Workshop on Freedom of Expression and Internet in Africa to Hold in Banjul

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The Working Group of the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms in collaboration with the African Platform on Access to Information (APAI) will hold a workshop on Freedom of Expression and the Internet in Africa in Banjul, The Gambia, on April 3 and 4, 2016.

The two-day workshop is a side event to the upcoming 58th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR). The workshop entitled ‘The Internet as a driver of free expression in Africa’ is aimed at strengthening the protection of freedom of expression online and spurring the development of rights-based Internet policies in the region.

At the workshop, stakeholders will discuss the impact free expression online has on human rights, media freedoms and women’s rights, and explore opportunities for the development of stronger rights-based Internet policies in Africa.

It will introduce participants to the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms, a tool for engaging policy makers and businesses at regional and national level – and provide an opportunity for African human rights defenders and Internet rights advocates to learn from one another and collaborate closely.

According to the organisers, “together, we want to discuss concrete ways forward in order to strengthen and promote rights-based internet policies and work collaboratively to draft text for inclusion in the NGO statement to be presented at the opening of the Ordinary Session.”