Safeguarding Human Rights in Africa’s Digital Transformation: The Role of the ACHPR in DPI Governance

Author: Hlengiwe Dube
Senior digital rights and policy expert 

Across Africa, governments are digitising public services. From national identity systems to interoperable service platforms and digital payment ecosystems, these initiatives promise greater efficiency, financial inclusion, and citizen engagement. However, while digital public infrastructure (DPI) offers remarkable opportunities, it also brings unprecedented risks. Poorly governed digital systems can exclude vulnerable populations, enable mass surveillance, and concentrate power in ways that undermine democratic participation.

In this evolving digital landscape, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) has a significant role to play. As the continental body mandated to promote and protect human rights, in terms of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the ACHPR can provide guidance, oversight, and accountability in the deployment of DPI. Civil society organisations (CSOs) across Africa, meanwhile, are uniquely positioned to act as intermediaries between citizens and the state, leveraging ACHPR frameworks to ensure digital governance aligns with human rights standards.

DPI refers to the foundational digital systems that enable governments, businesses, and citizens to interact and transact in the digital environment. These include digital identity platforms, interoperable government databases, digital payment systems, and service delivery portals.  DPI, which is increasingly described as the backbone of the digital state, shapes how citizens are recognised, how they access essential services, and how they exercise fundamental rights.

In Africa, countries are investing in DPI as part of the broader digital transformation strategy. Digital identity systems, for instance, are being deployed to streamline access to public services, enable financial inclusion, and simplify administrative procedures. Integrated platforms allow citizens to access health, education, and social protection services in one place. Mobile money systems like M-Pesa in Kenya demonstrate how DPI can transform financial ecosystems, improve efficiency and expand economic opportunities. However, these same systems carry significant pitfalls. Digital platforms can exclude individuals who lack documentation, internet access, or digital literacy. Large-scale databases may facilitate state or corporate surveillance. Poorly designed systems can concentrate control over citizens’ identities, data, and civic participation. Essentially, DPI is not neutral technology, it is governance architecture. How these systems are designed and governed today will shape African citizenship for decades to come.

DPI affects fundamental human rights in multiple ways. Privacy and data protection are at stake whenever digital identity and service platforms generate vast amounts of personal data. In the absence of robust safeguards, this data can be misused, shared without consent, or exploited for profiling. Freedom of expression and association is also implicated. Digital platforms mediate communication and public engagement, but if mismanaged, they can suppress dissent, enable monitoring of activists, or limit access to information. Additionally, access to services and participation is increasingly mediated by DPI. While digital systems can enhance service delivery, they may create significant barriers for vulnerable and marginalised populations if access depends on digital credentials, connectivity, or literacy that not all citizens possess. This reality demonstrates why human rights frameworks are essential for DPI governance. Deploying digital systems without strong rights protections risks reinforcing inequalities, limiting public participation, and weakening democratic accountability.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, established under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, is the continent’s principal human rights oversight body. Its mandate includes promoting and protecting rights, monitoring and reporting on state compliance, and providing mechanisms for accountability. While DPI is a relatively new domain for the ACHPR, its frameworks, particularly the African Charter, Declarations, Guidelines, and resolutions on freedom of expression, access to information, and privacy, offer a strong foundation for addressing digital rights. These instruments provide guidance for states on safeguarding human rights in a digital governance environment.

Digital public infrastructure presents challenges and opportunities for human rights protection. The ACHPR can serve as a continental anchor to guide DPI deployment in ways that respect human rights. For example, digital identity systems should uphold the right to nationality, equality, and non-discrimination, ensuring that vulnerable groups are not excluded and that mechanisms exist for contesting errors. Interoperable government databases should adhere to privacy standards, lawful data sharing practices, and effective oversight, promoting transparency in the collection, storage, and access of citizen information. Digital service platforms must facilitate inclusive access to essential services while protecting citizens’ ability to participate in governance without fear of undue surveillance or reprisal. ACHPR normative standards can serve as practical tools for civil society to hold states accountable, ensuring digital platforms comply with recognised rights standards.

Civil society organisations are important in connecting citizens to the ACHPR and safeguarding rights in the digital sphere. Through monitoring DPI deployment, documenting rights violations, and submitting communications to the ACHPR, CSOs can raise awareness and trigger accountability mechanisms. During state reporting cycles, civil society can provide shadow reports, highlighting gaps in implementation and advocating for corrective measures. CSOs also play an important role in policy advocacy, using ACHPR guidance to engage policymakers and demand inclusive, transparent, and rights-respecting digital systems. Regional collaboration among civil society networks further amplifies impact, allowing lessons and advocacy strategies to be shared across countries, ensuring that DPI benefits citizens continent-wide. Through these efforts, civil society acts as a bridge between citizens and the ACHPR, ensuring that digital governance aligns with human rights obligations.

Despite its mandate, the ACHPR faces challenges in addressing DPI. Explicit guidelines on digital rights are still developing, leaving some DPI issues unaddressed. State compliance with recommendations can be uneven, particularly when high-stakes digital initiatives are involved. Both the ACHPR and civil society may also face resource and technical constraints that limit their capacity to fully assess complex DPI systems. Overcoming these challenges requires proactive engagement, technical and legal capacity building, and collaboration among stakeholders.

To safeguard human rights in the context of DPI, civil society must engage early and strategically. Participation in policy consultations, technical working groups, and legislative processes before systems are deployed is essential to embed inclusion, transparency, and human rights safeguards. Strengthening internal expertise in data governance, cybersecurity, DPI architecture, and human rights law equips civil society to influence complex digital systems effectively. Continuous monitoring of system rollouts, procurement practices, and data governance helps maintain accountability, while shadow reporting, public submissions, and strategic interventions ensure corrective measures when rights are at risk. Educating communities about their digital rights empowers citizens to demand accountability and participate safely in digital systems. Collaboration across Africa allows civil society to harmonise advocacy, share knowledge, and leverage regional frameworks such as the African Charter, the Malabo Convention, and ACHPR normative standards to strengthen their impact.

Digital public infrastructure is influencing governance and citizenship in Africa. How these systems are designed, governed, and monitored will determine whether they expand democratic participation or consolidate control. The ACHPR provides the legal, normative, and oversight frameworks to ensure DPI respects human rights, while civil society ensures transparency, inclusion, and accountability. Proactive engagement is necessary to ensure that the deployment of DPI strengthens democracy and protects fundamental rights, rather than creating new avenues for human rights violations, marginalisation and exclusion.

More than being technology, DPI is the architecture of the digital state. Its deployment will influence who is recognised, who can access essential services, and who can participate in governance. The ACHPR offers the continental compass to guide this transformation, and civil society ensures that the promise of digital inclusion does not become a tool for exclusion or control. For Africa to realise the benefits of DPI, rights must be safeguarded, public participation must be meaningful, and civil society must remain vigilant. The digital state is being written now, and civil society must be among its authors.

What Should the ACHPR Do Next?

To ensure that DPI strengthens human rights rather than undermine them, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights can play a more proactive role in shaping digital governance across the continent. Key actions could include:

• Develop normative guidance on DPI and human rights, clarifying how the African Charter applies to digital identity systems, interoperable government databases, and digital service platforms.
• Adopt a dedicated resolution on Digital Public Infrastructure, recognising its growing role in shaping citizenship, governance, and access to services across Africa.
• Encourage states to conduct Human Rights Impact Assessments (HRIAs) before deploying large-scale digital identity or data infrastructure systems.
• Strengthen engagement with civil society and technical experts, ensuring that digital governance discussions incorporate both human rights and technological expertise.
• Integrate digital governance issues into state reporting processes, enabling the Commission to assess how DPI systems affect privacy, inclusion, freedom of expression, and civic participation.

If DPI is becoming the architecture of the digital state, then the ACHPR must ensure that this architecture is grounded in human rights. The future of African digital governance will depend not only on technological innovation, but on the strength of the institutions that safeguard citizens’ rights.

About the Author:

Hlengiwe Dube
is a senior digital rights and policy expert with extensive experience advancing rights-respecting governance for emerging technologies in Africa. She has contributed to continental digital rights norms and led multi-stakeholder initiatives on data protection, digital inclusion, and AI governance. She provides research, policy guidance, and capacity-building on digital rights and governance. She holds an MPhil in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa.