Baku - The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with IOM Azerbaijan and the Foundation for the Promotion of Moral Values provided a far-reaching information campaign intending to sensitize citizens about the importance of avoiding xenophobia, hate speech, domestic violence, violent extremism, and disinformation as well as the COVID-19 pandemic reached a million Azerbaijanis.

The campaign with a slogan, “Be aware” (“Ferqində ol” – Azerbaijani version) drew the attention of an Azerbaijani audience to the COVID-19 pandemic and its neglected social consequences that continue to undermine social cohesion and community resilience.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an increase in domestic violence globally. The rights and freedoms of women and children, who are the main victims of this violence, are significant for strong and sustainable societies. To this end, the campaign raises the concern for the establishment of safe support mechanisms for victims of violence, while ensuring that perpetrators of violence are brought to justice. The campaign also draws attention to increased negative discriminatory tendencies during a pandemic such as discrimination, xenophobia, anti-migrant sentiments.

The rapid spread of unverified news during the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences have once again demonstrated the importance of combating fake news and disinformation. In this respect, the awareness-raising campaign highlighted the importance of investigating the authenticity of dubious news, the reliability of the news sources, and refraining from disseminating unsubstantiated conspiracy theories-based claims, either live or online means.

Radicalization, accompanied by hate speech, which is growing globally in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, sometimes does not immediately create hatred against any group, but it eventually shatters the foundations of society by sowing the seeds of hatred and gradually leading to violence. These issues that erode individual resilience and social cohesion were also emphasized during the campaign period.

Throughout awareness-raising activity, large posters had been displayed in the streets of the capital Baku and other main cities of Azerbaijan, in public places, and in the different social media channels illustrating continuing social issues that pose a threat to society during the COVID-19 pandemic. The campaign comprising print media (posters, banners, brochures, and billboards) and social media has reached an estimated 1 million people. The media used within the campaign were highly effective to expose the consequences of COVID-19, which are going to have a long, yet undetermined course

Local influencers who have thousands of followers have become mouthpieces for the campaign to spread key messages to wider society via their different social media platforms. By this way, the campaign encouraged social media users to play their part in addressing the harmful effects of the continuing social threats in the light of the pandemic. Besides the local celebrities and influencers, community leaders also used their social media pages to generate widespread community buy-in and awareness of the social threats and pandemics on individuals and communities, and in that way, they were helping to spread the word on the issue.