Those with internet access are more likely to enjoy the potential realisation of rights, while those without access lack such potential. Additionally, the control of technologies is not necessarily in the hands of traditional duty bearers in human rights law. In such a scenario, what is the relationship between access to the internet and the frameworks to allow internet access as a right?

The Association for Progressive Communications (APC), the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), the Internet Democracy Project, and the Internet Society are co-organising a side event for non-governmental stakeholders to share and exchange their views and priorities with governments on WSIS+10 in a dynamic, interactive setting.

The attack against APC and Take Back the Tech and efforts to hijack the #takebackthetech hashtag, which has involved people who self-associate with #Gamergate posting threats targeting members of our community and images that depict women being subjected to physical and sexual violence, illustrate how women’s and girls’ voices are silenced on social networking platforms by violent and sexist expression.

The Association for Progressive Communications, the Due Diligence Project, and the Robert F. Kennedy Training Institute are organising a two-day expert group meeting on “Due diligence for violence against women online: The role of the state and internet intermediaries” to be held in Florence, Italy on 15-16 October 2015.

A group of NGOs, including APC, have sent an open letter to Facebook, in representation of individuals who have experienced harm as a result of Facebook’s “real name” policy.

The delay in the release of both Ms. Salwa Mihriz and Ms. Nahed Sherif is quite atrocious, especially that Ms. Mihriz’s release is halted by the fact that her name is not written correctly in the pardon decision. As for Ms. Mahienour El-Massry, it is feared that her exclusion from the concerned pardon is a result of her being targeted for her well-known and prominent human rights activism.

During the APC Latin America and the Caribbean regional members meeting in Mexico City, APCNews interviewed Mario Morales from Colombia, who recently joined APC as an individual member, to find out more about his work and his reasons for becoming part of the APC network.

The 30th session of the Human Rights Council is taking place from 14 September to 2 October 2015 in Geneva. Internet rights are to be discussed during this session in the context of participation in political and public life, racism and xenophobia, communications network shutdowns, mass and targeted surveillance, encryption, and restrictions on access to information and communication technologies.

Since early 2015, the Local Action to Secure Internet Rights (LASIR) project has focused on empowering national and local actors in their defence of human rights on the internet, in countries as diverse as South Korea, Brazil, the Philippines, India, Jordan, Uganda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bangladesh, Kenya and Tunisia.