Asia
Despite pushback from around the world, Uganda has passed the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which puts the safety of LGBTQIA+ folks at risk by institutionalising discrimination against them. This piece reflects on the impact of this draconian law on those already living on the margins.
We are happy to announce the launch of the Routing for Communities podcast on 1 June. With 12 episodes, this podcast will be a journey to listen to the life stories of those connecting themselves while defending the fundamental rights and well-being of their communities.
APC will award one subgrant for a research project that focuses on the criminalisation of online expression in Sri Lanka, in continuation of research which to date has covered nine countries across South and Southeast Asia. The deadline to apply is 15 June.
Google has been giving access to users' personal information to the US government under its PRISM programme. Six activists in South Korea took the tech giant to court demanding they be given access to the information that Google holds on them, and won.
In this edition, we celebrate the people and initiatives building collective knowledge together, such as the Community Network Seedbeds taking place in Argentina, and a series of manuals created from the collaboration among community network practitioners in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
These five manuals are the result of communities of practice that brought together community network practitioners from diverse countries. They aim to support community networks on key issues such as solar energy, circular economies, bamboo infrastructure and more.
Speaking on behalf of the Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication and Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum, APC associate AHM Bazlur Rahman emphasised the need to create strong global governance of digital transformation through the Global Digital Compact.
In its statement to this Deep-Dive session, APC member organisation DEF, based in India, poses the question: Is internet governance relevant only to those who use and access the internet, or also to those who do not have the ability or privilege to have internet access?
With mounting global pressure to keep up with the latest technology, the scale of our digital demand is resulting in staggering amounts of environmental waste. DEF responded with an inspiring pilot project to tackle the problem of e-waste in two communities in India.
India imposed 84 internet shutdowns in 2022, the highest number globally for the fifth year in a row. APC joins a global civil society coalition to urgently ask the Indian government to create meaningful safeguards for citizens' digital rights and ensure unfettered access to an open, secure and reliable internet.
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2022
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