Uwazi

STATE OF PRESS FREEDOM IN SOUTHERN AFRICA REPORT 2021 18

should be justifiable, necessary
and for a legitimate purpose.

surveillance
of
journalists
including that states should:

Civil society organisations
and media practitioners should
advocate and lobby for the
following interventions:

●
Cease the use of Statesponsored hacking to engage in
the surveillance of journalists

●
Support
towards
relocation of journalists to
a safe place in the event of
imminent threats;
●
Safety
and
security
trainings that are holistic in
nature, including a focus on
digital safety and also physical
security;
●
Rapid
response
incarcerated journalists;

to

●
Use
of
applications
or panic buttons should any
journalist feel that they are in
danger;
●
Advocacy and lobbying
towards transparency in the
acquisition and deployment of
surveillance tools by States in
the region; (43)
●
Solidarity among human
rights activists and civil society
organisations in calling for
respect of the right to privacy;

(44)

●
Strategic litigation is
also very key. Any form of
surveillance should be within
the precepts of the law. This
means that it should fall within
the ambit of the three pronged
test to permissible limitations
of rights;
●
Media
practitioners
should increasingly embrace
the use of encryptions and
anonymity
to
create
the
necessary privacy that allows
them to freely exercise their
right; and
●
Media
practitioners
should utilise disappearing
messages features on platforms
like WhatsApp and Signal.
Governments also have a
role to play in addressing the

●
All data collected as
part of COVID-19 contact
tracing should be strictly
protected from any other use
by intelligence agencies and
other government agencies or
corporations.

“In undertaking their
watchdog role, media practitioners receive and store sensitive
information
thus unlawful violation on their data
privacy would not
be warranted. Similarly, targeted interceptions for purposes of determining or
exposing journalistic
sources should not
be allowed.

Private players like big
tech companies or internet
companies can also contribute
strongly to the safety and
security
of
journalists
in
the digital age. This can be
achieved through the following
interventions:
●
Adopting
and
implementing
the
guiding
principles on business and
human rights;
●
Ensuring that requests
by governments to access
private information of users are
lawful, necessary and justified
and in compliance with the
protection of rights;
●
Constant
review
of
policies to ensure that they
include and promote the right
to privacy, including data
protection and privacy principles
that should guide them in the
collection, processing, use,
transmission and storage of
personal information; and
●
Ensuring
that
new
technologies are human rights
centred from their development
to their deployment

CONCLUSION
●
Review laws that allow
or legalise surveillance and
ensure that they are in keeping
with international standards
and
uphold
fundamental
rights
in line with the
International
Principles
on
the Application of Human
Rights
to
Communications
Surveillance (the Necessary
and Proportionate Principles);
●
Ensure
that
data
protection
authorities
are
independent
from
State
interference; and
●
Provide
for
judicial
oversight in any attempt
at monitoring or tracking
of individuals including the
deployment of surveillance
tools for the same purpose

From the above, it can be
noted that journalists continue
to be under threat particularly
through targeted surveillance.
While this report focused on
specific incidents in Southern
Africa, journalists in other
countries beyond the region
such as Togo, Senegal, Nigeria
and Rwanda have faced similar
threats to their privacy as they
are targeted for their work.
In that regard, it is crucial to
facilitate a regional response
mechanism that strengthens
the digital safety and security
of journalists as well as
lobbying states through their
different agencies to desist
from unjustifiably interfering
with the work of journalists.