Blog – Page 54 of 158 – Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA)

29Sep

Three Days of Digital Rights at #FIFAfrica20! Two Day Down, One to Go!

admin September 29, 2020February 7, 2023

#FIFAfrica20 |

Day two of the Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa 2020 (FIFAfrica20) has wound down, with yet more engagement, experience sharing, skills building, assembly of thought leadership, insights and opinions on digital rights from across the continent and beyond.

The third and final day will be just as inspiring, kicking off with a dialogue on internet accessibility for persons with disability during Covid-19 at the remote hub in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Virtually, discussions on inclusion of persons with disability in the digital society will see GSMA host a talk on digital assistive technologies in low and middle income countries in Africa and Asia. Based on a landscape study, GSMA’s session will highlight the characteristics of the digital inclusion of women with disabilities including opportunities for innovators, the mobile industry and other stakeholders. On the first day of FIFAfrica, CIPESA explored how the telecommunications sector has largely excluded persons with disabilities from their service offerings in many African states.

Further on non-discrimination online, a collaborative session exploring where African women are placed – or left out of – on the internet will navigate a series of issues including imagining inclusive gender connectivity, the implications of Covid-19 on online African feminist movement building through to feminist research and the roles these are playing in the digital rights movement.

Internet users that are able to overcome discrimination and access barriers are faced with more challenges – among them the spread of false and misleading information online. Indeed, disinformation has come to play a concerning role on the internet, often fuelled by limited digital literacy and/or increasingly sinister motives. Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) will host a session on exploring how disinformation causes harm, undermines democracy, spreads fear, anxiety and deepens exclusion. In particular, MMA’s session will focus on the role that platforms should play in ensuring that public interest is maintained in efforts to combat disinformation online.

Meanwhile, Global Partners Digital (GPD) will highlight government responses to disinformation in Africa over the past decade including during the heightened context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Drawing on expertise from Africa-based civil society groups that have jointly developed a disinformation policy tracker to track and analyse disinformation laws, policies and patterns of enforcement across Sub-Saharan Africa, the GPD session, which will also feature academia and private sector representatives, will advocate for a shift towards a more rights-respecting and evidence-based approach to combating disinformation online.

As deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across the world gains momentum, its impacts are far-reaching. Yet still, conversations around responsible AI, have generally excluded the global south and in turn, this is likely to have consequences in the way in which AI technologies are designed, developed, and deployed for the region! The session will call for the decolonisation of AI in Africa and explore the need for inclusivity of more stakeholders in the development of AI in Africa.

The Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria will unpack the right to privacy within the revised Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa. AccessNow, the #KeepItOn coalition lead will amplify the diverse strategies being employed by activists, journalists, technologists, individuals among others to fight against the worrying trend of increased internet shutdowns around the world. The session will build on day one and two of FIFAfrica20 engagements including catalysts for collaboration in digital rights strategic litigation.

Furthering the topic of strategic litigation, a Media Defence session will also outline experiences of strategic litigation in the context of digital rights. The goal is to allow litigators to discuss with internet freedom and freedom of expression communities the practical realities of litigating digital rights, often against a hostile political backdrop. Media Defence will also use the session to develop relationships and widen its collaboration with other organisations that may benefit from legal expertise and/or financial support in these cases.

The tone for the close of FIFAfrica20 will be set by the presentation of the African Internet Rights Alliance (AIRA), a coalition of civil society organisations working to advance digital rights in all aspects of life, governance and the economy on the continent. The AIRA session will share insights into the Alliance’s work over the past three years and discuss the need for transnational collaboration, partnerships and coalition-building to protect and expand digital rights across Africa.

Find the report here.

29Sep

Report: The State of Internet Freedom in Africa 2020

admin September 29, 2020

#FIFAfrica20 |

Today, September 29, 2020, the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) has released a new report, State of Internet Freedom in Africa 2020. The report focuses on the impact of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) measures adopted by governments to contain its spread on digital rights and freedoms including freedom of expression and information, assembly and association, and the right to privacy.

The report, which investigated the measures implemented by governments in Africa in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic shows that the highhandedness with which the governments and their agencies enforced the different Covid-19 preventive measures, including the suspension of rights through emergency declarations and the gagging of critical voices calling for transparency and accountability in handling the pandemic has greatly affected digital rights on the continent.

According to the report, prior to and during the pandemic period, several countries enacted retrogressive laws and implemented oppressive measures that served to strengthen the state’s repressive hand at the expense of citizens’ rights.

Onslaught on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information

Efforts to combat misinformation and disinformation related to Covid-19 had a direct effect on the enjoyment of the rights to freedom of expression and information. Whereas there were some bright spots, these were overshadowed by the negative.

Several governments enacted vague and overly broad laws and implemented repressive practices that curtailed freedom of expression and restricted access to information through censorship, filtering of content, closure of media houses, threats, arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions, prosecution, intimidation and harassment of journalists, online activists and bloggers.

Punitive sanctions and the criminalisation of the work of media houses and journalists in countries such as Tanzania, Chad, Uganda, Nigeria, Niger, and Ethiopia, in effect gagged the media, and restricted the flow, quality and quantity of information available to journalists and the general public.

Invasion of Privacy and Personal Data Breaches

The fight against COVID-19 has been characterised by an assortment of measures that led to the violation of privacy in numerous countries. The new Covid-19 legislation as well as pre-existing laws that were cited in implementing pandemic-related emergency measures such as in Chad, Mauritius, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Zambia authorised the searching of homes and individuals, and required the reporting of individuals suspected to be carrying the virus.

Further, the laws required the collection of personal information of individuals, contact tracing and surveillance activity in countries like Burundi, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Tunisia, as well as mandatory testing in Zimbabwe. These measures mostly had the effect of undermining individuals’ data rights.

The infringement on individual privacy was aggravated by the absence of strong or recommended data protection safeguards in most of the affected countries. while some of the countries had laws on privacy and data protection, they did not offer strong protection but rather facilitated privacy invasion.

Accelerating Digital Exclusion

The report reveals that while Covid-19 has illuminated the centrality of technology in the lives of individuals and communities, it has also brought to the fore the glaring digital divide in the region, and indeed deepened the digital exclusion. Several individuals including persons with disabilities have been locked out of active participation in the digital society, with the exclusion being manifested in accessing education, remote work, and participating in democratic processes, among others. In some countries, internet costs remained very high while in others like Uganda, tax on social media continued to subsist. The high costs and taxes went to the root of affordability ICTs.

Undermining Citizen Participation

The report also demonstrates that the fight against Covid-19 has eroded the ability by citizens to participate in civic matters and the conduct of public affairs. Stringent measures including clamp down on media platforms, intimidation, arrests, detention and prosecution. These high-handed measures including in Algeria, Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe have cowed citizens, activists, and the media for fear of attracting reprisals. These measures have, in turn, forced human rights defenders, journalists, activists, the political opposition, and ordinary citizens to self-censor, disengage from participating in public affairs, and refrain from exercising their rights to participate.

Recommendations

The report calls upon governments, their agencies and authorities to drop all regressive measures that curtail digital rights and freedoms and instead adopt and undertake measures that promote the protection and enjoyment of digital rights and freedoms in the region.

Civil society organisations, telecommunication companies, and other stakeholders are called upon to work jointly towards ensuring that individuals realise and enjoy their rights and freedoms in the digital space by among others engaging in advocacy, developing policies that address individuals needs.

Find the report here.

28Sep

Three Days of Digital Rights at #FIFAfrica20! One Day Down, Two to Go!

admin September 28, 2020

#FIFAfrica20 |

Day Two: Tuesday, 29 September 2020

The seventh edition of the Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa (FIFAfrica) kicked off on a high with the first day commemorating the International Day of Universal Access to Information (IDUAI) on which it coincided. Several sessions recognised access to information as one of the pillars for an inclusive digital society including as an enabler for political engagement, empowerment, transparency and accountability. Data privacy, strategic litigation, elections, consumer protection, content regulation, network disruptions and countering misinformation and tech innovation in times of Covid-19 were among the topics featured in sessions in addition to skills building in data literacy and digital security.

Day two of FIFAfrica20 will be just as exciting and packed with an amazing lineup of sessions! These include a conversation with writer and political analyst, Nanjala Nyabola, academic, social justice activist and aspiring politician, alongside Dr. Stella Nyanzi who will engage on a range of issues including civic space, politics and democracy through to researching feminism in Africa.

In Kenya, the Lawyers Hub will host a session titled Can You Hear Me? The Realities of Meaningful Connectivity in Kenya during which they will explore what needs to be done to provide meaningful access to the internet in the country. This thread of questioning will continue in a session hosted by Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) who are to launch a report on equal and equitable access to the internet and the right to education in South Africa following two years of research alongside Global Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School, ALT Advisory, Acacia Economics, and Media Monitoring Africa.

CIPESA will launch its annual State of Internet Freedom in Africa report themed Resetting Digital Rights Amidst the Covid-19 Fall Out. Another launch will be that of the #RestoreDataRights Declaration which sets out guiding principles for data use during Covid-19 and a Call to Action for civil society, academics, and allies; governments; the African Union, United Nations, and international development partners. The Declaration is an initiative of the Open Institute and Data Ready.

The Global Encryption Coalition (GEC) will host a dialogue on Encryption and the Africa Region which will introduce the Coalition to the FIFAfrica20 community. It will also scope out the landscape of threats to encryption in order to enhance understanding of the issues as it pertains to the different contexts on the continent and identify possible areas for cooperation.

Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF) grantee, iWatch Africa will host a session on Countering Online Abuse and Harassment of Journalists and Rights Activists in Africa. Often, journalists who report on contested social and political issues increasingly find themselves the target of abuse through social media, online comment fora and other online means, in some cases including violent threats of death and rape. According to the 2018 International Press Institute (IPI) report, 31 percent of journalists tone down coverage of certain stories after being abused and harassed online, while 15 percent drop their stories altogether. Among the issues that iWatch’s session will address include the role of journalists, governments, law enforcement and civil society in dealing with online abuse and harassment in the Ghana context.

With the burgeoning digital economy in recent months, the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) will host the Building Inclusive Digital Economies Across Africa session which will examine successful efforts that support small businesses and entrepreneurs across Africa in transitioning operations online. It will also explore the topics of digital commerce, inclusivity and resilience as well as strategize ways to advance multi-stakeholder policy discussions that shape an enabling environment for a competitive digital economy across Africa.

Meanwhile, Ford Foundation will host an Ask the Donor’s session which will explore best practices from the field on how organizations can re-establish norms and relationships with funders and donors in the age of Covid-19. Representatives from the Omidyar Network, Open Technology Fund (OTF), and the Internet Society Foundation, will provide perspectives about where they see things headed in the future and how organizations can best position themselves for support post-pandemic.

At the FIFAfrica20 hub in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Zaina Foundation will convene a workshop to deliberate on digital rights in Tanzania with reference to the shrinking environment for advocacy work in the run up to the October 2020 general elections. At another FIFAfrica20 hub in Dakar, Senegal, stakeholders (state, private sector and civil society) will engage on misinformation and its impact on freedom of expression online during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Continuing from day one will be the Data Skills Foundation Course, with guest speaker Nelson Kwaje of #DefyHateNow South Sudan who will share his experience on data-driven projects on misinformation, hate speech and freedom of expression online. Furthermore, the Digital Security Hub, featuring multilingual (English, French and Arabic) tech security experts from across the continent, on hand to provide personal and organisation digital security support.

Join the community attending FIFAfrica20 here.

28Sep

Report Launch: How Telecom Operators in Africa Are Failing Persons With Disabilities

admin September 28, 2020

#FIFAfrica20 |

Today, the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) has released a new report which shows that several telecom companies in Sub-Saharan Africa have failed to meet their obligations to provide information and services to persons with disabilities. The report assessed 10 telecom companies in five countries: Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda and was based on guidelines from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Model Accessibility Policy 2014, the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web and Mobile Content Accessibility Guidelines, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

Most of the companies assessed – despite being long-established operators with the majority market share in their respective countries – failed to prioritise the needs of telecom customers with disabilities in contravention of the companies’ obligations under national laws and the CRPD.

Safaricom in Kenya and Vodacom South Africa were found to be leading in improving accessibility of communication products and services for persons with disabilities. The good performance by Safaricom and Vodacom in comparison to other companies reviewed appears to be driven by the policies and culture of the Vodafone group to which both belong and not by regulations or regulators in Kenya and South Africa.

MTN’s operations in Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda, as well as Airtel’s operations in Nigeria and Uganda seemed to give low consideration to accessibility of their services by persons with disabilities. This was evidenced by the consistent non-compliance with the accessibility indicators covered in the study across the countries where MTN and Airtel operated.

The report was launched at the Forum of Internet Freedom in Africa 2020 (FIFAfrica20) as part of commemorations of the International Day for Universal Access to Information (September 28). The findings featured in panel discussions on how Covid-19 has accelerated the digital exclusion of persons with disabilities, which is undermining a key pillar of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – the pledge to leave no one behind.

Given the critical role the telecom industry plays in providing information and communication services, it is of utmost importance that it takes deliberate measures to promote accessibility of its products and services. The industry also needs to create awareness of accessible mobile communications among persons with disabilities, their caregivers, and organisations of persons with disabilities (DPOs).

Recommendations

Telecom operators need to address concerns of persons with disabilities regarding their services and products, including through provision of information in accessible formats such as Braille, large print, visual and audio formats; understand the numbers and needs of their customers with disabilities so that they build focused products and services to suit these customers; ramp up sensitivity training for their staff, including in basic sign language.
Government agencies such as communication regulators and consumer protection units should enforce legislation on accessible communication products and services. More vigilance is needed in enforcing implementation of national disability laws, Codes of Practice, consumer rights regulations, and ICT and disability policies.
Safaricom and Vodacom South Africa provide learning examples for other operators on proactively improving digital accessibility and building partnerships that improve service provision to persons with disabilities. Regulators also need to learn from these examples to offer guidance to operators in their jurisdictions.
Telecom companies should form partnerships with academia, civil society, DPOs, tech developers and innovators and device manufacturers to develop accessible mobile communication solutions.
Governments should offer incentives for investment and innovation in accessible mobile devices and software solutions to encourage the development and availability of such technologies and solutions. Examples of such incentives are tax exemption on handsets/mobile devices tailored to the needs of persons with disabilities.

The full report can be found here.

26Sep

Three Days of Digital Rights: Here’s What’s Happening on Day One of FIFAfrica20!

admin September 26, 2020

FIFAfrica20 |

Not yet registered? Click here to gain an all-access pass into the Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa 2020

Day 1: Monday, 28 September 2020

The Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa 2020 (FIFAfrica20) kicks off on Monday, 28 September 2020 which is also the International Day for Universal Access To Information (IDUAI). An opening panel of key actors in Africa’s digital landscape will explore the digital opportunities amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and implications on digital rights. The opening panel lineup includes Simon Allison, who in the midst of Covid-19 launched the Award-winning weekly publication The Continent, which introduced a unique disruption to journalism through its use of Whatsapp as a distribution platform.

Techprenuer and founder of the global enterprise application solutions provider AppsTech, Rebecca Enonchong will also share insights on some of the interesting digital shifts in Africa that have emerged in the wake of Covid-19. She will also reflect on the prevailing technology landscape and where we could potentially be heading as a continent.

#FIFAfrica20 Goodybag: As part of the Forum, we look forward to sharing the spirit of internet freedom in Africa. We have a few goody bags for standard attendees of the Forum! So go ahead and share your vision for internet freedom in Africa (#InternetFreedomAfrica) and what stands out for you at #FIFAfrica. See what some of our friends have done Prudence Nyamishana, Nashilongo Gervasius, and Adéṣínà Ayẹni (Yoruba/English)
For more on the Forums including past events, visit: www.internetfreedom.africa

The African Freedom of Expression Exchange (AFEX) will host a session on data protection and privacy concerns in the fight against Covid-19 which will highlight some of the rushed Covid-19 related laws that emerged and their implications on freedom of expression, access to information and digital rights. The session will aim to make recommendations to civil society and other actors on how to advocate for the laws to be repealed or in some cases amended.
As strategic litigation continues to gain prominence as a tool for pushing back against regressive digital rights policy and practice in Africa, the Catalysts for Collaboration (C for C) have become a key resource for best practices and case studies on collaborating across disciplines in strategic litigation to advance digital rights. In 2017, the first version of the Catalysts for Collaboration was presented at FIFAfrica in Johanessburg, South Africa. Since then, the Catalysts have informed multiple training and learning sessions, including at FIFAfrica18 in Accra, Ghana and FIFAfrica19 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

In response to numerous requests, the Catalysts have now been translated from English into French, Spanish and Russian, making them accessible to a wider audience. At FIFAfrica20, the new C for C website will be formally launched. Lawyers, activists and others involved in some of the case studies will briefly present some of their learnings in collaborative strategic litigation projects, followed by an interactive discussion.

As part of an ongoing project, the Center for Digital Resilience (CDR) is supporting civil society to crowdsource and understand disinformation within communities. In a session titled What the world needs now is a way to crowdsource the fight against disinformation, the CDR will introduce the FIFAfrica20 audience to Waterbear – a suite of tools that makes it easy to gather, analyse, and access data needed to expose disinformation patterns. The session will also share relevant disinformation resources from global partners, such as a 101 toolkit for NGOs/CSOs, and a roadmap for the civil society sector’s efforts to detect and respond to online manipulation.

Meanwhile, the rapid expansion of digital technologies across the globe has profoundly transformed the way in which citizens engage with one another. Yet, beyond the attractive benefits of many of these new tools are hidden costs and broader implications for digital rights that must be considered. The adoption of certain technologies may impede digital rights, such as issues relating to data protection or built-in mechanisms that allow unethical surveillance of citizens. As new technologies continue to be introduced across Africa, it is crucial that governments and citizens alike closely examine the risks and digital rights considerations for all new technologies. The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) will host a session titled Buyer Beware: Understanding Implications of Technology for Digital Rights that will examine the primary considerations and risks that citizens should be aware of when it comes to adopting new technologies; actions that governments should take to protect the data of their citizens; and how international norms and standards can help governments and technology companies ensure that new technologies are deployed in a way that respects digital rights.

Similarly, the Global Network Initiative (GNI) will explore Trends in Content Regulation in Africa and Beyond based on a recent study conducted over a dozen governmental initiatives on Content Regulation & Human Rights.

Day one of the forum will also feature two skills-building sessions. Virtually, CIPESA, in partnership with CIPE and Data4Change will host a Data Skills Foundation Course which will introduce participants to a 4-step data workflow. Through practical exercises and interactive quizzes, students will learn how to source secondary data through online research, how to format data and perform basic calculations using Google spreadsheets and how to create a simple data visualization suitable for publication on social media. The course will conclude with an assignment for each participant to write and pitch an idea for a data-driven project at their organisation. Secondly, at a remote hub in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, the Digital Security Group will be upskilling investigative journalists and human rights activists in risk assessment and digital security.

Lastly, look out for the daily Digital Security Hub, featuring multi-lingual (English, French and Arabic) tech security experts from across the continent, on hand to provide personal and organisation digital security support. You can find them in the exhibitor center or through the chat widget on the internetfreedom.africa website. The Digital Security Hub is a collaboration of DefendDefenders, Defenders Protection Initiative, Access Now, Greenhost, Digital Society of Africa, and the Digital Security Alliance.

Previous page 1 … 52 53 54 55 56 … 158 Next page