By peter oluka

With the recent Internet shutdown in Togo adding to the growing list of Internet shutdowns in Africa, with at least 11 in 2016 and 7 this year already, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN), said that it has become easy to see how Internet shutdowns have dominated discussions on digital rights in Africa.

This was contained in a new policy brief, a document obtained by Nigeria CommunicationsWeek, in which PIN lamented that in 2017, alone, internet shutdowns and disruptions have occurred in Ethiopia, Cameroon, Mali, Senegal, Morocco, South Sudan and Togo under the guises of preventing examination malpractices, controlling citizens’ protests and others.

Executive Brief of the Document as notified by Babatunde Okunoye & ‘Boye Adegoke, shows that using their power as the sole providers of telecommunications services or with the assistance (sometimes under coercion) of private telecommunications companies, these governments totally cut off or disrupted access to the Internet or specific social media applications such as Facebook, Whatsapp and Twitter within their territories.

“This brief seeks to highlight the impact of Internet shutdown on press freedom while at the same time argues that the media and other stakeholders must-see Internet Freedom advocacy as the new Press Freedom advocacy.

“While it is easy to see the big picture of Internet shutdowns and disruptions, it might also be easy to lose sight of other digital rights violations within Africa, particularly the surveillance and arrests of journalists, or how Internet shutdowns affect the work of journalists across the continent.

“Even though there were numerous arrests of citizens and bloggers by governments in 2016, 2017 has seen a severe onslaught on online journalists in Africa.

“Being an online journalist is fast becoming one of the most dangerous jobs in Africa.

“The extensive government mandated surveillance1 and blocking of news websites in Egypt2 and the arrests of online journalists covering the Al-hoceima protests3 in Morocco are highlights which demonstrate how journalists have become the prime target for state-sponsored attacks in 2017.

“Furthermore, the clampdown on journalists working digitally also extended to citizen journalists. In the heat of political protests and elections, citizen journalists are often the first on the scene to capture and share pictures of police brutality on social media, actions which have incurred jail time and fines across Africa.

“Elections and protests also routinely trigger Internet shutdowns in many African countries, a development that hampers the ability of online journalists to do their job.

“Freedom of expression is a bellwether for other human rights around the world because the state of freedom of expression is a good indicator of other human rights. Journalists, because of the nature of their profession, are guardians of freedom of expression and the conscience of society. The numerous attacks on online journalists and citizen journalists this year hit a new high and must be resisted.

“The world is still searching for solutions to Internet shutdowns. In Africa in particular, civil society groups have explored avenues such as litigation4,5 to make governments accountable for Internet disruptions in their territories. The available evidence shows that these efforts are yet to have the desired effect on government behavior,” a summary of the document reads.