The Pan-African Parliament explores use of tech

The Pan-African Parliament held their fifth Africa Colloquium of Legal Counsel to Parliaments event to explore the use of technology as a means of ensuring the parliament and many others across the continent move with the Internet revolution for effectiveness.

Delegates and people in the industry of law and business gathered at the PAP chamber on 29 October to discuss the future of parliament in the technological age.

Candidate and researcher at the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, Marystella Simiyu said that technology has become a part of empowerment into our social lives, adding that many people use the same platforms to communicate with people across borders.

“Technology also impacts our economic lifestyle, as we can see by the people who are making money online because of it.

“Because of technology, we have access to critical and meaningful information which can help us in our decision-making processes – while we do accept that there has been advantages when it comes to technology and human rights as researchers, we are not blind to the fact that there are disadvantages in this regard, referring to the spread of propaganda, misinformation and defamation on online media platforms.”

Simiyu said human rights defenders are taking the time to assess information available online. She added that it is important to find time to engage with these aspects, [propaganda, misinformation and defamation] to ensure information available to the public is credible information.

“Often government justifies surveillance on the basis of national security and in some cases it is a logical justification on why they each conduct surveillance. As the centre for these human rights, we are saying that such surveillance should be done lawfully.”

Director of Legal Information and Compliance at Lexis Nexis South Africa Thabo Molefe added that he was coming from the perspective of looking at the rule of law.

Technology and the rule of law can come together and understanding how, is important. “We believe that there can simply be no rule of law in society as long as the human rights are not protected.

“The rule of law must be present to ensure that human rights can be turned from theoretical principles into a tangible reality. The rule of law is the very vehicle and promotion of all human rights.”

Molefe added that research and common sense dictated that when the rule of law thrives there is improved social well-being which leads to greater economic growth and prosperity.

“And so the question that I want to ask is how does technology advance the rule of law, human rights and effective delivery of legal services?

“The legal sector has also been disrupted by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, while quite slow to adapt like other industries, it has enabled law makers as well to be able to develop, implement and apply law faster and more efficiently, minimizing backlogs, the delivery of legal services and also ensuring that there is greater access to law for all.”

Related article:

https://www.citizen.co.za/midrand-reporter/225659/pastors-and-business-leaders-to-spearhead-economic-freedom-in-africa/