Government asked to ratify the Malabo Convention as Uganda joins rest of the world to mark Human Rights Day

Unwanted Witness Uganda has called upon the government of Uganda to urgently sign and ratify the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection (Malabo Convention)as a commitment towards the state’s sub- regional, regional and International human rights obligation of building a credible digital space for electronic transactions, personal data protection and combating cyber-crime across the continent.

The Civil Society made the plea on Tuesday December 10, 2019 as Uganda joined the rest of the world to commemorate the International Human Rights Day.

In June 2014, Uganda with other 54 African union member states adopted the convention in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, addressing the development of information and communication technologies while upholding fundamental rights and freedoms.

Unfortunately, 5years after its adoption, the convention has been ratified by only 5 countries and unfortunately Uganda is not among them.

“Government needs to complement its recent achievement of enacting the domestic data protection law by ratifying the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection as a step towards building trust and regional trade,” revealed Dorothy Mukasa,the Unwanted Witness Chief Executive Officer.

She said the current technological trends and innovation, free intra-regional digital trade involves collection of personal data, requiring unification of cyber security and data protection regulations across the continent.

“We are concerned that further delay by the 54 African Union member states, including Uganda to ratify the convention will not only affect regional trade but heighten privacy violations and cyber crime.

“We would like to remind the government that it has an obligation to protect the Human Rights of Ugandans and also create a safe and conducive working environment.”

The theme for this year’s Human Rights Day is, ‘The year of Indigenous Languages: Promoting and Deepening a human Rights Culture’.