civil society
The undersigned civil society organisations mark the conclusion of the United Nations General Assembly's (UNGA’s) 74th Third Committee session, with the following observations on both thematic and country-specific resolutions. We welcome the first joint statement on reprisals at the Third Committee led by the United Kingdom and joined by a cross-regional group of 71 countries, calling on all States and the UN to prevent, respond to, and ensure accountability for cases of int...
Internet connectivity opens many opportunities for civil society groups and activists to participate in their countries’ political life, defend their rights and promote government transparency and accountability. However, much of the populations in developing countries remain unconnected and thus cannot fully participate in civic life. This was the focus of my intervention at the “Innovative Citizen Participation in Restrictive Environments” seminar, which I attended in Kuala Lumpur fro...
A rights-based approach to cybersecurity has gained currency in recent years at multistakeholder processes like the UN Internet Governance Forum. Progress has been made at human rights-oriented forums like the Freedom Online Coalition, which has developed recommendations for a free and secure internet. Yet at the same time, threats to cybersecurity are on the rise, with significant human r...
Joint Statement by the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Association for Progressive Communications (APC), Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project), Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF), International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), International Lesbian...
The landscape of internet governance has been rapidly evolving in the decade since the conclusion of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis in 2005. The Tunis Agenda for the Information Society not only affirmed the commitment of all involved countries to develop a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented information society, but also proposed a multistakeholder a...
The efforts of the Government of Sudan to obstruct the engagement of civil society activists in a United Nations (UN)-led human rights review of the country is unacceptable and shows blatant contempt not just for human rights defenders in Sudan, but to human rights standards and the UN Human Rights Council, 36 Sudanese and international groups and seven prominent Sudanese individuals said today...
This Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) special report by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) collates civil society perceptions of the changes that have taken place in the information and knowledge-sharing society over the last 10 years. Available in English, Spanish and French, it responds to the opportunity provided by the World Summit on the Information Society (WS...
The security of digital networks and of networked digital information is increasingly important to stakeholders in governments, the private sector and civil society. This paper introduces some important conceptual issues in cybersecurity, investigates some important cybersecurity threats, and provides suggestions on what a civil society approach to cybersecurity should look like.
On Monday April 29th, APC staff Alexandra Groome, Anriette Esterhuysen and Emilar Vushe attended the launch of CIVICUS’s State of Civil Society 2013 report at CIVICUS headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa. This year’s theme, “creating an enabling environment for civil society,” draws on contributions from over 50 experts and documents the experiences of activists an...
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2019
Unless otherwise stated, content on the APC website is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)