News

By CIPESA Staff Writer | In an increasingly digitised world, safeguarding data rights has become central to protecting individuals’ rights to access and share information, express themselves, and associate using the internet and related platforms. Advances in technology, alongside growth in mobile subscriptions and increased use of smartphones have pushed individuals online to shop, interact, share […] Read more

By Hopeton S. Dunn | During his inauguration in November 2019, Botswana’s President, Mokgweetsi Masisi, declared his intention to diversify Botswana’s economy and transform it into a knowledge-based one. President Masisi was acutely aware that Botswana’s rapid rise to become an upper middle income country was largely based on earnings from diamond exports and, to […] Read more

By CIPESA Staff Writer | In September 2020, our research on the State of Internet Freedom in Africa established that the ultimate effect of the measures instituted in fighting Covid-19 was that they had deepened the democracy deficit in several African countries. This was because, increasingly, more states in the region had fallen short of […] Read more

By Afi Edoh | The role of technology in aiding the Covid-19 fight in Africa is increasingly undisputed. As Covid-19 cases have grown in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo, governments and the private sector have played a decisive role in the three countries’ technology-based response measures, with large scale national efforts to minimise the social-economic […] Read more

By Bernard Sabiti | At the onset of the Coronavirus disease (Covid-19), the prognosis for how Africa would manage the  pandemic was bleak. Many (mostly western-based) epidemiologists anticipated that the pandemic would kill millions of Africans. Researchers at the Imperial College London put the number of estimated deaths at three million as the worst case […] Read more

By Mohamed Farahat | The coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has dramatically transformed our daily lives, making the virtual world the new reality for many people. However, for many others, including refugees, it has further served to deepen their digital exclusion. Since the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in Egypt in February 2020, the number of […] Read more

By CIPESA Writer | In January 2019, after nine years in the making, Nigeria signed into law the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018. In Kenya, a similar framework had been signed into law in 2003. Both laws were aimed at promoting a more inclusive society for persons with disabilities. Sections 24 and 25 […] Read more

By Edrine Wanyama | Namibia and Sierra Leone are among the countries that will undergo their Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the upcoming 38th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council slated to take place in May 2021. The two countries have distinct human rights and governance track records, accompanied by  increasing digitalisation, making […] Read more

By Victor Kapiyo | In recent years, disruptions to the internet and social media applications have emerged as a common and growing trend of digital repression especially in authoritarian countries in Africa. Since 2019, countries such as Algeria, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra […] Read more

By CIPESA Staff Writer | In commemoration of International Women’s Day (IWD), Digital Shelter has launched the #WithoutFear campaign to raise awareness about the challenges faced by Somali women online. The campaign features an audiovisual poem in English and Somali, by award-winning Poet, Activist and Digital Storyteller Zahra Abdihagi Mahamed. The poem was inspired by a […] Read more