Advocacy statements

2020

IT for Change was among 150 signatories to an open letter led by Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), urging Gilead Sciences to give up its exclusive rights on patents and regulatory and trial data in remdesivir. Monopoly-based patents regime in this could obstruct access to lifesaving treatment for Covid-19.

As the…

2020

Statement of the APRCEM S&T Constituency on COVID-19.

The world is presently facing a global health pandemic as many countries battle the widespread transmission of COVID-19 that has already cost the lives of almost 42,000 and afflicted nearly 858,000 people. The healthcare community across nations is engaged in desperate attempts to…

2020

During a global discussion led by Brazil in 2014, India maintained that the internet is not merely an open, free, global commons that should remain untouched by major governmental control, but also a resource that needs to reflect the values of an ‘Equinet’ – a platform for commerce, e-governance, national security mechanism, to be achieved…

2018
Public Statement Walmart-Flipkart Deal: Continuing attack on retailers, producers, farmers & labour, and on India’s digital sovereignty

The US based Multinational Corporation (MNC) Walmart’s acquisition of Flipkart undermines India’s economic and digital sovereignty and the livelihood of millions in India. If the $ 16 billion deal goes…

2018

In March 2018, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights invited all stakeholders to provide input on human rights challenges relating to the right to privacy in the digital age, including on principles, standards and best practices with regard to the promotion and protection of the right to privacy. IT for Change's response calls…

2018

Developing countries need to recognise that in the datafying economy, any step towards creating a level playing field for local platforms must foreground and tackle the question of data in digital trade regimes. Read more in our submission to the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on E-commerce and the Digital Economy on ‘Fostering Development…

2018

IT for Change submitted inputs to the Zero Draft of the Agreed Conclusions for CSW 62. The Zero Draft focuses on the priority theme - 'challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls'. The objective of the input is to recognise the place of media and ICTs in gender equality and rural women’…

2017

The Just Net Coalition (JNC) has sent an open letter to Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the Web, voicing its objection to World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) official recommendation of Encrypted Media Extensions (EME). The use of EME, developed by W3C, poses a risk to billions of people's security and privacy, and restricts their access to…

2017

Drawing from IT for Change’s work, this submission provides an overview of legislative and judicial developments in India with respect to online violence against women. It offers an analysis of the government’s…

2017

In our response to the timely consultation paper by TRAI on  Privacy, Security and Ownership of the Data in the Telecom Sector we advocate for a broad spectrum of safeguarded data including 'collective/social data' in light of its commercial value. The paper recognizes that consent based ownership frameworks are inadequate for various reasons…