Internet governance
The Human Rights Council 34th session wrapped up at the end of last month. As we noted in our pre-session briefing, a number of internet-related human rights issues were on the agenda, ranging from a new resolution on the right to privacy in the digital age, to the renewal of mandates of Special Rapporteurs who play a key role in protecting human rights online. Here are some highlights of outcomes relating to internet rights at the session. Resolutions Right to privacy in the d...
The African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG), an initiative co-organised by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), is a multistakeholder training initiative that aims to give Africans from diverse sectors and stakeholder groups the opportunity to gain knowledge and confidence to participate effectively in internet governance (IG) processes and debates nationally, regionally and globally. It contributes towards i...
My name is Masibulele Siya, but I’m also known as Jay where I live in rural Eastern Cape in South Africa. I was born in the mid-1980’s and raised in these rural areas, but I left my homeland for about seven years for educational purposes. In 2008, I started to work at a local non-profit organisation, where I was positioned as a teacher of the community elders and children between the ages o...
Serge Daho of PROTEGE QV in Cameroon attended the IGF for the first time in 2016 thanks to the APC Member Exchange and Travel Fund. The 11th annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) took place in Guadalajara, Mexico on 5-9 December 2016. Under the theme “Enabling Inclusive and Sustainable Growth”, this global face-to-face meeting brought together delegates drawn from government, the priv...
Coming from Africa, and especially Nigeria, where access to the internet is characterised by different layers of exclusions and where development challenges are also layered with various deprivations, I had specific expectations on how the processes of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) could help deepen access to and democratisation of the decision-making processes with respect to how the int...
What is the value for Africans in international internet governance processes if the approach towards internet governance on the continent has not fully embraced the multistakeholder model? This was among the concerns heard during debates at the 11th Internet Governance Forum (IGF), as some participants questioned the applicability of the global internet governance agenda to Africa. At a globa...
Thanks to travel support from APC’s Member Exchange and Travel Fund (METF), I was able to attend the IGF and its related events from 4 to 9 December in Guadalajara, Mexico. Though I had worked closely with APC on numerous occasions in the past, this was the first time that I attended the IGF since Point of View had become an APC member. And as has been the case on numerous occasions since the...
In January 2017, the IGF Secretariat organised a public consultation, inviting IGF stakeholders to submit inputs related to the following questions: A) Taking stock of 2016 programming, preparatory process, community intersessional activities and the 11th annual IGF: What worked well? What worked not so well? B) Suggestions for improvements in 2017? (programming, preparatory processes, communit...
The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) welcomes the opportunity to provide our input into the work of the Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation on Public Policy Issues Pertaining to the Internet (WGEC). Our view is that enhanced cooperation should aim to improve and democratise the governance of the internet at all levels, not only to establish more equitable influence for and amo...
Pangea, a Barcelona-based independent non-profit organisation that promotes the strategic use of communication networks and ICTs for development and social justice, has been an APC member since 1995. Pangea’s Leonardo Navarro participated at the 2016 Internet Governance Forum, and shared the following insights: Community Networks have emerged at IGF as “the other” way to develop connecti...
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2018
Unless otherwise stated, content on the APC website is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)