Internet access and affordability is one of the principles of the Declaration (Principle 2). In this blog, Yolanda Mlonzi, a South African International Relations and Media Studies student, provides a personal perspective on the issue of this key principle of the Declaration and why having affordable and accessible internet is so important for her and her education.

Activists from around the world joined a session at the Internet Freedom Festival in Valencia, Spain, to discuss advocacy and global solidarity on internet rights in African countries. Two current initiatives were introduced to the participants: the African Declaration on Internet Rights and FAST Africa. Following these presentations, the participants shared examples of their own projects and advocacy work.

This is a blog post by Kembabazi Gloria who holds a Bachelor's Degree in Law from Uganda Christian University where she also completed the Honour's College Leadership Program. She has worked as a Mentor Fellow with Educate!. She is currently a trainee in Legal Practice at Law Development Center (LDC) Uganda and works with the Department of Law Reporting, Research and Law Reform. She is passionate about women's rights and their inclusion in social transformation. In her blog she takes the reader through the context of Uganda and how Internet Policy is understood in that context.

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 paper is a joint stakeholder contribution from the Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET), Association for Progressive Communications (APC), and Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) to the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism for Uganda. This submission focuses on women’s rights and the internet in Uganda. It explores the extent of implementation of the recommendations made in the previous cycle of the UPR and also identifies emerging concerns in Uganda regarding women’s rights online.

This kit is a contribution from activists for activists to help them be more secure in our digital practices. It’s designed to help activists deal with the most common security issues that might jeopardise the integrity of our devices and communications. Any at-risk user who encounters security-related problems can use this kit to mitigate the immediate consequences and find guidance to address ongoing security issues.

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 Association for Progressive Communications (APC), Global Partners Digital, Media Foundation West Africa, Media Rights Agenda, Web We Want and the African Platform on Access to Information (APAI) Working Group hosted a side event to the 58th Ordinary Session at the African Union Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, in Banjul, The Gambia. This blog post describes what took place at the event, what the highlights were, it also incorporates participants contributions to the meeting and lastly it includes the statement that the African Declaration Secreteriat on Internet Rights and Freedoms presented to the NGO Forum.

The Association for Progressive Communications, APC, organized a Global Meeting on Gender, Sexuality and the Internet in Port Dickson, Malaysia, bringing together 50 participants from six continents comprising gender and women’s rights activists, LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and intersex) movements, internet and technology rights organizations, and human rights advocates. The goal of the meeting was to bridge the gap between feminist movements and internet rights movements and look at intersections and strategic opportunities to work together as allies and partners. In thinking through these issues, the participants at the meeting developed a set of 15 feminist principles of the internet. These are designed to be an evolving document, and you can join the discussion and debate on the evolving set of feminist principles of the internet here: http://erotics.apc.org or email erotics@apc.org

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.