Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has joined the #KeepItOn Coalition, a global network of over 345 organisations from 105 countries working to end internet shutdowns, in a call on Togolese authorities to uphold human rights online and offline during protests. They strongly condemned the recent brutal crackdown on fundamental rights and freedoms by the authorities amid protests across the country.
Recall that protests in Togo escalated on June 26, 2025, with several people calling for the resignation of the country’s President, Faure Gnassingbe, following recent constitutional reforms that abolished presidential elections, consolidated his 20-year rule, and indefinitely extended his term in office. However, the country’s security forces brutally responded to the youth-led protests across the country, killing at least seven people, injuring dozens, and arresting over 60 people.
In addition to the offline attacks on protesters, authorities shut down access to essential digital communication platforms and media websites, curtailing the free flow of information. Data captured by the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) platform showed WhatsApp, Facebook, Signal, and Telegram were blocked on at least three mobile networks beginning on June 26, when protests erupted.
As of the time the Coalition issued the statement on July 17, 2025, people in Togo are still unable to access these platforms without Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). This is not the first time authorities have disrupted access to the internet or instant messaging apps in Togo. In 2020, the government blocked access to digital communication platforms and instant messaging apps during the 2020 presidential elections.
Similarly, in 2017, authorities shut down internet access in response to a wave of protests against President Gnassingbe’s rule. This move was challenged by civil society groups in a lawsuit against the government at the ECOWAS Court of Justice, which ruled in June 2020 that the 2017 shutdown was illegal and an affront to the applicants’ right to freedom of expression. The continued imposition of internet shutdowns in the country, particularly in response to civic action, is, therefore, in violation of this landmark ruling by West Africa’s highest court.
Just like in other countries across the globe, the internet, social media, and messaging platforms play a multifaceted role in advancing communication, information dissemination, economic innovation, business, and social change in Togo.
Deliberate actions by governments to block, prevent, or disrupt access to or the dissemination of information online violate international human rights law. Restricting access to essential platforms that facilitate the exercise of rights and freedoms, including freedom of expression, access to information, and freedom of assembly, among others, violates national, regional, and international frameworks that guarantee these rights.
The statement noted that Internet shutdowns are disproportionate and contravene Article 25 of the newly adopted Constitution of Togo which guarantees freedom of expression and access to information, and Article 30, which protects the right to peaceful assembly. It also noted that Togo is a signatory to regional and international frameworks, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which explicitly protect the right to freedom of expression, access to information and right to assembly. It pointed out that these frameworks are also underpinned in the preamble of the Constitution of Togo, reaffirming Togo’s commitment to upholding human rights and international legal instruments.
In 2019, the ACHPR’s Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa called on states not to “engage in or condone any disruption of access to the internet and other digital technologies for segments of the public or an entire population.”
“We demand that Togolese authorities uphold human rights, restore full internet access, and refrain from imposing any future shutdowns in the country. We also urge the international community to join the #KeepItOn coalition’s calls in denouncing the rising trend of authorities responding to people exercising their freedom of assembly with extrajudicial actions, including the use of internet shutdowns, disproportionate force, and arbitrary detention,” the statement concluded.
Signatories to the statement include Access Now, Accountability Lab Nigeria, Afia-Amani Grands-Lacs, African Freedom of Expression Exchange (AFEX), African Internet Rights Alliance, Africa Open Data and Internet Research Foundation (AODIRF), AfricTivistes, Afroleadership Cameroon, Avocats Sans Frontières France, Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE), Base Iota Foundation, Bloggers of Zambia, Brain Builders Youth Development Initiative (BBYDI), Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Common Cause Zambia , Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), Digital Action, Digital Rights Coalition Malawi, Digital Rights Watch, and Digital Woman Uganda.
Others are Forumvert, Human Rights Journalists Network Nigeria, Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA), Internet Society Togo Chapter, International Press Centre, Jonction, Senegal, KIGALI Attorneys and Legal Consultants LLP, Kijiji Yeetu, Knowledge House (KHA), Life campaign to abolish the death sentence in Kurdistan, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Miaan Group, OONI (Open Observatory of Network Interference), OpenStreetMap Togo (OSM Togo), and Organization of the Justice Campaign.
Also included are Paradigm Initiative (PIN), PEN America, PEN-Togo, Reclaiming Spaces Initiative, TechHerNG, Tech & Media Convergency (TMC), The Internet Governance Tanzania Working Group (IGTWG), Ubunteam, Webfala Digital Skills for all Initiative, West African Digital Rights Defenders Coalition, Women Empower and Mentor All (WEmpower), YucaByte, YODET, and Zaina Foundation.
