Digital technologies, which may ordinarily serve legitimate public security and governance objectives, are being misused in several countries across Africa to identify, locate, monitor and repress human rights defenders, journalists, political opponents and protesters, exposing them to an increased risk of arbitrary arrest, incommunicado detention and ill-treatment, and torture, according to the Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Africa (CPTA), a special mechanism of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR).
In a “Call for papers” under the theme “Torture and Digital Surveillance in Africa”, signed by ACHPR Commissioner, Hatem Essaïem, its chairperson, the Committee noted that Africa is undergoing a rapid digital transformation, including the deployment of biometric identification systems, the extension of video surveillance and facial recognition in public spaces, the acquisition of spyware by some countries, the use of telecommunications data for intelligence purposes, and the increasing use of internet shutdowns or slowdowns in times of social or electoral tension.
The Committee highlighted the link between digital surveillance and the notion of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, saying the forced collection of biometric data, the use of digital evidence obtained under duress, digital harassment or permanent surveillance as a form of psychological pressure raises new questions regarding Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
It explained that faced with this observation, the CPTA has chosen to devote its annual newsletter to the theme: “Torture and digital surveillance in Africa”, a choice that aims to question the link between surveillance technologies and the risks of torture and ill-treatment.
Commissioner Essaïem said: “It is not only a question of taking stock of the normative frameworks already in force in Africa, whether national, regional or derived from international instruments already applied on the continent, but above all of questioning their effectiveness: what needs to be improved in existing legislation, what concrete implementation and control mechanisms are still lacking, and how can they be filled in the specific context of African states? Particular attention will be given to regulatory blind spots, particularly with regard to private companies, national, African or foreign, which provide surveillance technologies and services to States, often outside any accountability framework.”
According to him, the theme is a continuation of the work undertaken by the CPTA, especially the work on the trade in instruments of torture and resolution ACHPR/Res.472/2020 on the study on the production, trade and use of instruments of torture, carried out with the Omega Research Foundation.
Commissioner Essaïem noted that the work focused on material law enforcement equipment misused for torture purposes, such as electric shock devices, shackles, among others, and on the need to regulate their trade, including with private actors.
He said the 2026 newsletter is extending its reflection to the digital field, focusing on surveillance technologies such as spyware, facial recognition systems, and data collection platforms, which raise, in renewed terms, the same questions of dual-use goods, export controls and the responsibility of suppliers already identified for physical instruments of torture.
The Committee explained that the aim of the call is to gather contributions to analyse how digital surveillance is used, supervised or misused in Africa, and its impact on the prevention and punishment of torture and ill-treatment.
Beyond the observation, it said, contributions are encouraged to formulate concrete ways of improving existing legal frameworks, strengthening implementation and control mechanisms, and holding accountable both state and private actors involved in the deployment of these technologies.
The Committee added that the call is aimed at researchers, academics, human rights defenders, journalists, national human rights institutions (NHRIs), national preventive mechanisms (NPMs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), digital civil society organizations, research centers, and international organizations.
It provided a number of thematic areas that papers should cover, for guidance, and invited contributors to structure their analyses around them. The thematic areas are:
• From physical instruments of torture to digital surveillance technologies: continuity and change in the regulation of trade in dual-use items;
• Inventory of the legal and normative frameworks applicable in Africa (Malabo Convention, national legislation, international instruments already implemented on the continent) and their limits;
• Avenues for improving national and regional legislation: what are the priority reforms to regulate digital surveillance in the African context?
• Implementation and control mechanisms: what institutions, what means, what skills are lacking to make the existing frameworks effective?
• The use of surveillance technologies (including communications interception, geolocation and spyware) to repress human rights defenders, journalists and political opponents;
• Facial recognition, biometrics and profiling of vulnerable populations: what are the risks of abuse?
• Internet shutdowns and digital blackouts as instruments of social and political control;
• Digital evidence and confessions obtained under duress: what procedural safeguards?
• Regulatory blind spots and the responsibility of private actors (African and foreign technology companies, spyware and biometric solution providers) in providing surveillance tools to states;
• Role of NPMs and NHRIs in addressing digital surveillance;
• Good practices, safeguards and recommendations for the use of technology in accordance with human rights; among others.
Full proposals are to be received no later than September 10, 2026, at: Sakrm@africanunion.org; sana.bousbih@gmail.com.
The Committee, formerly known as the Robben Island Follow-up Committee, is a special mechanism of the ACHPR and has a mandate to oversee the implementation of the Guidelines and Measures for the Prohibition and Prevention of Torture and Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in Africa (the Robben Island Guidelines).
