Eight days remain until the opening of the "#ChildDignity in the Digital World" Congress! An important aspect of the meeting is the care that has been taken to incorporate culturally diverse voices. Today we highlight two persons who have concentrated their efforts on combatting child exploitation and online abuse, one in Africa and the other in Asia, and who will be participating in the congress: Prof. Benyam Dawit Mezmur and Dr. Nighat Dad. Prof. Benyam Dawit Mezmur has experience in taking laws from paper to action, and he explains the importance of implementation in this short video.
Prof. Benyam Dawit Mezmur is currently the Chairperson of both the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child of the African Union. He is an Associate Professor at the Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance and Human Rights at the Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape, in Cape Town, South Africa. He continues to serve as a guest lecturer in various universities, and has been involved in research and advocacy work on child rights issues with civil society organizations and UN agencies.
r. Nighat Dad is the Executive Director of Digital Rights Foundation. She is an accomplished lawyer and a human rights activist. Dad is one of the pioneers who has been campaigning for access to open internet in Pakistan and globally. She is a TED Global Fellow for 2017, has been listed as TIME's Next Generation Leader, and is the recipient of Atlantic Council Freedom Award, and Human Rights Tulip Award. She is also an affiliate of the Berkman Centre of Internet and Society at Harvard University.
In contrast to the just laws protecting the vulnerable online which need to be enacted, there exists an unjust attempt to regulate the internet by those who leverage its power to control people. Online free speech advocate, Dr. Nighat Dad, who actively campaigns for women to be allowed to use the internet in places that restrict technology use to men, is an expert on the link between internet and violence. One question that might be put to both speakers is: How is it possible to use laws to protect, and yet not control, what rightly belongs to the private sphere of the lives of citizens? We present a brief biography of both--what would you ask?
Prof. Benyam Dawit Mezmur is currently the Chairperson of both the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child of the African Union. He is an Associate Professor at the Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance and Human Rights at the Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape, in Cape Town, South Africa. He continues to serve as a guest lecturer in various universities, and has been involved in research and advocacy work on child rights issues with civil society organizations and UN agencies.
D
r. Nighat Dad is the Executive Director of Digital Rights Foundation. She is an accomplished lawyer and a human rights activist. Dad is one of the pioneers who has been campaigning for access to open internet in Pakistan and globally. She is a TED Global Fellow for 2017, has been listed as TIME's Next Generation Leader, and is the recipient of Atlantic Council Freedom Award, and Human Rights Tulip Award. She is also an affiliate of the Berkman Centre of Internet and Society at Harvard University.