Digital rights and freedoms should be accorded the same protection as offline rights and freedoms. Protection of freedom of expression, access to information, data protection and privacy have been guaranteed in international and regional instruments to which Zimbabwe is a party. Consequently, they must be considered in the recommendations made to Zimbabwe during the third cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
This submission was co-authored by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zimbabwe Chapter, Small Media and Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), and supported by Access Now, the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe, Paradigm Initiative, the Zimbabwe Centre for Media and Information Literacy (ZCMIL), Zimbabwe Human Rights Association and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.
It presents general background information on Zimbabwe's UPR process in connection to digital rights and freedoms and updates since the country's last review in the areas of freedom of expression and opinion, freedom of information, internet access and digital equality, and data protection and privacy on the internet. The submission concludes with a series of recommendations made in view of the country's record in these areas.