Middle East and North Africa
APC’s year of transition has been a year of learning and change for all of us. We’ve had a good year, made possible by the spirit, hard work and commitment of the APC staff, the engagement of our members, the guidance of our board of directors, and the support of our partners.
This report by 7amleh – Arab Center for Social Media Advancement reveals new insights about how Google Maps’ mapping process in the occupied Palestinian territories serves the interests of the Israeli government and contradicts Google’s commitment to international human rights frameworks.
The Cybercrime Law and the Media Regulation Law in Egypt represent an attempt to impose full control over the flow of information online, in what seems to be an effort to close the space for public debate and prevent the exercise of the fundamental right to freedom of expression.
The Cybercrime Law and Media Regulation Law are only the latest steps in the Egyptian government’s attempts to impose full control over the flow of information online. These actions must be opposed in order to defend Egyptians’ human rights.
APC member in Lebanon Social Media Exchange (SMEX) published this piece on digital rights issues in the Middle East and North Africa.
7amleh – The Arab Centre for Social Media Advancement warns of the risks and dangers that emanate from the newly proposed Cyber Security and National Cyber Directorate Bill in Israel.
In partnership with members and networks, APC’s Internet Rights programme advocates for the protection, promotion and respect of human rights at the national level through the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a unique mechanism of the Human Rights Council involving a review of the human rights records of all UN member states.
In recent times there has been a dramatic increase in the use of internet and social media by Palestinians. In this context there is also a rising wave of online gender-based violence that leads to intimidation of women and self-censorship, which means that often women are withdrawing from social media platforms.
In order to exert pressure on the Palestinian government, coalitions held meetings between civil society representatives and governmental bodies concerning amendment of the law in 2017. These ongoing discussions in addition to campaigns launched by activists, journalists and lawyers compelled the government to issue a new law no. 10 in 2018 regarding Cybercrime.
Welcome to the fifth monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks.

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