'Post-Election Internet Restrictions Hinder Rights’ 6 November 2024

The Mozambican authorities should immediately end internet restrictions imposed since October 25, 2024, and restore full access to social media platforms, Human Rights Watch said today. Internet restrictions and shutdowns violate multiple rights including access to information, freedom of speech, and peaceful protest, and people’s ability to earn a living through online business. The restrictions follow the government security forces’ violent crackdown on opposition supporters who peacefully marched across the country to protest the October general elections results. The deputy minister of transportation and communications, Amilton Alissone, told the media that internet services would be restored only when the necessary conditions were in place, but did not issue a public shutdown order or set out the conditions.

“The Mozambique government’s arbitrary restrictions on internet access violate human rights and should be lifted immediately,” said Allan Ngari, Africa advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “The shutdown inhibits people’s ability to receive and use life-saving information, to assemble peacefully, and to express their political opinions in a time of crisis.” …In a statement quoted in the media and reviewed by Human Rights Watch, the INCM said it had “followed with concern the use of telecommunications networks in the country to publish videos and messages that promote and encourage violent demonstrations and other acts of disobedience and social destabilization.” The statement cited the Law on Telecommunications, claiming that such videos constitute “fraudulent traffic” and a “threat to the preservation of national security.”

…The Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights provides that governments are not to engage in or condone any disruption of access to the internet and other digital technologies for segments of the public or an entire population. Internet service providers should make all feasible efforts to avoid or mitigate harm from orders to restrict access, including by interpreting requests narrowly and imposing the least intrusive restrictions possible, and legally challenging unwarranted disruptions of service. They should also give customers advance notice of shutdowns and disclose the government’s role and legal basis for restricting access to networks and services. They should prioritize their responsibilities under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and avoid complicity in human rights abuses.