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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-NZ link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Hi – apologies for any cross postings on this update<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Just an update about recent initiatives that APC has been working on with our members and networks. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>This month submissions were filed with the United Nations for the universal periodic human rights review of four countries: India, Brazil, South Africa and Ecuador. We also supported networks in the Philippines who were raising issues concerned with women’s access to justice, and ICTs and violence against women. <span style='color:#00000A'>You can find more information here: </span><a href="http://bit.ly/t6wloJ">http://bit.ly/t6wloJ</a> In each country we believe this is the first time that internet related human rights issues have ever been raised in the UPR process. Recommendations were made for action and follow up to be taken by each government. Key issues highlighted across the submissions were:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]>Internet governance: the need for human rights to be expressly included and for multi-stakeholder processes (India, Brazil, South Africa)<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]>The obligation to report on internet rights issues (all country reports)<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]>Freedom of expression and content control including privacy, cybercrime law, and surveillance (South Africa, Brazil, and India)<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]>The right to information, freedom of expression and the links to democracy (India, South Africa, Ecuador, Brazil) <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]>Access to the internet as a multi-faceted concept including infrastructure, regulatory policy, language and content diversity (Ecuador, India, South Africa)<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]>Women’s human rights: access to sexual and reproductive health information (Brazil), the need for a rights based approach to internet related policy (India) and access to justice and violence against women (Philippines).<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The next steps involve sending these to governments and national human rights commissions and starting to lobby them to take up these issues. In addition, local “Connect Your Rights! Internet Rights are Human Rights” campaigns will roll out in each country over the next 6 months to support these submissions and to call on governments to take action on the recommendations. Next week a global call will go out for contributions of user generated content to the campaign <a href="http://rights.apc.org">http://rights.apc.org</a> . These will uploaded and distributed to build campaign momentum that will culminate at the UPR review of each of these countries at the United Nations in May 2012.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In other developments, in March 2012 the Human Rights Council will convene an expert panel on the internet and freedom of expression. This resulted from an APC suggestion in HRC 17 in May, which the Swedish government subsequently endorsed and proposed a resolution for (and which 50 countries supported at HRC 18 in September 2011: <a href="http://www.apc.org/en/press/governance/it039s-time-human-rights-be-centre-internet-govern">http://www.apc.org/en/press/governance/it039s-time-human-rights-be-centre-internet-govern</a> . APC is preparing for this panel and will be submitting suggestions for experts and, if possible, sending human rights defenders to attend and advocate for follow up action and concrete proposals. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>*If you have comments or suggestions about this, please do let us know.*<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>If you have any other questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to ask on this list or to me directly.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Kind regards<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Joy <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-NZ'>Joy Liddicoat<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-NZ'>Project Coordinator<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-NZ'>Internet Rights are Human Rights<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-NZ'><a href="http://www.apc.org">www.apc.org</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-NZ'>Tel: +64 21 263 2753<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-NZ'>Skype id: joy.liddicoat<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-NZ'>Yahoo id: strategic@xtra.co.nz<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>