Post-Doctoral Fellowship on the Right to Privacy in Africa 2022

Post-Doctoral Fellowship on the Right to Privacy in Africa 2022

Post-Doctoral Fellowship on the Right to Privacy in Africa

The Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria (Centre) welcomes applications for a one-year post-doctoral fellowship focusing on research and policy in the digital age in Africa, headquartered at the Centre in Pretoria.

Details About Post-Doctoral Fellowship on the Right to Privacy in Africa

Despite the right to privacy not being included in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter), the African Union’s human rights system has worked to preserve it.

When the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights amended the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa in 2019, for example.

It included detailed guidelines on how states should safeguard not just the right to privacy, but also its other components in the digital era, such as communication monitoring and personal data protection.

This demonstrates that the right to privacy, whether offline or online, is not foreign to the African system, particularly the African human rights system.

As a consequence of digital technology, several issues of privacy are becoming more difficult in the digital age.

Frontier technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoTs).

For example, are having a significant influence on the acquisition and use of personal data.

Governments now have greater access to private residents’ personal information, while corporations are increasingly relying on predictive analytics to achieve their goals.

More than ever, robust data governance systems are required to specify not just obligations for diverse parties.

But also to give avenues for efficient redress processes for various human rights abuses.

These advances need a rethinking and repositioning of the right to privacy, including in Africa.

These facts suggest the necessity to not only rethink ways to personal information regulation within the African human rights framework.

But also to rethink approaches to personal information regulation in general.

But also to undertake robust and independent research that may lead to effective policy interventions in a variety of areas where privacy and data protection collide.

Responsibilities

The Centre’s Expression, Information, and Digital Rights Unit will host the post-doctoral fellow.

The fellow’s main tasks are to:

a. Conduct research in areas where the right to privacy and data protection interact, particularly in the digital age and within the African context.

The following are examples of such areas:

● Operationalisation of national legal frameworks
● Communication surveillance
● Biometrics
● Governments’ access to personal information
● Businesses, privacy and personal information
● Elections
● Socio-economic rights
● The proliferation of surveillance technology and international law International trade and surveillance equipment
● African human rights institutions
● Public policy formation and development
● Gender equity
● Minority groups

b. Collaborate with significant stakeholders in the African Union’s human rights system to promote the right to privacy and develop research-based policy.

c. Produce a direct, quantifiable, and meaningful output on the right to privacy in the digital age in Africa before the fellowship ends.

d. Collaborate to carry out a series of activities such as stakeholder convenings, workshops, or seminars that could lead to a book, a larger research workshop, or collaboration with specific African human rights institutions on a specific intersecting aspect of the right to privacy in the digital age.

g. Assist in the preparation of donor reports on the project.

f. Serve as a member of the Expression, Information, and Digital Rights Unit’s leadership/management team.

Assume any additional tasks as assigned by the Centre’s Director.

Scholarship Type:

  • Post-Doctorate

Related: Enterprise for Peace Scholarship of One Young World Summit in Japan 2022

Requirements for Post-Doctoral Fellowship on the Right to Privacy in Africa

A potential applicant must be able to:

  • Have earned a doctoral degree in the past five years in the fields of law, human rights, or allied areas.
  • Have at least five years of experience working on problems pertaining to the implications of digital technology on human rights in an academic, civil society organization, or international organization.
  • Have a track record of study on how digital technologies affect human rights in the digital era.
  • It’s a bonus if the publication(s) concentrate on the right to privacy in the digital era.
  • Have a thorough understanding of the African human rights system that can be shown.
  • Have prior project management, coordination, and execution experience.
  • Possess excellent interpersonal communication abilities.
  • Have a strong grasp of the English language.

Qualifications that are desired

Candidates that possess the following credentials will have an advantage:

  • Any further African Union language fluency (Arabic, French, Portuguese, Kiswahili).
  • Have a track record of policy creation and formation research at the regional, subregional, and national levels.
  • Working experience in African nations.
  • Having a permit or other legal status in South Africa that permits them to work.

Benefit of Post-Doctoral Fellowship on the Right to Privacy in Africa?

The chosen candidate must be able to begin on February 1, 2022, or as soon as practicable afterwards.

A monthly stipend of R 25 000 is provided, as well as a monthly accommodation contribution of R 6000 and relocation costs of R 15,000 if necessary.

The fellowship will last for one year at first.

It may be renewed if finances are available and performance is good.

The duty station is the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, or, in extraordinary circumstances, any other distant place as approved.

Related: Social Science Research Council Just Tech Fellowship 2022

How to Apply for Post-Doctoral Fellowship on the Right to Privacy in Africa

Application Deadline: 3rd December 2021

Visit this page for more information

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.