Human Rights Council
With its appearance at the Committee, South Africa has recognised the essential role of access to the internet as an enabler of rights. It is critical for the government to continue to engage with civil society and other stakeholders to advance rights-based approaches to internet access.
As an organisation that has worked at the intersections of women’s rights, sexual rights and technology for more than two decades, APC welcomes the focus of the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy on “gender perspectives on privacy”.
APC, the Association for Women’s Rights in Development, the Coalition of African Lesbians and the Sexual Rights Initiative call upon states to speak out and counter anti-rights propaganda and the dismantling of the global and African human rights mechanisms.
APC’s year of transition has been a year of learning and change for all of us. We’ve had a good year, made possible by the spirit, hard work and commitment of the APC staff, the engagement of our members, the guidance of our board of directors, and the support of our partners.
The 39th session of the HRC is taking place on 10-28 September 2018 in Geneva. A number of reports, resolutions and side events will address the online dimension of human rights issues, in addition to Universal Periodic Review reports that touch on specific governments’ records on internet rights.
Ahead of the 39th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in September 2018, 30 NGOs joined together to send an open letter to HRC member states, calling on them to address the ongoing crackdown on civic space and human rights backsliding in Tanzania.
On 10 August, Michelle Bachelet was confirmed as the new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The APC community has developed a list of priorities for the High Commissioner for her consideration when beginning her four-year term on 1 September.
This submission is a joint stakeholder contribution to the third cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism for Chile by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and Derechos Digitales.
The 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council reflected growth in the Council’s understanding of the scope of internet-related human rights and the outcomes were valuable overall and will contribute to the advancement of norms concerning internet rights, despite challenges to progressive initiatives from many states.
APC welcomes the report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression on content regulation in the digital age, a topic that is of great concern to APC and our members.

Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2022
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