Human rights and ICTs
The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and IFEX submitted a written statement ahead of the Human Rights Council’s 36th session to express their grave concern about the growing crackdown on the use of secure digital communications, and in particular the arrest and pre-trial detention of IT consultant Ali Gharavi and non-violence and wellbeing trainer Peter Steudtner, together with eight Turkish human rights defenders.
The Association for Progressive Communications and the Foundation for Media Alternatives, a non-governmental organisation based in the Philippines, would like to call the attention of the Human Rights Council to concerns relating to the Philippines’ Universal Periodic Review (UPR) during the 27th session of the Working Group on the UPR. APC and FMA welcome the participation of the Government of the Philippines in the UPR despite an earlier attempt to defer from the process.
The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and organisations supporting this joint statement express concern over the lack of attention to the shrinking space for human rights online in India during the 3rd cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
APC, Media Monitoring Africa, and the Right2Know Campaign welcome the opportunity to submit this parallel coalition report and submission on the List of Issues (LOIs) to the 61st session of the Pre-Sessional Working Group of the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. This parallel report is submitted in response to the Government of South Africa’s Initial Report to the CESCR...
This year’s report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of expression and opinion confirmed growing attention to the impact of digital media on human rights.
APC has taken initiative to compile two editions of Global Information Society Watch focused on National and Regional IGFs (NRIs). Participate in this survey to help us give voice and visibility to the stories of each NRI. Deadline is 18 September 2017.
The latest report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression focused on the role of digital access providers in ensuring the provision of human rights, with a particular focus on private actors’ responsibilities.
The actions captured in this report reflect the energy, diversity and growth of the APC network. New members AlterMundi, from Argentina, Point of View, from India, Rhizomatica, from Mexico, Social Media Exchange (SMEX), from Lebanon, and Zenzeleni Networks, from South Africa, have added to the richness of the APC community and the breadth of our reach.
Getting all of our members together is a celebration of the work we have done and the work still ahead. After our last members meeting in Barcelona, Spain, in 2014, the APC network is meeting again from 18 to 20 August in Ithala, South Africa.
In late May the Guardian released the Facebook Files, leaked internal documents revealing how the company moderates content. Although Facebook has made some improvements, these documents confirm that it's often one step forward, one step back, as the platform continues to censor women's agency, especially women of colour and especially in relation to activism, while letting harassment flou...

Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2020
Unless otherwise stated, content on the APC website is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
