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ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship 56. Anonymous source, (April 2023) 57. Manushya Foundation, Lao PDR’s ruthless crackdown on critics strips Lao human rights defenders from basic human rights, (29 September 2022), available at: https://www.manushyafoundation.org/ post/lao-pdr-s-ruthless-crackdown-on-critics-stripslao-human-rights-defenders-from-basic-humanrights; Manushya Foundation, Money over Lives, Lies over the Truth: the state of economic, social, and cultural rights in Laos, (22 November 2023), available at: https://www.manushyafoundation.org/ jointcivilsocietyreportcescrlaos2023; Manushya Foundation, Our New Report sheds light on the dire situation of economic, social, and cultural rights in Laos, (22 November 2023), available at: https:// www.manushyafoundation.org/post/our-newreportsheds-light-on-the-dire-situation-of-economic-socialand-cultural-rights-in-laos; Manushya Foundation, In the Shadows of Power: women confronting patriarchy in Laos, (29 November 2023), available at: https://www.manushyafoundation.org/joint-civil-society-report-cedaw; Manushya Foundation, New Report: Laos can’t hide its discrimination against women anymore! #CEDAWLaos, (28 November 2023), available at: https://www.manushyafoundation.org/post/newreport-laos-can-t-hide-its-discrimination-against-women-anymore-cedawlaos 58. Manushya Foundation, #JusticeForJack: Shot, but Not Silenced, (1 June 2023), available at: https:// www.manushyafoundation.org/post/justiceforjack-shot-but-not-silenced 59. Manushya Foundation, #JusticeForJack: Shot, but Not Silenced, (1 June 2023), available at: https:// www.manushyafoundation.org/post/justiceforjack-shot-but-not-silenced 60. Laos Drama Facebook Group, available at: https:// www.facebook.com/groups/162110668427294 61. ຂັບເຄື່ອນດ້ວຍຄີບອດ, Power of the Keyboard Facebook Page (ຂັບເຄື່ອນດ້ວຍຄີບອດ), (n.d.), available at: https://www.facebook.com/profile. php?id=100083284527044 62. Manushya Foundation, #JusticeForJack: Shot, but Not Silenced, (1 June 2023), available at: https:// www.manushyafoundation.org/post/justiceforjack-shot-but-not-silenced Lao PDR 63. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Thailand/Lao PDR: UN experts concerned by disappearance of Lao human rights defender, (1 October 2019), available at: https://www. ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2019/10/thailandlao-pdr-un-experts-concerned-disappearance-lao-human-rights-defender; US Department of State, 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Laos, (2022), available at: https://www.state.gov/ reports/2022-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/laos/; CIVICUS Monitor, ‘Closed’ civic space shows Laos not taking annual human rights dialogues seriously, (18 July 2022), available at: https:// monitor.civicus.org/updates/2022/07/18/closedcivic-space-shows-laos-not-taking-annual-humanrights-dialogues-seriously/; Manushya Foundation, Lao PDR’s ruthless crackdown on critics strips Lao human rights defenders from basic human rights, (29 September 2022), available at: https://www. manushyafoundation.org/post/lao-pdr-s-ruthlesscrackdown-on-critics-strips-lao-human-rights-defenders-from-basic-human-rights; Freedom House, Freedom of the World 2023: Laos, (2023), available at: https://freedomhouse.org/country/laos/freedom-world/2023 64. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Joint Allegation Letter from the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises; Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights; Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences and Working Group on discrimination against women and girls to Lao PDR, (13 July 2020), available at: https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/ DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=25397 65. Manushya Foundation, #FreeMuay from Jail in Laos, available at: https://www.manushyafoundation.org/ free-muay-from-jail-in-laos; Manushya Foundation, Individual Complaint to the UNWGAD concerning the Case of Houayheung “Muay” Xayabouly, (15 December 2020), available at: https://www.manushyafoundation.org/free-muay-individual-complaint; Manushya Foundation, News Release: Lao PDR Must Free ‘Muay’ and Drop All Charges, (17 September 2020), available at: https://www.manushyafoundation.org/17-sep-news-release-free-muay 145

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Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia March 2024

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Language

English

Topic

Digital Rights
Digital Surveillance
Information Operation
Internet Restrictions

Author(s)

MANUSHYA

Date Published: Mar 8, 2024

Abstract: Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia March 2024 Whether we like it or not, we are living through a pivotal moment for the future of human rights. This includes the issue of our digital rights, and the question of our online freedoms. In places like Southeast Asia, where the majority of its peoples are experiencing immense threats to their online and offline freedoms, at the hands of opportunistic governments and corporations, this is especially prevalent. The digital space has become an integral part of human life, and is still growing in its influence over our world. Accordingly, if our freedoms in the digital space are endangered, our freedoms overall are endangered as well.

It is understandable to feel powerless while possessing this knowledge. But it is not enough to just know about the forces acting against our human rights, and understand that they are dangerous. If we truly want to create a safer, more equitable, more liberated world - which we all know, deep down, is possible - we must understand these forces, and act accordingly. We must equip ourselves with knowledge about what governments, corporations, and other powers that be are doing, alongside demanding our rights to freedom. The powers that be have weaponised the online and digital space, as well as the law, against the people that these things are supposed to serve and protect. It is our right to protect ourselves with research, knowledge, advocacy, and the power of the people. When we understand the powers we are up against, fighting back will become less daunting.

This is what our report, titled Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia, is for. Join us in powering ourselves with knowledge, in order to compel ourselves to action!

As always, our work is rooted in decolonial, feminist, intersectional values, with historically marginalised people at the centre. Thus, this work was a collaboration between a coalition of groups oriented in these values: ALTSEAN-Burma, Cambodian Center for Human Rights, ELSAM, Free Expression Myanmar, Foundation for Media Alternatives, ILGA Asia, Manushya Foundation, The Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network, SAFEnet, Viet Tan, and Women’s Peace Network. What is the ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship? The ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship was established in 2020, by human rights and digital rights activists from Southeast Asia, on a mission to decolonize digital rights and restore our online democracies.

Together, we stand in solidarity with one another, with people from the Global Majority, resisting and pushing back against authoritarian governments and complicit tech companies.

We tell our realities from the ground, and we develop solutions together.

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Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia March 2024

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