SA — along with some of the world’s biggest enemies of human rights, Russia and China – has voted against a UN resolution aimed at the “promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the internet”.

The vote last Friday was meant to consolidate political commitment for the protection of human rights online, as well as release from prison individuals who exercised their “legitimate” freedom of expression on the internet.

In addition, the resolution seeks to:

• Include the investigation of attacks on bloggers
• Stop member states from preventing access to information online
• Shut down internet access during key moments like elections or terror attacks

Some UN members wanted amendments to the resolution, specifically on matters like freedom of expression, but Russia, China and South Africa were pretty much ignored as the overall majority of United Nations member states voted for the resolution in its original form.

Even so, South Africa has shown its hand in terms of its lack of commitment to freedom of expression and human rights online, which has not gone unnoticed by the international community.

 “We are disappointed that democracies like South Africa, Indonesia, and India voted in favour of these hostile amendments to weaken protections for freedom of expression online”, said Thomas Hughes of free press organisationARTICLE 19.

Countries that voted for the bill include the likes of the USA, UK, Nigeria and Turkey.

“A human rights-based approach to providing and expanding internet access, based on states’ existing international human rights obligations, is essential to achieving the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, and no state should be seeking to slow this down,” Hughes said.

South Africa has, once again, chosen the wrong side when it comes to global politics – which is no surprise, as our minister of international relations and cooperation, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, learned about Brexit by watching it on TV – and sided with some of the world’s biggest human rights violators, countries like Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.