By Afi Edoh |
For four years Togo has been inching towards issuing a digital identity (ID) card. While there are indications that 2022 may be the year in which the west African country finally delivers the long-awaited digital ID, the road ahead remains uncertain. Challenges lie both in bureaucratic delays and citizens’ caginess about handing their data to a government with…
By CIPESA Staff Writer |
Since its establishment in 2006, the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) has provided a unique process for reviewing the human rights records of all United Nations (UN) Member States. Over the years, however, there has been limited participation by African civil society in the review process. In particular, there is limited work by African actors to promote internet freedom through this process.
Accordingly,…
By UNESCO’s Writer |
On 16 March 2022, UNESCO, jointly with the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) convened a regional dialogue on implementing Internet Universality ROAM-X Indicators (IUI) in Africa.
The event, supported by the International Program for Development of Communication (IPDC) of UNESCO, gathered a number of leading national actors and experts who shared best…
News update |
Similar to many parts of the world, women’s reproductive rights are a highly polarizing issue in Kenya. According to a new report by the Mozilla Foundation, Kenyans now have another factor complicating debates – that of targeted Twitter disinformation campaigns.
Findings from the report say that CitizenGO, a conservative advocacy group based in Spain, paid people to spread disinformation (pdf) about reproductive health in Kenya…
By Frank Kisakye |
The book, the DIGITAL CONTINENT rhetorically asks: “Autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence and machine learning systems, next-generation search engines, recommendations systems, and online content: how many of these technologies do you
think are ‘made in Africa’?”
With most African countries alienated from the global payment and shipping systems, it is quite easy and almost natural to think that perhaps only a couple of…
News update |
GABORONE, BOTSWANA — Following public outrage, Botswana’s government has revised a controversial spy bill which would have allowed investigators to intercept private communications without a court order. Under the revised bill, tapping private conversations now becomes an offense.
Botswana’s government removed controversial clauses in the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Bill, presented to parliament last month. The initial bill allowed investigators to…
News Update |
The IPI global network today urged Botswana to withdraw a proposed law that would allow for warrantless surveillance of communications. The bill has been sharply criticized by media representatives in Botswana and Africa.
Botswana’s government is currently pushing the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Bill through parliament. If passed, the bill will have a chilling effect on press freedom, Spencer Magopi,…
News Update |
ABUJA, NIGERIA — Voice-activated virtual assistant technologies, such as Siri and Alexa, are becoming increasingly common around the world, but in Africa, with its many languages, most people are at a digital disadvantage. To address the problem, some African researchers are creating translation tools to recognize and promote indigenous languages, such as Yoruba.
Yoruba language teacher Oluwafemi Awosanya resumes a…