Article
26, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR): Education
shall be directed to the full development of the human personality
and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms
1.1
The impact of access on development and social justice
Affordable, fast and easy access to the internet can help
create more egalitarian societies. It can strengthen educational
and health services, local business, public participation,
access to information, good governance and poverty eradication.
But we should not assume that all technological innovation
is automatically beneficial. Civil society organisations
(CSOs), governments and regulatory agencies should be aware
of the internet’s potential to reinforce existing
inequality.
1.2 The right to access to infrastructure irrespective
of where you live The internet serves as a global
public infrastructure. This infrastructure must be widely
distributed and support sufficient bandwidth, which will
enable people everywhere to utilise its potential for raising
their voices, improving their lives and expressing their
creativity. People have the right to well-distributed national
internet backbone that is connected to the international
network.
1.3 The right to the skills Knowledge and
skills enable people to use and shape the internet to meet
their needs. Local and national governments, international
and community organisations and private sector entities
must support and promote free or low-cost training opportunities,
methodologies and materials related to using internet for
social development.
1.4 The right to interfaces, content and applications
accessible to all (“inclusive design”)
Interfaces, content and applications must be designed to
ensure accessibility for all, including people with physical,
sensory or cognitive disabilities, people who are not literate
and people who speak minority languages. The principle of
inclusive design and the use of assistive technologies must
be promoted and supported to allow persons with disabilities
to benefit fully and on equal terms with non-disabled people.
1.5 The right to equal access for men and women
In many places women and men do not have equal access to
learn about, define, access, use and shape the internet.
Efforts to increase access must recognise and redress existing
gender inequalities. There must be full participation of
women in all areas related to internet development to ensure
gender equity.
1.6 The right to affordable access Policy-makers
and regulators must ensure that all citizens have affordable
access to the internet. The development of telecommunications
infrastructure, and the setting of rules, pricing, taxes
and tariffs, should make access possible for all income
groups.
1.7 The right to access in the workplace
For many people, the workplace is the primary or only site
of internet access. Workers and employers must enable the
use of internet access in the workplace, including for the
purposes of worker education programmes and to protect workers'
rights.
1.8 The right to public access Many people
will never enjoy private access to computers or the internet.
Public access points such as telecentres, libraries, community
centres, clinics and schools must be made available so that
all people can have access within easy walking distance
of where they live or work. This is particularly important
for young people in countries where internet access is not
yet readily available or affordable.
1.9 The right to access and create
content that is culturally and linguistically diverse
Websites, online tools and software are dominated by the
use of Latin script. This effects the development of local
content in non-Latin languages and impedes the possibility
of intercultural content exchange. Technical development
must encourage linguistic diversity on the internet and
simplify the exchange of information across language barriers.
Theme 2:
Freedom of expression and association
Article
18, UDHR: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought,
conscience and religion
Article 19, UDHR: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion
and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions
without interference and to seek, receive and impart information
and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers
Article
20, UDHR: Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful
assembly and association
2.1 The right to freedom of expression
Freedom of expression should be protected from infringement
by government and non-state actors. The internet is a medium
for both public and private exchange of views and information
across a variety of frontiers. Individuals must be able
to express opinions and ideas, and share information freely
when using the internet.
2.2 The right to freedom from censorship
The internet must be protected from all attempts to silence
critical voices and to censor social and political content
or debate.
2.3 The right to engage in online protest Organisations,
communities and individuals should be free to use the internet
to organise and engage in protest.
Theme 3:
Access to knowledge
Article
27, UDHR: Everyone has the right to participate in the cultural
life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in
scientific advancement and its benefits
3.1
The right to access to knowledge Wide-spread access
to knowledge and a healthy knowledge commons form the basis
for sustainable human development. Because the internet
enables knowledge-sharing and collaborative knowledge-creation
to a previously unprecedented degree, it should be a focus
for the development community.
3.2 The right to freedom of information
National and local government, and publicly-funded international
organisations, must ensure transparency and accountability
by placing publicly relevant information that they produce
and manage in the public domain. They should ensure that
this information is disseminated online using compatible
and open formats and is accessible to people using older
computers and slow internet connections.
3.3 The right to access to publicly-funded information
All information, including scientific and social research,
that is produced with the support of public funds should
be freely available to all.
Theme 4: Shared learning
and creation - free and open source software and technology
development
Article
27, UDHR: Everyone has the right to participate in the cultural
life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in
scientific advancement and its benefits
4.1 The right to share The internet offers
extraordinary opportunity for sharing information and knowledge,
and for new forms of creating content, tools and applications.
Providers of tools, internet services and content, should
not prohibit people from utilising the internet for shared
learning and content creation. Protection of the interests
of creators must occur in a way consistent with open and
free participation in scientific and cultural knowledge
flows.
4.2 The right to free and open source software (FOSS)
We support the use of FOSS. Working with FOSS is
empowering, it builds skills, is more sustainable and it
encourages local innovation. We encourage governments to
make policies that encourage the use of FOSS, particularly
in the public sector.
4.3 The right to open technological standards
Technical standards used on the internet must always be
open to allow interoperability and innovation. New technology
development must meet the needs of all sections of society,
particularly those who face limitations and obstacles when
they go online (such as communities who use non-Latin scripts
or people with disabilities, older computers or lacking
high-speed access).
4.4 The right to benefit from convergence and multi-media
content The internet is a multi-media platform.
Access and regulation must build on its potential to be
used to diversify the creation and ownership of online content
in multiple formats e.g. community-owned and -driven radio
and television.
Theme 5: Privacy, surveillance
and encryption
Article
12, UDHR: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference
with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to
attacks upon his honour and reputation
5.1 The right to data protection Public
or private organisations that require personal information
from individuals must collect only the minimal data necessary
and for the minimal period of time needed. They must only
process data for the minimal stated purposes. Collection,
use, disclosure and retention of this information must comply
with a transparent privacy policy which allows people to
find out what is collected about them and to correct inaccurate
information. Data collected must be protected from unauthorised
disclosure and security errors should be rectified without
delay. Data must be deleted when it is no longer necessary
for the purposes for which it was collected. The public
must be warned about the potential for misuse of data supplied.
Organisations have a responsibility to notify people when
the information has been abused, lost, or stolen.
5.2 The right to freedom from surveillance People
should be able to communicate free of the threat of surveillance
and interception.
5.3 The right to use encryption People
communicating on the internet must have the right to use
tools which encode messages to ensure secure, private and
anonymous communication.
Theme 6: Governance of the
internet
6.1
The right to multilateral democratic oversight of the internet
Internet governance should be multilateral and democratic,
with the full involvement of governments, the private sector,
civil society and international organisations. No single
government should have a pre-eminent role in relation to
international internet governance.
6.2 The right to transparency and accessibility
All decision-making processes related to the governance
and development of the internet should be open and accessible
at global, regional and national levels.
6.3
The right to a decentralised, collaborative and interoperable
internet The technological development and core
resource management of the internet must be decentralised
and collaborative, and help to ensure that the network is
interoperable, functional, stable, secure, efficient and
scalable in the long run.
6.4 The right to open architecture The
internet as a ‘network of networks’ is made
up of many interconnected networks, based on the key underlying
technical idea of open architecture networking, in which
any type of network anywhere can be included and made publicly
available. Open architecture must be protected.
6.5
The right to open standards Most of the protocols
at the core of the internet are protocols based on open
standards that are efficient, trusted, and open to global
implementation with little or no licencing restrictions.
The protocol specifications must remain available to anyone,
at no cost, considerably reducing barriers to entry and
enabling interoperability.
6.6
The right to internet neutrality and the end-to-end principle
The neutrality of the internet, chiefly concerned with the
effective transportation of packets, enables its intelligence
to reside largely in computers, applications, servers, mobile
and other devices at the networks’ ends. This has
enabled the development of a wide range of new internet
activities, industries and services ‘at the ends,’
and turns the internet into an important tool within the
wider context of economic and societal development. The
internet derives much of its power and reach from the value
of its network effect. The more people that have access
to the internet, the greater its value as a means for information
exchange and communication. The end-to-end principle and
net neutrality must be defended from attempts to create
a two-tier internet and centralise control.
6.7
The right to the internet as an integrated whole
This central interoperability is part of the internet’s
value as a global public good and should not be fragmented
by threats to create national intranets, the use of content
filtering, unwarranted surveillance, invasion of privacy
and curbs on freedom of expression..
Theme 7:
Awareness, protection and realisation of rights
7.1
The right to rights protection, awareness and education
The rights of people as users of the internet must be protected
by international human rights declarations, law and policy
practice. National, regional and global governing bodies
must make information about rights and procedures related
to the internet freely available. This involves public education
to inform people of their rights when using the internet
and mechanisms to address rights violations.
7.2 The right to recourse when rights are violated
People need free public access to effective and accountable
mechanisms for addressing violations of rights. When human
and internet rights are threatened by internet-based content,
or by illegitimate surveillance, limitations on freedoms
of expressions, and other rights, parties should have access
to recourse mechanisms for taking action against such infringements.
About the Charter
This
Charter was first developed in 2001-2002 by APC members
and partner organisations at “Internet Rights”
workshops held in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa.
The themes and principles outlined express our community's
views and goals concerning the rights of people and organisations
to use the internet freely, particularly in their work for
social, economic and environmental justice. We refer specifically
to the internet; however, these principles are relevant
to all other ICTs (including telephone, radio, and others).
The Charter is not comprehensive. It highlights some of
the specific issues that individuals, civil society organisations,
community media, and policy makers and regulators, need
to consider in their efforts to protect the right to communicate
freely via the internet and realise its potential to create
a better informed and more just world.
The Charter was originally inspired by, and associated with
the "People's Communications
Charter" and the statement of
"A Global Movement for People's Voices in Media and
Communication in the 21st Century.”
This revised version of the Charter aims mainly to take
on board issues of internet governance raised during the
United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
and captured in the Working Group on Internet Governance
report and the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society.
It also takes into account the discussion of the internet
as a global public good that took place in the deliberations
of the WSIS as well as the UN ICT Task Force. The revision
also draws on APC’s recommendations to WSIS on internet
governance.
Published by the Association for Progressive Communications
(APC), November 2006
ICT Policy & Internet Rights
