Announcement |
Representatives from the Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) will attend the Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa 2018 (FIFAfrica18) taking place in Accra, Ghana on September 27-28. At FIFAfrica18, the FOC will introduce Forum participants to the work of the Coalition. Participants will also have the opportunity to engage with representatives from the FOC and the multi-stakeholder FOC Advisory Network, as well as and raise internet freedom issues they would like the Coalition to address.
The Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) represents 30 governments who have committed to work together to advance human rights and fundamental freedoms online through a multi-stakeholder approach. The Coalition provides a forum for like-minded governments to coordinate efforts and work with civil society, the private sector, and other Internet stakeholders to support the ability of individuals to exercise their human rights and fundamental freedoms online.
The FOC is founded upon the notion that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online. The FOC seeks to identify best practices regarding the application of human rights obligations and commitments in the evolving online landscape, as well as to call attention to conditions that undermine those rights by issuing joint-statements, coordinating policy responses among members, and leveraging civil society, the private sector, and other internet stakeholders to encourage rights abiding behaviour online.
Further, the FOC Advisory Network serves as an additional mechanism for the FOC to engage with non-governmental internet stakeholders. It serves as a platform for multi-stakeholder dialogue, advice, and collaboration. The Digital Defenders Partnership, a grant making mechanism associated with the FOC, provides rapid response to a range of threats to internet freedom, from supporting bloggers and cyber activists who find themselves under digital attack, to helping them exercise their rights online in repressive environments.
FIFAfrica is hosted by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) in partnership with the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and focuses exclusively on internet rights and freedoms. It looks at them through the lens of policy, regulation, and governance and offers a platform for critical engagement of diverse stakeholders in identifying the most pressing internet rights-related issues and challenges that have to be addressed at national and regional levels in Africa. The Forum also identifies opportunities for bringing the debate on the importance of human rights online at national, regional and global fora and aims to identify effective ways to engage with them.
Join the FOC at an informal session on Friday September 28 at the FIFAfrica18 Main Hall during the lunch break at 13.00-14.00.
