Digital rights defenders under threat: Strategies to resist fear, surveillance and (self-) censorship

Abir Ghattas, Nighat Dad, Erin Saltman, Andreas Proksch The digital
transformation has created huge opportunities for civil society in
developing countries to exercise their rights to freedom of
expression and assembly, and to gain better access to education,
health and information. By supporting digital skills, policies and
technologies, development cooperation aims at strengthening citizen
participation and inclusion across all sectors. With the growing
role of the internet, however, governments in many partner
countries are increasingly monitoring and restricting online
expression. Digital attacks against human rights defenders have
expanded dramatically; vaguely defined anti-terrorism legislation
and spyware allow for targeted surveillance; trolls manipulate
online content and conduct intimidating smear-campaigns. Activists
are increasingly facing violence, arrest and charges for their
social media activities. Against this backdrop of shrinking space
and global backlash, access to secure communication and holistic
strategies for an enabling environment for human rights defenders
are crucial. The session will present experiences from human rights
defenders in the Global South and discuss success stories and
lessons learned from digital security and privacy initiatives. What
does it need to make digital security trainings and tools
sustainable? How do internet companies take over responsibility to
protect human rights defenders? What kind of legal, technical,
psychosocial and policy support do digital rights defenders need?
How do international human rights mechanisms and development actors
need to address the current threats? supported by BMZ