023.
Malmö International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism
Our CEO was appointed to a small group of experts advising the Swedish Government on the 2021 Malmö Forum. Over a year the experts discussed the most pressing issues of antisemitism and helped the Swedish Government shape the forum that brough solutions to these issues via pledges from national governments, technology companies, and international bodies.
United Nations Forum on Minority Issues
In 2020 our CEO, Dr Andre Oboler, served as the panelist for global Civil Society in the UN’s 13th Session of the Forum on Minority Issues. The forum focused on “Hate Speech, Social Media and Minorities” and followed regional forums which OHPI also presented at. Dr Oboler’s presentation can be seen here.
GIFCT South East Asian Workshop on Extremism
In 2023 we participated in GIFCT’s South East Asia Workshop on countering Terrorism and Extremism Online. The workshop took place in Meta’s offices in Singapore and we heard and engaged with both regional and global experts tackling the spread of online extremism. We also learned about emerging threats and the latest efforts to counter them.
Meta Workshop on Extremism
In 2023 we participated in a day of workshops on countering extremism run by Meta at their Singapore offices. This second day of discussion and consultation followed the GIFCT workshop the day before. We learned about Meta’s efforts to tackle extremism and provided feedback on new approaches and ideas.
European Commission’s Civil Society Forum
In 2022 we attended the European Commission’s Civil Society Forum on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life. At the forum we were able to share our latest work on combating online antisemitism and to discuss strategies with European partners.
Italian Government Conference
In 2020 we provided the scene setting presentation for the Italian Government run conference “Online Antisemitism and Hate Conspiracies in Internet Time”. An article with details of the presentation and a recording is available here.
Hate Speech in Asia
In 2020 OHPI’s Chairman Mark Civitella, Director Nasya Bahfen and CEO Dr Andre Oboler, presented on a panel for Bangkok based Asia Centre’s “Hate Speech in Asia: Challenges and Solutions” conference. The panel discussed the response to rising hate speech during COVID and the structural challenges in tackling the rise in racism which we expect to occur during the recovery period. In a wide ranging Q&A we also discussed questions of regulation, freedom of speech, international cooperation, different approaches to tackling hate (counter speech, education, penalties, etc) and the risk hate speech poses as a gateway to violent extremism.
Canadian Panel on IHRA Working Definition
In 2021 we participated in a panel discussion organised by the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada on the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism. The panel made of international experts from IHRA presented and took questions from the audience.
Research training – South Africa
In 2021 we provided training to researchers at the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Cape Town ahead of a large project they were undertaking on online antisemitism.
Symposium on combating online antisemitism
In 2019 we participated in a Symposium on combating online antisemitism which took place at the officers of the European Commission. The symposium included researchers working on cutting edge approaches to tackle online antisemitism and extremism as well as staff from various parts of the European Commission.
International Conference on Cohesive Societies
In 2019 we participated in the second International Conference on Cohesive Societies held in Singapore. The event addressed harms such as extremism as well as efforts to improve harmony in society.
An End to Antisemitism!
We participated in the conference “An End to Antisemitism!” which took place in Vienna in 2018. The presentation our CEO, Dr Andre Oboler, delivered at the conference has since been developed into the open-access book chapter “Solving Antisemitic Hate Speech in Social Media through a Global Approach to Local Action“.
Research training – Spain
In 2018 we provided a research training workshop for academics as well as a lecture for students on “Smart Cities stupid people new approaches to misogyny racism and harassment” at the Institute of Law and Technology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain.
GIFCT & Tech Against Terrorism – Asian Pacific
In 2018 we participated in the Asian Pacific launch of GIFCT and Tech Against Terrorism which took place in Google’s offices in Sydney. At the launch we delivered a presentation on real time data sharing between civil society, governments, and platforms during crisis responses related to extremist incidents. The presentation can be seen here.
