Consultations on ACHPR data access resolution kick off at DRIF25

The African Alliance for Access to Data (AAAD) hosted a briefing and consultation session at the 2025 Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (DRIF) in Lusaka, Zambia at the end of April, highlighting the role of data access in shaping rights-based development across the continent.

“As we navigate an increasingly digital world, access to credible, timely, and disaggregated data has become essential, not only for development planning but also for transparency, accountability, and the protection of human rights.”

• Session moderator Hlengiwe Dube, from the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria in South Africa

The session focused on Resolution 620 adopted late last year by the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) on “Promoting and Harnessing Data Access as a Tool for Advancing Human Rights and Sustainable Development in the digital Age.”   The resolution mandated the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa to “examine and develop appropriate normative standards to guide data collection, deployment and access issues concerning data; [and] to support efforts that promote and protect access to data across Africa.”

The session was the first in a series of consultations on the resolution, done under the auspices of the Special Rapporteur.

Demonstrating the under-explored role of data in African elections, Liz Orembo from Research ICT Africa (RIA) reported on key findings of a study on Data Deficits and Democratic Processes conducted in South Africa, Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe by her and Prof Guy Berger, also from RIA, which showed how access to data enables or undermines fair and transparent elections.

“The report finds that despite growing recognition of the importance of data for elections, there is still a limited understanding among key stakeholders of how crucial data access, availability, and governance are for democratic integrity. Electoral management bodies (EMBs), political parties, civil society, the media, and platforms alike often operate in silos, with little coordination or shared understanding of data responsibilities. EMBs, in particular, face challenges balancing transparency with privacy concerns, and many lack the internal capacity or clear policies to manage election-related data effectively. Meanwhile, civil society organisations, researchers, and journalists struggle to access critical data, often due to high costs or restrictive practices, and social media platforms have not meaningfully opened up election-related data for independent monitoring.”

From Data deficits and democratic processes: The under-explored role of data in African elections, published by RIA in April 2025

She also stated that while regionally more than 25 African countries have access to information laws, there are significant challenges to sharing information by public institutions. These challenges include institutional capacity, a culture of secrecy, and political interference. She said access to information laws need to be adapted to serve the need for access to data as information for the public good.

Izak Minnaar, a media and digital rights expert and AAAD member, provided examples on efforts in South Africa to request data from digital platforms.  In one instance media and civil society organisations did a shadow assessment of online risks before the 2024 general elections, but had to revert to the Information Regulator when the platforms either did not respond to requests for data on risks and mitigation measures, or claimed that they fall outside the South African jurisdiction and therefore were not compelled to respond.

In another instance news publishers requested data related to their content and advertisements on digital platforms, but were met with the same responses. The Information Regulator has since ruled that it has jurisdiction over the platform’s South African operations, but both matters are still ongoing, without provision of the data required for both purposes.

The chair of The African Editors’ Forum (TAEF), Churchill Otieno, explained how journalists in African newsrooms often struggle to access data held by governments and corporations to do their work of exposing inequality, tell developmental stories, point out socio-economic disparities, and hold governments and corporates accountable.

He also encouraged digital rights activists and experts to work on both a policy level on legislative reform, and to do grassroots mobilisation via cross-sector collaboration to translate the ACHPR resolution into practical outcomes.

The executive director of Media Rights Agenda in Nigeria, Edetaen Ojo said that the data access resolution represents a major step towards harnessing the power of data for the advancement of human rights and sustainable development in Africa.  “It seeks to set a progressive agenda for Africa’s digital future. Obviously, the successful implementation of this resolution will depend on the collective efforts of all stakeholders to create an inclusive, transparent, and rights-respecting data ecosystem.”

Session participants also emphasised the need for data literacy work to be done on the legal framework for data access and data protection, including training journalists to work with data, and improving access to data held by statistics agencies.

Resolution 620 on access to data is the first of three recent ACHPR directives which effectively give the Special Rapporteur a mandate to develop digital rights instruments for freedom of expression, access to information and information integrity, in line with the online rights section in the 2019 ACHPR Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa. The other two are Resolution 630 on platform accountability and fact checking, and Resolution 631 on public service content, both adopted in February this year.

The AAAD hosted the session with the assistance of Luminate Africa and on behalf of the Special Rapporteur , Hon. Ourveena Geereesha Topsy-Sonoo, as part of the continental consultation process, alongside similar sessions hosted by UNESCO and Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) on Resolution 630 and the SOS Support Public Broadcasting Coalition on Resolution 631.

Organisations or individuals who would like to participate in, or arrange consultation sessions on the resolution can express their interest here. To make direct input of your views on Guidelines as an outcome of 620, please go here.