Middle East and North Africa

Mohammed Maskati: "Digital security is still considered something cool and fancy and not taken seriously"
Mohammed Maskati: "Digital security is still considered something cool and fancy and not taken seriously" 05 October 2016 Leila Nachawati Rego

Mohammed Maskati at IGMENA, Tunis. 2 October 2016. Photo by Leila Nachawati Rego Mohammed al-Maskati is a renowned Bahraini human rights defender and founder of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights. He works as a digital security consultant for Front Line Defenders, a human rights organisation founded in 2001 to protect human rights defenders at risk. He has worked with a diversity of international organisations working in the Middle East and North Africa in developing their policy and ...

At the Internet Governance Middle East and North Africa Summit: What is the role of civil society?
At the Internet Governance Middle East and North Africa Summit: What is the role of civil society? 29 September 2016

Together for a free and open internet is the motto for this year’s IGMENA Summit, an event bringing together more than a hundred digital rights activists, human rights defenders, journalists and other stakeholders around internet rights and internet governance in the Middle East and North Africa, between 30 September and 2 October in Tunis.

Attacks on social movements increase online, tech support comes to the rescue
Attacks on social movements increase online, tech support comes to the rescue 04 June 2016 Kendra Moyer

Activist technology groups eQualit.ie and May First/People Link rally to mitigate DDoS attacks waged against Palestinian rights defenders and women’s and reproductive rights activists.    

Challenges to civil society participation in internet governance in the MENA region
Challenges to civil society participation in internet governance in the MENA region 25 May 2016 Mohammad Tarakiyee

This issue paper links challenges to civil participation in internet governance in the Middle East and North Africa and the state of internet rights in the region with civil society advocacy strategies, as well as providing some recommendations, with a focus on Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon.  

What is the state of digital security and digital rights advocacy in the Middle East and North Africa?
What is the state of digital security and digital rights advocacy in the Middle East and North Africa? 24 May 2016

During the “Arab Spring” of 2011, the internet was a space for mobilisation. Despite the increasing sophistication of persecution, the efforts to defend human rights, both online and offline, have not ceased.

Digital safety in context: Perspectives on digital security training and human rights realities in the Arab world
Digital safety in context: Perspectives on digital security training and human rights realities in the Arab world 20 May 2016

During 2011, in the period dubbed the “Arab Spring”, the internet was a space for mobilisation. Since then, it has also become a space for oppression of activism and dissent. This research aims to highlight the links between the efforts of digital security trainings in the region with the human rights realities, focusing on two case studies: Morocco and Palestine.    

Digital safety in context: Perspectives on digital security training and human rights realities in the Arab world
Digital safety in context: Perspectives on digital security training and human rights realities in the Arab world 19 May 2016 Reem Almasri

This research aims to highlight the links between the efforts of digital security trainings in the Arab region with the human rights realities, focusing on Morocco and Palestine. It is part of APC’s project Building a culture of online human rights and digital security in the Maghreb-Machrek region.

Digital rights advocacy in the Arab world and the Universal Periodic Review
Digital rights advocacy in the Arab world and the Universal Periodic Review 01 May 2016 Wafa Ben Hassine

This report explores how local groups in the Maghreb and Machrek regions are engaged in internet-related rights advocacy at the national and regional levels, and how that reflects upon the inclusion of these issues in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process.  

Arab IGF: Missed opportunities for multistakeholder engagement
Arab IGF: Missed opportunities for multistakeholder engagement 19 January 2016 Tarakiyee

As the Arab Internet Governance Forum reaches its fourth iteration, it continues to struggle to mature into a space where multistakeholder engagement can start producing the dialogue and efforts the region needs in order to face the many challenges in the field of internet governance. Attending both the global IGF and the Arab IGF within the space of one month, I believe that the region has mis...

The best and worst of the Arab IGF 2015
The best and worst of the Arab IGF 2015 22 December 2015 Leila Nachawati Rego

Between 14 and 18 December, I joined my colleague Tarakiyee, from APC, in Beirut, along with a dozen activists and human rights defenders from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), with a focus on internet rights.

« Go back