"Governments in the Asia-Pacific region have responded to human rights defenders' (HRD’s) new online advocacy strategies, affecting their online advocacy through the use of legal and non-legal measures to harass them and impede their work. Against this backdrop, National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) have a mandate to protect human rights, including those of HRDs. The Marrakech Declaration of 2018, outlined a framework for NHRIs to support HRDs, emphasising both offline and online civic space. However, there is a need for NHRIs to adapt these plans to address digital security threats to HRDs.
This report contributes to this goal by outlining four specific ways through which HDRs are threatened online. First, it shows that, in the Asia-Pacific region, HRDs often face legal threats through laws related to defamation, insult, and "fake news”, as well as broader online regulations granting government authorities extensive powers to limit online freedoms. Second, governments have disrupted online communications by limiting or suspending internet connectivity. Some countries control internet gateways to regulate information flow, and during political instability, internet service providers (ISPs) and mobile carriers are ordered to restrict internet speed or access. Third, governments in the region use technology for legal and covert mass data collection and surveillance. They create national internet gateways for centralized control, consolidating information and data storage. Lastly, HRDs encounter digital threats from “cybertroops”, combining human operatives and bots on social media to influence public opinion in favour of the government. Governments are complicit by showing minimal commitment to addressing the problem. Identifying these threats is the basis for this report to recognise the efforts and limitations of NHRIs in ensuring HRDs’ rights online in three areas - monitoring and reporting; advocacy and awareness-rising; and capacity and network building - and provide a set of recommendations aimed at increasing NHRI’s institutional capacity." (Executive summary)