Solidifying internet rights to increase information access in Zimbabwe

Opinions and commentary

Zimbabwe is set to commemorate the International Day for Universal Access to Information on the 28th of September 2020. This comes at a time when the country, alongside the rest of the world, is faced with a health pandemic that has moved citizens’ daily communication, education, work, trade, and access to basic services from physical interactions to, mostly, online interactions. The World Health Organisation…

Lived experience of advocating for data protection in Uganda

Opinions and commentary

Data privacy is a global policy issue, and during the past 30 years, data protection laws started gaining ground on the African continent. At the East African level, Uganda became the first country in the region to enact a comprehensive data protection law in February 2019.

The Data Protection and…

Calling on the UN to prioritise digital trust and security

Statements/Press releases

The following is an open letter addressed to His Excellency Volkan Bozkir, the new President of the United Nations General Assembly, urging him to make digital trust and security a priority for his presidency.

The letter calls for a global statement on digital trust and security to be endorsed by member states. The statement would send a clear signal that world leaders in government, industry…

Open Letter in response to the Uganda Communications Commission’s New Regulations

Statements/Press releases

We, the members of the NetRights Coalition, have noted with great concern, the Public Notice issued by the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) on September 7, 2020 “advising all persons currently offering or planning to commence the provision of online data communication and broadcasting services including but not limited to blogs, online televisions, online radios, online newspapers, audio over IP (AoIP),…

Call for researchers - Fostering a Rights-Based Approach to Data Protection in Africa: Country Reports

Statements/Press releases

The Secretariat of the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms Coalition (hereafter referred to as ‘AfDec’) seeks to strengthen a rights-based approach to data protection in Africa, in line with  its Principle 8 on Privacy and personal…

Select Legislative Responses to COVID-19

Publications

As a result of the continued global spread of COVID-19, civil society organisations, human rights activists and digital rights activists have identified a range of potential and actual human rights violations as the continent responds to the COVID-19 pandemic. These include limitations to the exercise and/or facilitation of rights through the internet or other digital mediums. Some of these limitations, such as…