Human rights and the Internet

Imagine that images of the 21 March 1960 Sharpeville massacre could have been posted on the Internet and viewed by the world on 22 March 1960.

Would images of the 247 dead and injured demonstrators have hastened the demise of Apartheid? Would we be celebrating the anniversary of SA`s first democratic elections on 27 April 1974? Would Nelson Mandela have been incarcerated for seven years and not 27 years?

Electronic mass communication in general and the Internet in particular have either given a voice to the formerly silent oppressed or ushered in the final days of many regimes since fax machines were used to mobilise and publicise the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising. The use of text messaging to coordinate demonstrations helped topple Philippine President Joseph Estrada in 2001. More recently, the use of the Internet by young South Koreans is credited with shaking off half a century of conservative rule in 2003. In the same year, the lobbying organisation "MoveOn.org" even coordinated a "virtual march" on Washington, DC.

When is it easy to violate human rights? The answer is obviously when nobody knows they`re being violated. Has it taken so long for us to become familiar with the region called Darfur because there are no bloggers there?

Not only is the Internet one of the best means for communicating information regarding the basic human rights of all people according to the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is one of the most effective tools for supporting human rights because of its ability to carry messages and images to millions of people in virtually real-time.

The fact is "cyber-liberties" support the rights we should be granted in the "real" world.

Thami Mtshali is CEO of Wireless Business Solutions

Human rights continue to be violated in areas of the world where there is limited or no access to telecommunications infrastructure. Should the police come knocking on your door tonight without just cause, terrorising your family, you`ll probably phone your lawyer, start an e-mail campaign in the morning, fax a letter to your local newspaper and express your outrage in an online chat room.

What if you don`t have an Internet connection, a fax machine and a telephone? All you have then is your two legs to carry your message to as many people as you can and that`s exactly what 800 000 Rwandese had in 1994.

One study by the International Finance Corporation suggested that human rights abuses were far more likely to occur in areas with less that 20 telephone lines per 100 inhabitants. Our own Telecommunications Amendment Act of 1996 recognises access to telecommunications as a fundamental human right.

Today, we have organisations working for what is termed "cyber-liberties" or the preservation of civil liberties and human rights on the Internet.

You and I might think that in a world of very real beatings and torture, "cyber-liberties" are not that important. The fact is "cyber-liberties" support the rights we should be granted in the "real" world.

If you cannot speak your mind in an Internet chat room, how can you speak your mind in a main street bar? If you cannot freely exchange e-mails, how can you freely exchange ideas?

Shortwave radio used to be the information mainstay of the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War when state media could not be relied upon as credible and trustworthy sources of information.

Soviet authorities regularly attempted to jam the broadcasting of views contrary to theirs and only abandoned attempts as late as 1988.

Almost two decades later, it`s a case of d'ej`a vu as we learn that one nation in the Far East has one of the world`s most sophisticated content-filtering Internet regimes. When governments pressure search engines into excluding Web sites containing content they have unilaterally decided their citizens cannot see, what do you think that means for human rights in those countries?

Human rights come down to ensuring we have access to the basic services, freedoms and dignity that enable us to lead the lives we choose. In SA, mobile broadband Internet and cellphones are emerging as the two biggest contributors to helping people lead the lives they choose by providing them with practical means of exercising the human rights granted to them by the world`s finest Constitution.

These two technologies promote human rights by encouraging openness and fuelling debate in societies undergoing transformation.