Digital Repression in Indonesia Amid Pandemic

Part 1 - Lead Organizer

Contact Person

Damar Juniarto

Organization / Affiliation (Please state "Individual" if appropriate)

Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network

Designation

Executive Director

Gender

Male

Economy of Residence

Indonesia

Primary Stakeholder Group

Civil Society

Part 2 - Session Proposal

Your proposal is for

Main Conference (Day 1-3)

Session Title

Digital Repression in Indonesia Amid Pandemic

Track

Inclusion Trust

Session Format

Showcase

Where do you plan to organize your session?

Official host Kathmandu, Nepal

Specific Issues for Discussion

As a documentary result of monitoring and advocacy of digital rights amid Pandemic, SAFEnet’s end of year publication of “Indonesia Digital Rights Situation Report” exceptionally relevant. This annual report has become a crucial part of our works in advocating for digital rights in Indonesia beyond the documentation of data and facts. This report specifically focuses on how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted digital rights as well as on the overall digital rights situation throughout 2020. The proposed session will discuss the results, findings, and recommendations from the “Indonesia Digital Rights Situation Report” which elaborated the state-of-the-art of digital rights in Indonesia, the largest archipelago representing the Southeast Asia region. We believe the digital rights condition in the country depicted regional trends of digital repression, not only in Indonesia. The report we named “Digital Rights Situation Report in Indonesia: Repression Amid Pandemic” will present current policies by the government and the impact of COVID19 on those policies which in return shrinking public space and hampered digital rights in three aspects, right to internet access, right of freedom of expression, and right to digital security.

Describe the Relevance of Your Session to APrIGF

This session is very relevant to the overarching theme of APrIGF, which is toward inclusive, sustainable, and trusted internet. In this showcase session method, SAFEnet will show empirical evidence on how recent policies during pandemic showing us signs to the growth of the digital repression that should be aware of and tackled. This session will present the condition of digital rights fulfillment during the pandemic, and trying to look into possible ways to address internet governance strategies and actions that should respect human rights in the digital age, by engaging internet stakeholders to provide civil society and government agencies in Asia Pacific regions thus will create trustworthy of the government capability in managing digital sphere. By showcasing the report, Asia Pacific internet governance actors will be benefited from lesson-learned and possible exit strategies to tackle the same issues and start to try strategized multi-stakeholders initiative to provide better internet governance which ensures the fulfillment of the digital rights. The APrIGF is also a relevant critical space that would enable discussions and igniting ideas and explores possible approaches to getting governments to engage with CSOs and other stakeholders in defending human rights and hope for better internet policies and governance.

Methodology / Agenda

The session is Showcase where participants SAFEnet will key findings of “Indonesia Digital Situation Report 2020: Repression Amid Pandemic”. Commentary Speakers/Discussant will present their opinions toward the reports and how will it affect the Asia Pacific digital rights issues. Participants will be invited to share after the invited discussant comments on the report. After the presentation, participants will have opportunities to respond to the report and share their experiences from their own perspectives. The showcase will also challenge participants to think about future stakeholders' collaboration in promoting human rights and tackle “bad internet governance”. The session will be 60 minutes and will be divided into three main parts which are : (1) Presentation session of Digital Situation Report by SAFEnet team (2 persons in the different exploration of the report) -- 20 minutes (2) Commentary session by ARTICLE19 and FMA (or other CSOs in the field of digital rights monitoring and advocacy) – 15 minutes (3) Participants sharing session, in which moderator selected about 3 participants to share about their national digital rights situation – 5 minutes each participant, 15 minutes (4) Summarizing outcome of session and lesson learned to Asia Pacific countries, and closing by Moderator – 10 minutes.

Please provide 3 subject matter tags that best describe your session.

#DigitalRights #InternetShutdown #FreedomOfExpression

Moderators & Speakers Info (Please complete where possible)

Please explain the rationale for choosing each of the above contributors to the session.

The speakers confirmed are the main contributors of the Digital Rights Situation Reports in Indonesia and will present the findings of the digital rights situation in Indonesia. Ellen Kusuma from SAFEnet as Moderator able to delivering the discussion into vivid and dynamic to make this session relevant to participants. Damar Juniarto from SAFEnet as Speaker have a strong capabilities to explain the overall circumstances of digital rights in Indonesia and raise issues of online freedom of expression and privacy. Unggul Sagena from SAFEnet as Speaker will focus on the aspect of access to internet during pandemic. Commentary Speakers: Michael Caster from Article 19 because he has a wide-range knowledge on what situation in Asia regarding digital rights. Liza S. Garcia from Foundation for Media Alternatives because she can compare with the situation in Phillippines regarding the digital repression under Duterte.