human rights

Who run the Instagram Live? Girls!
Who run the Instagram Live? Girls! 27 May 2020 Joshua Muyiwa for GenderIT.org

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Shakespeare wrote most of his plays during the bubonic plague, and now women and queer artists are using the internet and social media to open up spaces for marginalised communities and bodies.

EngageMedia: Shooting COVID-19 in Manila
EngageMedia: Shooting COVID-19 in Manila 11 May 2020 King Catoy for EngageMedia

See how videojournalists in the Philippines are responding to the pandemic in this video from EngageMedia.

#BebaskanRavio: Free Ravio Patra and reveal the WhatsApp hackers
#BebaskanRavio: Free Ravio Patra and reveal the WhatsApp hackers 28 April 2020 Pitra Hutomo for Coconet

On April 22,  researcher and government critic Ravio Patra was arrested in Jakarta, Indonesia, not long after an attempt to protect his safety due to a WhatsApp privacy breach, prompting a larger discussion on the scale of authoritarian oppression in Indonesia. 

7amleh: Are YouTube’s policies biased against Palestinians?
7amleh: Are YouTube’s policies biased against Palestinians? 27 April 2020 7amleh

7amleh has released a new research report about YouTube’s violations of Palestinian digital rights, as part of a series that focuses on violations of Palestinian digital rights and digital discrimination against Palestinians by international technology companies.

Civil society from Latin America and the Caribbean demands respect for human rights when governments deploy digital technologies to fight COVID-19
Civil society from Latin America and the Caribbean demands respect for human rights when governments deploy digital technologies to fight COVID-19 02 April 2020 Various

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.

Joint civil society statement: States' use of digital surveillance technologies to fight pandemic must respect human rights
Joint civil society statement: States' use of digital surveillance technologies to fight pandemic must respect human rights 02 April 2020 Various

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.

EngageMedia responding to COVID-19
EngageMedia responding to COVID-19 20 March 2020 Andrew Lowenthal from EngageMedia

We at EngageMedia have been busy ensuring the safety of our staff and affiliates in the countries we work in: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Australia. This has included closing our offices and shifting to a fully remote setup, which fortunately has mostly been our default since we began in 2005. 

Ecuador: Surveillance measures to confront the pandemic pose a threat to human rights
Ecuador: Surveillance measures to confront the pandemic pose a threat to human rights 19 March 2020

While emergency measures like these are adopted with the aim of slowing the spread of the virus in order to protect public health, it is crucial to ensure that any use of surveillance technology for these purposes strictly adheres to the criteria of necessity and proportionality.

Ecuador: Surveillance technologies implemented to confront COVID-19 must not endanger human rights
Ecuador: Surveillance technologies implemented to confront COVID-19 must not endanger human rights 19 March 2020 APC and Derechos Digitales

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.

Safeguarding freedom of religion or belief and gender equality at HRC43
Safeguarding freedom of religion or belief and gender equality at HRC43 06 March 2020 APCNews

The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) participated in a side event at the 43rd session of the Human Rights Council (HRC43) to look at how to move forward on safeguarding the intersection of freedom of religion or belief and gender equality.

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