APC at RightsCon Online 2020

By APCNews

Published on 22 July 2020
Page last updated on 11 September 2023

The 2020 RightsCon will take place online from 27 to 31 July. The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) values the conference as a convening space to strategise, share and contribute to discussions concerning the protection of human rights in the digital space. Given the unprecedented circumstances brought on by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to take the opportunity to build, in this and other international fora, strategies to face the challenges, fear and uncertainty of these difficult times.

Key areas of focus in our team’s participation this year will be:

The intersections between gender and ICTs

If digital technology and the internet are the lifelines of our days, then a feminist internet becomes an imperative. We need not only to recognise and support, but to actively listen, network and amplify the work of individual and collective nodes of hyperlocal resistance happening in the streets to the global digital highways of the internet. In particular, how feminist research methods can contribute to decolonising knowledge and the internet will be in focus this year.

Internet governance, ICTs and environmental sustainability

Digital technologies can play a part in mitigating the impacts of climate change, as well as helping displaced and affected communities adapt to the challenges that lie ahead. The internet is also a crucial tool for environmental activism, and for keeping governments and extractive industries accountable. However, numerous areas require reinvigorated policy advocacy by internet rights activists. There is, for example, a need for unfettered public access to big data sets dealing with the environment, as well as open access to the latest scientific and environmental health research. Policy needs to consider the impact of the mass production and sale of consumer technology with short lifespans (built-in redundancy) on human wellbeing, the climate and the environment. Through our participation at this year’s RightsCon, APC will work to advance understanding among key actors of how environmental sustainability could and should be incorporated into internet governance processes, and how the internet should be governed in a way that enables environmental justice and sustainability.

The value and potential of community networks, in the framework of meaningful digital inclusion

It is critical that attention be urgently given to affordable and appropriate internet access for communities. A radical change of policy, logic and strategy is necessary to address the needs of the billions of people in developing countries who still suffer from digital exclusion. The first step is to provide alternatives for infrastructure deployment, expanding coverage and addressing affordability. Governments should create enabling ecosystems to allow small-scale networks and locally owned telecommunications infrastructure to emerge and expand. Decentralised community-built and owned networks are the most effective way to overcome digital exclusion in areas that are still isolated from the social and economic dynamics of the digital era.

Shrinking civic space and threats to human rights online

The exercise of the rights to freedom of association and expression, both offline and online, is being increasingly affected. States are engaging in regressive and anti-democratic measures through digital technologies, and activists and human rights defenders are being persecuted and criminalised. The space for civil society is shrinking nationally, regionally and globally both offline and online. At RightsCon, APC will work and exchange views with other groups towards identifying key strategies to strengthen civil society organisations as key actors in the internet policy and governance ecosystem. Meaningful inclusion and participation of all stakeholders remains necessary in internet policy discussions and decision-making processes, using online multistakeholder settings and mechanisms.

Throughout the programme we plan to promote a global South perspective to human rights online, including by supporting and promoting the important work of APC members.

Please find below the panels, workshops and meetings organised by APC and members, chronologically organised under the 11 RightsCon tracks.

29 July - 12:45 UTC: Meaningful connectivity: from COVID and beyond (with Digital Empowerment Foundation)

29 July - 15:15 UTC New influencers: putting digital rights on the policy agenda (with CIPESA)

30 July - 11:45 UTC How authoritarian leaders use ambiguous and rhetorical terms to dramatise internet shutdowns in Africa (with WOUGNET)

30 July - 14:15 UTC: A world in revolution: lessons and tactics from 2019 protests (with SMEX)

30 July - 14:15 UTC : Crafting a scalable response to disinformation: truth online (with Derechos Digitales)

30 July - 16:00 UTC: Facial challenges: networking global responses to the spread of facial recognition technology (with Unwanted Witness)

31 July - 10:00 UTC: Digital rights solidarity in South Asia (with Body and Data Nepal)

31 July - 11:15 UTC: Net positive advertising: dream or reality? (with Derechos Digitales)

31 July - 11:15 UTC: Digital health certificates: are they immune from violating the rights of users at risk? (with Derechos Digitales)

31 July - 14.00 UTC: Rapid response funds and the promotion of human rights in the digital environment (with Derechos Digitales)

31 July - 16:30 UTC: Surveillance, safeguards, and strategy: Campaigns for surveillance reform in North America, LATAM and Africa (with Derechos Digitales)

31 July - 16:30 UTC: Data for development: shaping future scenarios (with Derechos Digitales)

31 July - 17:45 UTC: The revolution will be tracked: How to protect activism in the age of mass surveillance (with Derechos Digitales)

31 July - 17:45 UTC: Innovating for inclusion: How to combat bias through policies, product design and community engagement (with Mallory Knodel)

More information

The forum can be followed through the #RightsCon hashtag and by following @rightscon (En), @RightsCon2es (Sp), @rightscon2fr (Fr), @rightscon3rabi (Ar) on Twitter. APC will be sharing live updates on @apc_news, under #RightsCon, #HumanRightsOnline, #EnvironmentandICTs, #FeministInternet, #InternetFeminista, #ChallengeHate, #CommunityNetworks, #RedesComunitarias
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