The challenges for the rule of law posed by the increasing use of electronic surveillance in subSaharan Africa
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Date
2018-02-01
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Centre for Human Rights University of Pretoria
Abstract
This article analyses the tension between the rule of law and the
increasing use of electronic surveillance in sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, in
the sub-Saharan region today, the rule of law is severely under threat.
These threats include bad governance, corruption and a poor human
rights track record. Respect for human rights particularly is one of the key
indices of the presence of a strong rule of law. However, sub-Saharan
African states seriously lag behind in this respect. While so much has been
said of the violations of other human rights, not much is said of the right
to privacy. Hence, the rule of law being a fundamental component of
human rights, the right to privacy faces emerging threats from practices
aided by the gradual advances in technology, such as electronic
surveillance. Electronic surveillance, with its capacity to effortlessly
undermine human rights, is now commonplace in countries in the subSaharan region. This becomes more complicated with the frequentlymade claim that such surveillance is 'lawful' or 'reasonable' for law
enforcement or national security. What amounts to 'lawful' or 'reasonable'
intrusions are not only nebulous, but also largely unquestionable.
Interestingly, this is not the only difficulty concerning the practice of
electronic surveillance. There seems to be a general misconception that
electronic surveillance only constitutes a challenge to the right to privacy
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Keywords
rule of law, Surveillance