Background Information
Africa has made major headway in developing its digital ecosystem in the past decade culminating in the adoption by the African Union Heads of State and Government of the Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa 2020-2030 early this year. Nonetheless, there is still an evident gap among AU Member States in terms of digital maturity, awareness, understanding, knowledge and capacity to deploy and adopt the proper strategies, capabilities and programs to mitigate cyber threats. The ongoing digital transformation in Africa will not provide the desired social and economic benefits unless Africans have access to a secure and trusted Internet.
The rapid growth of the Internet has created new opportunities that can be exploited. However, because of the apparent digital divide, the benefits are not reaching all Africans equally leaving some communities and groups behind. Another dimension to consider, is that while digital technologies expand the possibilities for people to enjoy freedoms and the right to information and knowledge access, as people come on line they face a number of potential harms from the use of their data without their consent and lack of protection of their personal data, to illegitimate commercial and state surveillance, cybercrime and cyber terrorism. Information and data governance and cybersecurity need to be a top priority for all governments . The African Union recognises cyber security and data protection as an integral and indivisible part of technological and digital revolution. These safeguards are esential to creating the trusted environment necessary for e-commerce, e-government and digital services generally to take off. Digital inclusion, with the necessary protections for citizens will be an essential lever in post-COVID-19 economic reconstruction across the continent and a determinant of the degree to which countries will able to benefit from the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.
In 2014, the African Union Commission adopted the Malabo Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection to provide fundamental principles and guidelines to ensure an effective protection of personal data and create a safe digital environment for citizens’ security and privacy of individuals’ online data. This is considered an important first step in establishing a uniform system of data processing and determining a common set of rules to govern cross-border transfer of data to avoid divergent regulatory approaches between the African Union Member States and ensure a safe digital space for Africans. This will also facilitate any data transfer agreements involving other continents/states. However, despite the development of these important ‘trust’ instruments, only 8 countries have ratified the convention, limiting its implementation and harmonising effects across the continent.
What would be intended agenda for the session?
The session will focus on trust and Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) in cyberspace in the context of Africa. This workshop will be a forum to discuss issues of trust that hinders the use and utilization by the AUC member states of the advanced data-driven digital services, available globally such as Internet of Things (IOT), big data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning. The workshop will highlight the challenges and opportunities presented by the global processes of digitalisation and datafication and the role that the public, private sector, media, academia and the civil society can play in developing the governance frameworks necessary for the creation of a safe and trusted online space for all to flourish. Amongst other aspects of global and regional collaboration, the Malabo convention shall be discussed and opportunities presented to member states by ratifying it highlighted.
This is premised on the fact that the nature of the Internet and how it is organized affects its security and influences people’s perceptions, interactions and how freely data flows. To fully embrace the digital revolution, Africa must devise an integrated and comprehensive strategy, involving all stakeholders in the region, from the public, private sectors, academia and the civil society. A prerequisite to the success of this effort is building trust and confidence in the digital space. Without a reliable and secure Internet, there will be no online or digital trust, considering that digital devices are easily used for illegitimate purposes including commercial and state surveillance and espionage. Trust is undermined by various incidences in the digital value chain. Frameworks have to be able to accommodate both individual and collective interests. With the current COVID-19 pandemic, mass surveillance has increased, where governments are tracking movement of people and their contacts, mobile network operators are sharing geo-location data and the global tech companies are sharing location maps. The need for measure that safeguards private information of citizens under these circumstances will determine the degree to which individuals comply, report and utilize pandemic containing and contact tracing apps. E-health and telemedicine applications including Artificial Intelligence powered diagnostics are on the rise. Users who range from individuals in businesses or in their own capacity, academia, civil society, private and the public sector will need to trust the digital space and have confidence that their data and information will be used for the common good.
