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CSW67 Pitch: Women’s access to technology & Afrophobia


During the NGO briefing on January 26, 2023, members of civil society pitched their recommendations to the Dutch CSW67 delegation. Together they had one clear message: Involve us and take human rights in digital spaces seriously.

Dr. Barryl Biekman from the Landelijk Platform Slavernijverleden shared very important insights on the difficulties women from the Global South are facing concerning access to technology and how Afrophobia exists in many forms.


"Women in developing countries often have very limited access to technology including the internet. They are confronted with lack of access because of power shortages or the nonexistence of power at all.  


This is my personal experience, for instance during zoom and webinar meetings. In Suriname, Kenya, Cameron, Tanzania, Panama but also in Curacao, communication suddenly disappears because there is no electricity or internet. In Ghana, and especially in Liberia, women point out that there is no electricity at certain times, so they cannot participate. We must show our solidarity.  


SDG 5 calls for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. But without access to technology, women are further marginalized. Instead of exercising their inherent entrepreneurial instincts, they are deprived of the opportunity to become owners of businesses or to be involved in manufacturing and other sectors which are dependent on technology.  


Women's access to technology must be ensured so that they can be more independent, contribute to economic growth and be educated, which allows them to contribute even more. Today, online courses seem to be a growing trend. But with the lack of access to both the internet and computers, the dream of becoming more educated is very limited.  


On 19 December 2022, Prime Minister Rutte apologized to all descendants of the enslaved Africans worldwide for the crimes against humanity committed by the Netherlands, in connection with the trans-Atlantic slave trade slavery and colonialism. He pinpoints the issue of Racism “as the basis for the reprehensible system known as 'Afrophobia', based on socially constructed ideas of race and associated with understandings of racism as a concept and correlates to historically repressive structures of colonialism.  


Afrophobia can take on many different forms: dislike, personal antipathy, bias, bigotry, prejudice oppression, racism, structural and institutional discrimination, ethnic profiling, enslavement, xenophobia and societal marginalization. Exclusion, systemic violence, hate speech and hate crime is visible in online spaces and digital technology. A good example are the algorithms used to exclude specific groups from entitlement to child benefit."

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