Africa reaches a major milestone in its quest for data access
An influential organ of the African Union has embraced the importance of unlocking data on the continent. This stance is set out in a Resolution agreed in November, titled “Promoting and harnessing data access as a tool for advancing human rights and sustainable development in the digital age.”
The resolution, agreed by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), formally acknowledges that “harnessing the power of data, particularly in the digital age, can promote democracy, and facilitate the exercise of various human rights while ensuring transparency and accountability in governance”.
The ground-breaking initiative follows a draft resolution by Topsy Geereesha Sono, the African Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, whose mandate was also renewed during the ACHPR session that adopted the Resolution.
The development also comes in the wake of UNESCO’s Accra Statement on data, adopted on the International Day for Universal Access to information, as well as discussions by the Rapporteur herself and members of the African Alliance for Access to Data.
According to the ACHPR resolution, data has transformative potential “to inform evidence-based policies, enhance public participation, and promote innovation that contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and achievement of the goals of Agenda 63: The Africa We Want”.
The text also expresses concern at “data exploitation practices mainly by the private sector, particularly by big tech entities”, and affirmed “the importance of multi-stakeholder approaches in unlocking the full potential of data for positive socio-economic and political change”.
Support is urged for efforts that both promote and protect access to data across Africa.
In one powerful provision, the ACHPR unequivocally affirms that “data held by public institutions and bodies receiving public funds, as well as that held by private actors where there is an overriding public interest in access, should be made publicly available by default, in alignment with the principle of maximum disclosure, except where justified by regional and international human rights standards.”
In the resolution, the Commission also mandates the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa to “consult broadly around the continent to examine and develop appropriate normative standards to guide data collection, deployment and access issues concerning data”.
In 2025, the AAAD will work to support the Rapporteur in her endeavour, helping to examine existing pan-African and other international instruments with a view to proposing optimum measures that suit contemporary African needs and conditions in digital times.
The record of ACHPR includes developing key norms and standards for African progress in the form of a Model Law on Access to Information for Africa; Guidelines on Access to Information and Elections in Africa; and the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa.
