Human rights and ICTs
As an organisation that has worked at the intersections of human rights and technology for nearly three decades and fully recognises the critical importance of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for the fundamental right to protest, we welcome the focus of the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights on this topic. It is increasingly difficult to distinguish between the online and offline dimensions of human rights in the context of assemblies, including peaceful protest...
APC's 2018 Annual Report offers an engaging dive into one year in the network's life. However, as comprehensive as it is, it is just a sample of the multifaceted and tireless work we all do at APC. As APC's executive director Chat Garcia Ramilo said in her introduction to this report, it is a compendium of "stories about how APC collectively strives for change," from what Bishakha Datta, our board chair, describes in her own introductory piece as "a year when so many deeply-rooted i...
Last week it was revealed that the governments of the US, UK and Australia are pressuring Facebook to "not proceed with its plan to implement end-to-end encryption across its messaging services without ensuring that there is no reduction to user safety and without including a means for lawful access to the content of communications to protect our citizens." APC joined over a hundred civil socie...
Update: On 10 October, Alaa was able to inform his lawyers, and put it officially on record, that he has been beaten, threatened and robbed at the Tora Prison. He was told if he spoke out it would become worse, and faces the risk of further beating and torture. In the words of his family, "Alaa decided, as always, not to be silent. We, now, must do our part." ---------...
The Council reaffirmed that reprisals can never be justified. Council members rejected attempts to weaken the text including deleting the references to the roles of the Assistant Secretary-General and the Human Rights Council Presidents. The resolution listed key trends such as the patterns of reprisals, increasing self-censorship, the use of national security arguments and counter-terrorism st...
Freedom of expression remains Southern Africa’s most violated online right. Advocacy for the respect, recognition and promotion of freedom of expression online has been marked as a priority for digital rights activists in the region. Southern African members of the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms (AfDec) Coalition, drawn from Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanz...
On 23 September, the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) participated in the Christchurch Call Leaders’ Dialogue at the UN General Assembly in New York as a member of the Christchurch Call Advisory Network. The meeting featured announcements and updates on the Christchurch Call, which was launched in May 2019 in response to the 15 March terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zeala...
APC statement to the Christchurch Call Leaders’ Dialogue at the UN General Assembly in New York, 23 September 2019 Excellencies, colleagues, For too long, efforts to address violent extremist and terrorist content have focused almost exclusively on Islamic terrorism, overlooking violent misogyny, white supremacy, far-right and anti-LGBTIQ extremism. The Christchurch Call provides an ...
From 9 to 13 September 2019, the United Nations Open Ended Working Group (OEWG) on developments in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security held its first substantive session in New York. The OEWG has a broad mandate, covering existing and potential threats in cyberspace; the applicability of international law; rules, norms and principles for resp...
This article was originally published on the website of APC member organisation EngageMedia. As an organisation that stands for media freedom and digital rights, EngageMedia finds the recent threats against freedom of expression in West Papua concerning, including undue restriction and harassment, as well as internet blocking and throttling. UN Human Rights Council experts have urged the Indon...
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2019
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