DEF organised a two-and-a-half day training workshop on Internet Rights and a one-and-a-half day Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Advocacy Workshop in New Delhi from February 3-6, 2015. The workshop brought together representatives from various human rights organisations and human rights defenders towards building a network of individuals and organisations who raise their voices in support of issues concerned with various online human rights violations. MKSS member Nikhil Dey and DEF Founder-Director Osama Manzar set the stage for workshop-cum-training where they spoke about the Right to Information and it’s interlinkage with ICTs.
The training workshop covered a series of modules concerned with the relationship between human rights, ICTs and the Internet. Ravi Guria, Deputy Director – Design & Media, DEF, Mahatab Alam, Coordinator, Human Rights Defenders Project at Amnesty International India, Japreet and Geetha form Centre from Internet and Society, Gayatri Khandhadai, Programme Officer, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, Bishakha Dutta from Point of View, Ritu Srivastava , Senior Programme Manager, DEF, Pankti Jog, Mazdoor Kisan Sakti Sangathan (MKSS), Prashant from Software freedom law center(SFLC), spoke on Freedom of Expression, Access as Right, Right to Information, Right to Privacy respectively whereas Nayantara from Internet Democracy Project gave an hands-on training on Digital Security.
The workshop ended with a one-and-a-half day training on UPR by Mr Kirity Roy, MASUM; Shivani Lal, Ritu Srivastava and Gayatri Khandhadai trained the participants on the various aspects of drafting and filing an UPR.
This training intended to help those who work on human rights and/or ICTs, to understand ways in which the internet is affecting the enjoyment and protection of rights – now and in the future – and explore how these affect their work.