Closer than ever
APC understands that we are all dealing with unprecedented circumstances as we face the challenges, fear and uncertainty brought on by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. We know it impacts our work, our personal lives and the lives of those we care about. Each country is tackling the situation differently, so the contexts we find ourselves in are as diverse as the ways we find to navigate shifting conditions.
In these exceptional times, we wish to send our solidarity and appreciation for connecting with us. While we are distancing ourselves physically, we continue to stay closer than ever to each other and share tools and resources as well as support. We also want to examine how we can continue to promote human rights online in the context of a global pandemic. We are all facing this problem together but we know it affects different countries and communities in different ways. Therefore, we would like to channel the strength of our network to share some important resources that we hope will be empowering, enlightening and reassuring.
Below you will find articles and insights shared by our community, which has been working on human rights and technology issues for over 30 years. We will be updating these lists on a regular basis, so please feel free to connect with us if you have some resources to share.
This first piece in a three-part series using a feminist data justice perspective to understand artificial intelligence, privacy and data protection in South Africa looks at data and the right to privacy focusing on the current health pandemic.
APC with members of the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms Coalition called on authors from the region to develop a series of reports on the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa and human rights. Read the summaries of the 19 papers here.
Some thoughts on what could, should and might happen to the Internet Governance Forum.
Since the first case of COVID-19 was announced in Tanzania in March, the government has been in the spotlight for its handling of the pandemic. It has denied its severity, suspended media houses, and criminalised COVID-19 related speech through enactment and enforcement of repressive regulations.
Inhabiting the internet causes a huge footprint on land, nature and bodies, but we can learn how to create a more attentive and sensitive relationship with digital technologies. In the second part of this webcomic, we will discover some ways of caring that we can start to integrate in our lives.
This article presents a compilation of responses from community networks in the face of COVID-19 based on a dialogue organised by APC, as well as articles published by community networks in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, the United States and Mexico.
A geographically representative group of 527 civil society organisations has called for the resumption of the state monitoring procedure of the international human rights treaty bodies, which have been postponed since March due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Kenya confirmed its first Covid-19 case on March 12, 2020, and as of August 26, 2020, the country had recorded at least 559 deaths, 32,803 confirmed cases, and 19,055 recoveries, with 429,513 persons tested. Even before the first case was confirmed in Kenya in February 2020, the government had moved to establish the National Emergency Response Committee on Covid-19 to coordinate its preparednes...
The need for connectivity and digital infrastructure has become as important as food, housing and clothing to be able to access information, healthcare, education and government schemes
It’s the end of this strange COVID Northern summer / Southern winter. Time for this blog for APC to resume its weekly exploration ‘Inside the Digital Society’.

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