Together with colleagues in FNF Africa, Liberal International brought together technical experts and human rights defenders to better understand and strategise a liberal approach to digitialisation.

With expert speakers and political activists from Belarus to Venezuela – from Hong Kong to South Africa, chairperson of the LI human rights committee and LI vice president, Astrid Thors, sparked debates around  Democracy Disrupted: Digitalisation and Human Rights.

Speaking after the event Astrid Thors said: “Our political parties need to be better prepared to campaign against dis-information. We also need both looking into what are the positive freedoms for people and call on businesses to have ethical codes that we can rely on.”

LI recently polled its member parties and the results were clear – of those who responded only 1 in 3 LI member parties have a clear policy on digitalisation.

Powerful personal experiences combined with practical actions taken by liberals resisting authoritarianis promoted the clear conclusion that human rights activists are able utilise digital technologies for good just as well as authoritarian governments are for ill. A full programme of activity can be found here while more information about the debates and work can be found online using the hashtag #DigitalDemocracyLabJHB Photographs from the event can be found on the LI Flickr page.

Marking the growing desire for true democracy in Uganda, LI vice president Astrid Thors was invited to honour Ugandan politician Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu MP, also known as Bobi Wine, with the FNF Africa Freedom Prize. In a celebration of Uganda’s still pending but overdue political transformation. Having been repeatedly arrested and subjected to abuse, Ms Thors presented the award, saying: “I hope that this award will be a protection for you… I can assure you that we [Liberal International] will not stay silent, we will work on your behalf.”