APC will be at RightsCon Tunis, the first RightsCon summit hosted in the Middle East and North Africa. Along with our members, we will be involved in more than 45 sessions and events where we will engage in conversations on a range of critical issues. You can also come say hi at our booth!
APC talked to Dorothy Mukasa, executive director of APC's newest member organisation, Uganda-based Unwanted Witness, about challenging internet shutdowns and other violations of human rights online in a country with high levels of corruption, unemployment and poverty.
At this year’s Stockholm Internet Forum (SIF), as in years past, the APC network was actively engaged, by organising, co-organising, speaking at and participating in sessions and workshops. The theme of SIF 2019 was “Shrinking Democratic Space Online”.
CYRILLA: Global Digital Rights Law
The CYRILLA Collaborative is a global initiative that seeks to map and analyse the evolution and impacts of legal frameworks in digital environments by aggregating, organising and visualising distributed legal data through open research methodologies, data models, taxonomies and databases.
Connecting the unconnected: Supporting community networks and other community-based connectivity initiatives
This project will contribute to an enabling ecosystem for the emergence and growth of community networks and other community-based connectivity initiatives in developing countries. It is part of a multi-year, multi-donor strategy envisaged to address the human capacity and sustainability challenges, along with the policy and regulatory obstacles, that limit the growth of community-based connectivity initiatives.
Challenging hate narratives and violations of freedom of religion and expression online in Asia
This project seeks to protect and promote respect for freedom of religion and expression on the internet, particularly by countering hate speech online on the basis of religion, and generating narratives and discourse that defend secular and diverse opinions touching upon religion. The three-year project focuses on five countries in South and Southeast Asia: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar and Pakistan.
FIRN: Feminist Internet Research Network
The Feminist Internet Research Network is a three-and-a-half-year collaborative and multidisciplinary research project led by APC, funded by the International Development Research Centre. The project draws on the study “Mapping research in gender and digital technology”, and the Feminist Principles of the Internet collectively crafted by feminists and activists, primarily located in the global South.
The rollout of the Huduma number is taking place all over Kenya. This piece traces the experience of one young woman, Nyangi, as she tries to get a card, and more broadly the problems and hurdles posed by the system of digital identity.
As an internet rights activist based in the global South, I often find myself musing over whether access to a safe, free and open internet is possible. This is why, for me, the highlight of the Stockholm Internet Forum this year was the focus on the status of democracy in a digital era.
TikTok is a wildly popular short video platform and has led to myriad forms of creative and playful expressions. This piece explores videos from Sri Lanka in relation to heteronormativity, gender, and how the boundaries between the personal and public are blurred.
Columns
Inside the Information Society
David Souter writes a column for APC twice a month, looking at different aspects of the information society, development and rights. David’s pieces take a fresh look at many of the issues that concern APC and its members, with the aim of provoking discussion and debate. Issues covered include internet governance and sustainable development, human rights and the environment, policy, practice and the use of ICTs by individuals and communities.
The internet of memory: Stories from the APC community
What were information and communication technologies like in the 1980s and 1990s? What are the stories of the genesis and evolution of non-profit computer networks working for social change? Twice a month, this section will take a historical look at the APC community's journey of internet activism and make links to where we are now. Join Jennifer Radloff in this retrospective trip exploring the connections between the past and the present.
In 2018, the First Committee established two parallel processes to discuss responsible state behaviour in cyberspace: the UN Group of Governmental Experts and the Open Ended Working Group. This explainer offers human rights defenders the information they need to engage with these processes.
The undersigned organisations have expressed their very explicit concerns about the fundamental and human rights questions that will appear in the implementation of the obligations laid down on online content-sharing service providers by Article 17 of the new EU Copyright Directive.
APC stands in solidarity with Dr. Wairagala Wakabi, Executive Director of the Uganda-based Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), who was detained and finally deported upon arrival at the International Airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media launched its annual report on Palestinian digital rights. The report details violations by governments, authorities, international technology companies and Palestinian society.
The report touches upon various issues including violent and regulatory actions against the media, online censorship, the right to information regime, disinformation, internet disconnections, data protection, and legislative developments related to cyberspace.
APC joined African Freedom of Expression Exchange (AFEX) members and other organisations that work to promote freedom of expression offline and online across the globe to express deep concern about the shutdown of social media platforms by the government of Chad over the past 11 months.
As negotiations at the Human Rights Council enter their final phase, APC and over 150 other civil society organisations join ISHR's call on all states and civil society to use the remaining days to work towards the adoption of a strong resolution on environmental human rights defenders.
APC member Point of View launches Free To Be Mobile, a publication that features ten stories of teenagers, women, trans and queer persons, and their experiences of digital violence.
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