April 7 2021 , Africa Meetup

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Date: Wednesday, April 7th

Time: 3pm UTC+2 / CAT

Who: Facilitated by Tawanda from Digital Society of Africa

Where: Zoom link will be shared in the following rooms on the IFF Mattermost one or two hours before the start of the meeting: Sub-Saharian Africa.

• Don't have an account to the IFF Mattermost? you can request one following the directions here.

Notes: Please put notes here: https://pad.riseup.net/p/africa-meetup

Notes

Countries Represented

• Kenya
• Uganda
• South Africa
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe

Overview

Discussion around Data Protection, Surveillance & Contact Tracing during Covid19 Pandemic.

Discussion Points

Participants gave an overview of how their countries have been rolling out the covid vaccine since they received the first batch. Things that were common to note:

• Frontline medical staff have all received the vaccines in their countries.
• Tracing Apps have been rolled out in most countries though there is low up take of the use of these tools by citizens.

• Inclusion of Digital Rights Issues in Digital Security trainings: the members all agreed that there was value for digital security trainers to also incorporate digital rights issues during their trainings ie discuss the national policies, laws and share these in a more basic form so that the majority of participants will understand.

• Increase of digital rights awareness campaigns to basic citizens: It was sad to note that the majority of the privacy and cyber laws being implemented in the countries represented are not being understood by alot of the country's citizens. Participants shared the various laws and how they have and can be used to censor or violate human rights; suggestions were given on how to do these campaigns eg creating inforgraphics which will be shared on all social media platforms, demystifying the big digital rights terms and maybe starting discussions to primary schools and high schools.

• Surveillance is not being noticed: A great concern discussed also was how the COVID19 pandemic has made both citizens and activists ignore surveillance simply because of the need to get information around Covid19 and its treatment.

Shared Resources

• Topic: The state's abuse of power: activists' stories of violence and surveillance.
• Panel Discussion: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=794583538128084

• Next Meeting: Physical Security 101 for HRDs