After the election of President Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines experienced shifts in the country’s political and socio-cultural landscape, including promises of change by waging war against criminality, drugs and corruption. The “war against drugs” supported by the Philippine National Police anti-drug campaign targeted suspected drug dealers and users ostensibly for arrest, but in practice has been a campaign of extrajudicial execution in impoverished areas of the country, with more than 7,000 drug-related killings reported. With the aid of an APC subgrant, the Foundation for Media Alternatives promoted justice by starting the informational website Ang Pangako, which maps the cases reported and builds a centralised database accessible to various groups involved in addressing the killings. The map provides evidence on the outright human rights violations in the country, linking as well to other important information that may be useful to families of victims, as well as to researchers and human rights advocates.

Women journalists and human rights defenders face increasing abuse and harassment while using the internet, an issue particularly pressing in countries like Pakistan. Among the latest resources to respond to online attacks, a new open source application called Muavin was launched by APC member Media Matters for Democracy with the support of an APC subgrant. This tool aims to help women and other internet users to explore new ways of fighting online abuse. The application allows users to tag offensive material and ask their group of allies to intervene, so as to push back on the hate narrative and/or report to Facebook. The flagged content can also be submitted to a number of discussion groups where other allies can show support and discuss further strategies for countering the abuse.

The government of Cameroon placed special emphasis on ICTs and the internet to address major issues such as youth unemployment, the poor quality of the educational system, poor business competitiveness and the country’s low touristic attractiveness, among others. But is the government ready to allow the internet to fully express its potential? To answer this question, APC member PROTEGE QV benefited from an APC subgrant to analyse the Cameroonian situation from the perspective of the key principles of the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The report produced by PROTEGE QV under this initiative provides an accurate picture of the country’s situation with regard to the 13 key principles outlined by the African Declaration, including a focus on threats, violations, trends and opportunities, an integrated measurement tool of a country’s situation in light of the 13 key principles and an overview of Cameroon’s situation regarding at least 75% of the key principles.

Women’s participation rate in the IT sector is 20% worldwide, and less than 12% in Central America. Existing stereotypes about the relationship between gender and technology, fewer opportunities for women to raise their voices through developing digital technologies and the existing gender and discrimination biases in algorithms are all factors that explain those low figures. Sulá Batsú from Costa Rica carried out a campaign with the support of an APC subgrant focusing on the development of inclusive digital technologies and highlighting the potential contribution to and transformation of the IT sector through women’s participation in Central America. The campaign was aimed at the private IT sector, the educational sector and Central American women. One of the highlights of this campaign was its webcomic starring a fictional character named Hope, a young woman who rewrites the female role in history through time travelling and invites us to craft a world where women lead the field of digital technologies.