human rights and ICTs

This report, commissioned by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), is concerned with the relationship between human rights and the internet; and with perceptions of the internet, its impact on human rights and the concept of internet rights within mainstream rights organisations. It pays particular attention to the rights encapsulated in Articles 18, 19 and 20 of the Universal D...

This must-read Q&A is a great resource on how the internet and human rights are related. This short catch-all article summarises the “why” behind APC’s efforts to have the internet recognised as a very powerful enabler of human rights. It’s the one article you should read to dig into what’s happening at the UN in Geneva this week.

The internet allows women to access critical information, enables them to make decisions about their selves, lives and bodies, and to exercise autonomy and self-determination. Follow the APC WNSP and @genderITorg at the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) forum in Istanbul: #ftxawid to learn more about how the internet is a feminist issue.

Surprising as it may be, the internet in Iran started out as comparatively open in the region. However, censorship and internet clampdowns noticeably increased when conservative president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005. The internet had until then given activists, journalists and political dissidents a way to get around Iran’s restrictive media laws and communicate with the ou...

The government of Pakistan currently has plans to filter the internet, which will affect freedom of expression, speech and opinion in the country. Bytes for All fears the internet will be further restricted as the 2013 general elections approach. Read the public statement by Bytes for All.

On Human Rights Day APC and Hivos launch Information Society Watch 2011. We investigate how governments and internet and mobile phone companies are restricting freedom online – and how citizens are responding to this using the very same technologies.

APC’s Joy Liddicoat explains the significance of Sweden’s proposal to the Human Rights Council to establish an expert panel on the internet and human rights.