Evading accountability through internet shutdowns: Trends in Africa and the Middle East

Session Format: Panel Discussion

Governments around the world frequently use internet shutdowns to disguise and evade accountability for grave human rights violations, including illegitimate grabs for power, state-sanctioned violence against peaceful protestors and even extra-judicial killings of political dissidents. A new research paper produced by Global Partners Digital in partnership with Access Now draws attention to key examples of this happening in recent years across Africa and the Middle East, and identifies common trends and factors driving the use of internet shutdowns in this way, including through case studies of recent shutdowns in Ethiopia, Sudan, Chad and Burkina Faso.

In this session, panellists raise awareness of the gravity of internet shutdowns used to disguise offline human rights abuses, drawing on examples from Chad, Uganda and across Africa. The panel will foster a constructive dialogue and recommendations on how governments, the private sector, regulators and international human rights institutions can call attention to and push back against this trend and ensure that victims of human rights abuses can properly call attention to their plight and access redress.