access
In depth
UPR of South Africa: Connecting the right to communication to women´s rights
South Africa's constitution guarantees freedom of expression, and has been interpreted to include the right to community media and to creative journalistic content. However, these progressive interpretations come in the light of broadcasting, rather than the internet. Online media and its regulation in South Africa fall short of the human rights standards that South Africa has recognised under...
In depth
Going online is the same as going out to a rally
In early April 2012 in Istanbul thirty people from six continents met at the APC “Dialogue on digital security and women's human rights defenders” to discuss regional and global trends on digital security, freedom of expression and freedom of association, and their impact on women's human rights defenders. Katerina Fialova and Sonia Randhawa interviewed two of the participants to interrogate/...
In depth
Opportunities for Ecuadorian women to connect their rights online
In the interview with Flavia Fascendini of GenderIT.org, Valeria Betancourt, manager of APC’s Communications and Information Policy Programme, argues that the incorporation of knowledge transfer through technology, connectivity for the information and knowledge society, and finally, inclusion and the guarantee of human rights within the broad strategies of Ecuador’s National Plan for Good Living...
Publication
Universal Periodic Review: Submission on internet-related human rights issues in India
In the submission, the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) is particularly concerned with making the internet an effective tool to exercise rights to information in India. DEF believes that the internet plays a major role in accessing information and thus a tool for social and economic development. This submission outlines India’s progress and specific areas of concern: information technology...
Publication
APC's submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Ecuador
APC’s submission for Ecuador to the UPR process, with support from CIESPAL and Radialistas Apasionadas y Apasionados, focuses on issues of access to the internet and highlights the critical importance of the internet for human rights, as well as social and economic development. Although the first UPR of Ecuador did not include reference to internet-related human rights issues, the events of 2011...
Editorial
Scoring participation – how does change happen for women in the IGF
During the years of my school and university studies, report cards caused me high levels of anxiety but with some underlying optimism. Report cards assumed all-knowing experts were making decisions around my abilities and progress. It would invariably be a measure of success or failure and would expose my weak points and (hopefully) highlight my positive traits. But they always had a judgemental...
Publication
EROTICS: Sex, rights and the internet - an exploratory research study
How is the internet a key public sphere for the struggle for sexual citizenship and the exercise of sexual rights? What is its value to a diversity of users, especially those most marginalised or discriminated against because of their sexual, gender or other forms of social identity? Why do arguments for the regulation of the internet anchor on the moral imperative to regulate sexuality? Who are...
Feminist talk
Internet in South Africa is more than meets the eye
Grady gives a glimpse into the final research of the EROTICS research in South Africa that explored lesbians and transgender people use of the Internet, and how content regulation measures can constrain the internet's democratising and empowering potential for LGBTI persons in the country.
Feminist talk
Lebanon: Free speech is a gateway crime
The recent controversy surrounding the Gay Girl in Damascus (who turned out to be anything but) has this blogger scratching his head. Why are we all so focused on how MacMaster misled us, and not on the real issue?
Feminist talk
World Pulse starts campaign on universal access
World Pulse, the authority on all things woman, has recently launched an action blogging campaign to promote universal access to the internet. This author is tempted to sue them.
