Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (Hivos)

A fair, free and sustainable world – that is what Hivos, the Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation, wants to contribute to. Together with local organisations in developing countries, Hivos strives for a world in which all citizens – both men and women – have equal access to resources and opportunities for development. Hivos headquarters are in The Hague.

Hivos first provided support to APC’s Africa Women’s Programme in preparing for Beijing+5, as well as our internet rights work through the Global ICT Policy Monitor project, with a focus on activities in Latin America and Africa. In 2001, 2002 and 2003, Hivos continued to fund the Africa Women’s Programme and the Global ICT Policy Monitor project.

In 2005 the organisation provided support to GenARDIS and the Global ICT Policy Monitor, and in 2004 to APC-Africa-Women, the Global Gender and ICT Forum and the Global ICT Policy Monitor. Hivos funded both the Global ICT Policy Monitor project (with core support to CIPP and APC-Africa-Women) and the GenARDIS project in 2006. In 2008 Hivos provided support for the Africa ICT Policy Monitor; Engaging Policy and Practice project (CIPP/WNSP – AAW) (1 Jan 2005 to 31 Dec 2008) and in 2012, Hivos provided support for APC’s Strategic Action Plan for the period 2009 – 2012.

From 2008 until 2015, Hivos was a funder-partner for  the annual Global Information Society Watch.

Joint civil society letter calling to ensure live online modalities of participation for UN human rights bodies and mechanisms
Joint civil society letter calling to ensure live online modalities of participation for UN human rights bodies and mechanisms 06 February 2024 Various

Over 200 organisations including APC sent a joint letter to UN representatives calling on them to ensure live online modalities of participation for UN human rights bodies and mechanisms, in light of concerns regarding civil society access and participation in these spaces.

Joint open letter by civil society organisations and independent experts calling on states to implement an immediate moratorium on the sale, transfer and use of surveillance technology
Joint open letter by civil society organisations and independent experts calling on states to implement an immediate moratorium on the sale, transfer and use of surveillance technology 26 July 2021 Various

Dozens of civil society organisations and independent experts joined forces to express their alarm at the media revelations that NSO Group’s spyware has been used to facilitate human rights violations around the world on a massive scale and to call on states to take immediate measures.

When the government shuts down the internet: Disco-tech event in Tunis
When the government shuts down the internet: Disco-tech event in Tunis 18 June 2019 APCNews

With the aim of exploring internet shutdowns in the African region, the event brought to light stories of the shutdowns’ effects on human rights at individual, national and regional levels, and shared strategies and techniques to avert or lift them, including tech demos, policy ideas, advocacy strategies and litigation.

Disco-tech Tunis: Join us in this pre-RightsCon event on internet shutdowns in Africa
Disco-tech Tunis: Join us in this pre-RightsCon event on internet shutdowns in Africa 01 June 2019

APC, Hivos/Digital Defenders Partnership, Columbia Global Freedom of Expression, Columbia Global Centers | Tunis and close partners are hosting the seventh Disco-tech event on 10 June in conjunction with the 2019 RightsCon Summit in Tunis. Join us at this innovative peer-learning event!

Open letter to the European Commission on Article 17 of the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market
Open letter to the European Commission on Article 17 of the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market 17 May 2019 Various

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.

Disco-tech Paris: Join us in this pre-IGF event on disability and accessibility to the internet
Disco-tech Paris: Join us in this pre-IGF event on disability and accessibility to the internet 01 November 2018

The Internet Governance Forum kicks off on Monday, 12 November 2018, in Paris, France. On the evening of Sunday, 11 November, from 19:30 to 22:00, APC and Hivos/DDP will host the event Disco-tech Paris, under the theme, “Breaking through the walls of an inaccessible internet”.

Disco-tech: Bringing the “disco” and the “tech” to the IGF
Disco-tech: Bringing the “disco” and the “tech” to the IGF 27 September 2017

Disco-techs are informal peer-learning events designed to bridge the gap between technical and political solutions to attacks on internet rights and freedoms. The topics of this event change annually, but we always call it a “Disco-tech” because the format of the event is very unique: we are connecting policy to tech in a social atmosphere.

GISWatch: An annual snapshot of the information society, 10 years running
GISWatch: An annual snapshot of the information society, 10 years running 02 December 2016 Florencia Roveri, from Nodo TAU

Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) has reached its 10th edition, providing the international community with yearly reports on the state of the constantly evolving information society from the perspective of local civil society organisations and experts from all around the world.

Mohammed Maskati: "Digital security is still considered something cool and fancy and not taken seriously"
Mohammed Maskati: "Digital security is still considered something cool and fancy and not taken seriously" 05 October 2016 Leila Nachawati Rego

Mohammed Maskati at IGMENA, Tunis. 2 October 2016. Photo by Leila Nachawati Rego Mohammed al-Maskati is a renowned Bahraini human rights defender and founder of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights. He works as a digital security consultant for Front Line Defenders, a human rights organisation founded in 2001 to protect human rights defenders at risk. He has worked with a diversity of int...

At the Internet Governance Middle East and North Africa Summit: What is the role of civil society?
At the Internet Governance Middle East and North Africa Summit: What is the role of civil society? 29 September 2016

Together for a free and open internet is the motto for this year’s IGMENA Summit, an event bringing together more than a hundred digital rights activists, human rights defenders, journalists and other stakeholders around internet rights and internet governance in the Middle East and North Africa, between 30 September and 2 October in Tunis.

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