Twenty-five (25) media and civil society organizations in Ghana participated in Spaces for Change’s | S4C’s Digital Security Clinic (DSC) held in Accra, Ghana, on August 30-31, 2024. The 2-day event organized under the Ford Foundation-backed Civic Space Resource Hub (CSR-HUB) enhanced the capacity of activists, journalists, bloggers and and civil society organizations in Ghana to safely navigate the rising wave of digital authoritarianism, internet restrictions and targeted disruptions to the work of human rights defenders across West Africa.
High incidents of digital repression in the West African region—resulting in the surveillance, arrests, detention, physical abuse, torture, persecution, and even extrajudicial killings of journalists, activists, political opposition and vocal critics—have been systematically tracked and reported on the Closing Spaces Database. Governments in the region are also ramping up their technological infrastructure, changing the ways they counter dissent and assert control over their countries. These technological acquisitions, often acquired for ‘public good,” are often deployed to target critics of their governance failures. The proliferation of new technologies do not only bring new dimensions to political repression, but is also making it easier for governments with autocratic appetites to bypass weak institutions and democratic processes to stifle dissent and people power. The Clinic responds to these trends, by equipping civic space actors in Ghana with the knowledge, tools and resources to build resilience and safeguard themselves against all form of constraints to their legitimate advocacy.
Presentations by seasoned experts examined the legal frameworks governing human rights, digital governance and surveillance in Ghana and their impacts on the civic landscape. Participants also learned about the various trends, tactics and drivers of digital repression, their perpetrators and the kinds of altruistic undertakings that trigger them. Other topics explored include the gendered impacts of online harms and the strategies for mitigating these risks, including the social protection mechanisms in place across the region. By extensively covering topical issues online surveillance, censorship, platform governance, and the role of the private sector, the Clinic deepened understanding of the digital threats that activists in Ghana and across West Africa are facing and the range of solutions to them. This initiative marks a significant step toward strengthening the capacity of stakeholders to defend human rights in the digital age.