from MARIA MACHARIA in Nairobi, Kenya
Kenya Bureau
NAIROBI, (CAJ News) – A LEADING Kenyan think tank is demanding a human rights-centred approach to cyber security globally.
The Kenya Information and Communication Technology Action Network (KICTANet) has advocated for this at the United Nations Global Mechanism on Developments in the Field of ICTs in the Context of International Security and Advancing Responsible State Behaviour in the Use of ICTs, currently under way in New York.
The substantive plenary session runs until Friday, having begun on Monday.
Dr Grace Githaiga, KICTANet Chief Executive Officer, addressed the session.
“For civil society, cyber security is not an abstract exercise in navigating geopolitics but a matter of human safety, fundamental rights and democratic survival,” she said.
Githaiga raised concern over the unchecked proliferation of commercial spyware, surveillance and state-sponsored cyber harassment used to monitor, intimidate and silence journalists, bloggers, human rights defenders and political dissenters.
She noted that, simultaneously, emerging threats, fuelled by artificial intelligence-driven automated surveillance and deepfakes, were weaponising digital spaces to erode electoral integrity and supercharge technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
“These tools disproportionately target women, persons with disabilities, minorities and vulnerable groups, forcing them out of public and civic life,” Githaiga continued.
She advocated for the protection of civic space, an end to intrusive surveillance and the promotion of meaningful multistakeholder participation.
“As frontline defenders who monitor local harms and support victims on the ground, civil society requires formal, sustained seats at the table within this (UN) mechanism’s working groups.”
KICTANet believes in a secure digital world where people can exercise their rights, access public services and participate in society without fear.
“We call on states to listen, work together with stakeholders and build a cyberspace centred on human dignity,” Githaiga concluded.
KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder think tank and network dedicated to ICT policy formulation and regulation in Kenya.
– CAJ News