Statements and submissions
Following consultation with its stakeholders, the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) prepared this submission to the Kenyan Senate COVID-19 Ad Hoc Committee, with a series of recommendations related to ICT solutions to confront the pandemic.
Many nations are considering proposals to use digital technologies to confront the COVID-19 pandemic. This joint statement calls on the OECD to ensure the protection of privacy and other fundamental human rights in the use of these technologies.
Many countries today are turning to digital technologies to provide information as well as for monitoring and controlling people infected with the virus, which alerts us to the potential impact of these technologies on people’s fundamental rights.
In the last two weeks of March 2020, the government issued several directives to Myanmar telecom operators ordering them to block at least 221 websites. We believe that the government’s order to block these websites lacks an adequate legal basis and is in violation of international human rights law.
Over 100 organisations from around the world signed a joint statement stressing that digital surveillance to fight COVID-19 can only be justified if it respects human rights, and setting out conditions that must be met before the use of surveillance technology to fight the pandemic.
APC welcomes the invitation of the Special Rapporteur to reflect on the mandate and to provide its inputs regarding growing challenges for the exercise of these rights offline and online.
The undersigned organisations express their concern over the announcement of the use of satellite monitoring and georeferencing systems to track individuals as part of the disease containment measures established in Ecuador to confront the COVID-19 epidemic.
APC and the Myanmar ICT for Development Organization thank the Special Rapporteur for her report on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, particularly for highlighting how ICTs are being leveraged to perpetuate violations against religious minorities such as the Rohingya.
APC's statement presented at the stakeholder meeting with the Human Rights Committee on the Revised Draft General Comment No. 37 on Article 21 (Right of Peaceful Assembly) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) on 9 March 2020.
APC is convinced that multilateralism and multistakeholderism are both necessary and can coexist, and both must be strengthened. We strongly support the IGF Plus model as the basis for establishing accountable, inclusive, participatory and effective global digital cooperation among all stakeholders.
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2022
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