Internet rights

APC considers the 45th Human Rights Council sessions an important opportunity to discuss country situations of concern, to review how states are complying with their human rights situations and to influence the setting up of international standards in the area of human rights online.

Having RightsCon 2020 take place entirely online not only demonstrates how the digital space is increasingly important for many spheres of life, but also illustrates how essential it is to protect digital rights as a fundamental part of human rights.

This online workshop creates an opportunity  for participants to engage with experts and practitioners currently working to improve digital laws and to network with fellow digital rights defenders while building their capacity to impact change.

In response to national security challenges related to terrorism, ethnic conflict and organised crime, Niger promulgated a new law on the interception of communications, with surveillance implications that threaten the right to free speech and privacy online.

On 30 August, Lebanese internet users reported an internet disruption that made it almost impossible to access platforms like Twitter. This outage affected many websites and services globally, but not all internet service providers nor all internet services in Lebanon were affected the same.

The fifth session of the African Internet Resilience webinar series took place on 30 July. The focus of the session was to foster a deeper understanding of complementary networks and address the need for internet services in rural and underserved areas across the continent.