Internet rights are human rights
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries are resorting other measures that may have the incidental effect of concentrating power to a few, providing an opportunity for authoritarian leaders to consolidate the government’s might in order to stifle some essential freedoms.
In these exceptional times, APC wishes to send our solidarity and appreciation for connecting with us. While we are distancing ourselves physically, we continue to stay closer than ever to each other and share tools and resources as well as support.
The Forum for Freedom of Expression, Bangladesh, of which APC member VOICE is part, expresses deep concern over the series of attacks on journalists during the 30 days of countrywide lockdown imposed by the government for containment of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The internet is the primary source of information on the global COVID-19 pandemic. But Arakan in western Myanmar is currently experiencing the longest-running internet shutdown in the world, and the lack of access to information could put an already vulnerable population in a dangerous situation.
Media Matters for Democracy (MMfD) is concerned about the insertion of draconian and anti-democratic sections in the draft Personal Data Protection Bill 2020 that has been made public by the Pakistani Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications.
APC joined the #KeepItOn coalition and 41 international rights groups from around the world in an open letter urgently calling on the government of India to restore access to 4G high-speed internet access as a first step towards the containment of the COVID-19 virus and related health needs.
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.
APC joined dozens of other organisations and researchers to call on social media companies to enable future research and analysis about the “infodemic” side of COVID-19 by preserving information about what their systems are automatically blocking and taking down.
The open letter, signed by APC and other civil society organisations, emphasises the fundamental importance of ensuring transparency and adequately assessing the human rights impact of any public-private partnerships that the UN may enter into, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This report, commissioned by Global Affairs Canada and co-published by the Association for Progressive Communications and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, explores how multilateral cybersecurity processes can incorporate a gender perspective into future work.
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2020
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