Human rights and ICTs
In the second session of “Speaking of Hatred: A three-part presentation on hatred, religion and gender in South and Southeast Asia", Dr. V. Geetha focused on the role of states in organising and building systems of hate directed against various minorities.
COVID-19 has led to a surge of efforts by both state and private actors to manage the pandemic itself, and the consequences of it, with the aid of technology. Yet privacy has immediately been cast as a required trade-off in the efforts to combat the disease.
From 10 - 12 June, CYRILLA and APC hosted a Twitter campaign. The purpose of #DigitalLawsAsia was to explore the human rights impacts of digital regulation in South and Southeast Asia.
South Korea succeeded in epidemic prevention because it conducted active inspections based on tracking the whereabouts of confirmed patients. However, it should not be forgotten that behind the scenes is an electronic monitoring system that allows our every move to be tracked at any time.
On 15 June, online news organisation Rappler’s CEO and executive editor Maria Ressa and former researcher-writer Reynaldo Santos Jr. were convicted of cyber libel charges, in just one of 11 court cases filed against Rappler, branded one of the staunchest critics of President Duterte.
Earlier this month, the Jakarta State Administrative Court declared as illegal the internet shutdowns in Papua and West Papua enforced by the Indonesian government in 2019.
Al Munasq, a dangerous application launched by Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (COGAT) unit last year, violates Palestinians' privacy and can lead to other human rights violations.
Data protection in Africa can still be described to be in its nascent stage. Most African states do not have a data protection law. This paper by Tomiwa Ilori considers the status of data protection in Africa and the impact of public emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic on data protection in Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, Kenya, Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa and Mauritius.
APC joins FMA in denouncing the guilty verdict handed down in the cyber libel case against online media organisation Rappler’s CEO Maria Ressa and former reporter Reynaldo Santos, Jr. The case is widely regarded to be the ultimate test of the Philippines’ controversial cybercrime law.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a need for solutions to “flatten the curve”. This essay by Rumbidzai Matamba and Chenai Chair employs the use of the South African government’s contact tracing initiatives to assess whether the social contract theory can be employed as a tool to justify privacy violations for public health.
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2020
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