Restrictions on internet access – commonly known as internet shutdowns – in north-west and south-west Cameroon are now in their 14th day. The restrictions ordered by the government of Cameroon, which have been in effect since 17 January 2017, have specifically targeted Anglophone regions, reportedly following protests against the marginalisation of Anglophone Cameroonians’ cultural and linguistic rights by the government. APC notes these shutdowns with grave concern.

Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) looked at internet rights and democratisation, with a focus on freedom of expression and association online. This Special Edition, analyses more than 60 country and thematic reports in order to better reveal and build understanding of the broad range of practical actions and strategies that activists are developing.

This is the last in a series of mini editions highlighting the “End violence: Women’s rights and safety online” project. Drawing on documented case studies, The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) research documents some of the characteristics of online violence against women, including different routes women took in search of protection and remedies for these situations.

This report emerges from research carried out in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between November 2013 and April 2014 by Si Jeunesse Savait and the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). Mobile phones had been the most frequently involved platform in the cases of technology-related VAW explored by the local research team. In all three of the cases, the survivors were victim to multiple acts of violence, either by the same person or different people who, for the most part, were in better control of the technology than the victims.

This is the sixth in a series of mini editions highlighting the “End violence: Women’s rights and safety online” project. Each edition focuses on one country in which the research was conducted, and brings together major findings, and interviews with the research teams. Drawing case studies, the Kenya research documents the local characteristics of online violence against women, including an exploration of the policy and political background of the situation around technology-related violence. In the research some interesting themes/trends were picked up and some valuable recommendations were made.

This is an issue paper by the Association for Progressive Communication which seeks to unpack issue areas around the growing digital divide that persists to take place, the paper further tries to provide remedies on how to shrink this gap. The cornerstone of the paper is shaped by the belief that affordable and reliable internet access has become a vital means to exercise fundamental human rights and to support economic, social and human development.

The African Union Convention on Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection was adopted the 23rd Ordinary Session of the Summit of the African Union which concluded in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea on 27 June 2014. The Convention, which substantively brings the language of ‘privacy’ at this level seeks to establish a legal framework for Cyber-security and Personal Data Protection in furtherance of the existing commitments of African Union Member States at sub-regional, regional and international levels to build the Information Society.