ANKARA<\/strong><\/p>\n

The World Health Organization (WHO) has been urged to \u201cpublicly denounce the use of internet shutdowns as a hindrance\u201d to its mission and urge governments to allow internet use to aid the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

In a joint letter to WHO by over two dozen rights groups, it said internet shutdowns have seen a rise in the number in the recent past. \u201cThey are lasting longer, affecting more people, and increasingly being targeted at vulnerable groups such as refugees,\u201d the letter read drawing attention to the pandemic which has affected over 5.5 million people across the globe.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, these restrictions are severely impacting people\u2019s fundamental rights to freedom of expression, privacy, access to information, and health,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n

Appealing the WHO to urge Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, and Pakistan to end the internet disruptions, the rights groups said: \u201cThe COVID-19 pandemic amplifies the need for access to universal, resilient, open, secure, and affordable access to information and communications technologies for all,\u201d the letter emphasized.<\/p>\n

The letter said the Indian government had lifted a seven-month blanket internet shutdown in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir, but the internet speed has been restricted to only a slow-speed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe received several reports indicating that residents in Jammu and Kashmir are unable to access information about COVID-19 due to the restriction… doctors and other health workers\u2026 are struggling to download intensive care management guidelines published on various digital platforms in the country,\u201d the letter added.<\/p>\n

Similarly, it said Myanmar ordered all mobile phone operators to shut down internet access in nine townships in Rakhine and Chin states.<\/p>\n

Pakistan has denied internet in tribal districts while Bangladesh has cut off internet access in the Rohingya refugee camps, it noted.<\/p>\n

The rights groups urged the WHO to \u201cpublicly denounce the use of internet shutdowns as a hindrance to the WHO mission and an acute threat to public health, and encourage governments to recognize the important role of the internet in times of crises\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said India and Pakistan were top two countries in South Asia asking Facebook to reveal information related to user accounts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIFJ is concerned at the intent behind the Indian and Pakistan governments in requesting such information. This interference is a threat to freedom of expression,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Riyaz ul Khaliq, Anadolu Agency Internet shutdowns in India, Pakistan, Kashmir, Myanmar, Bangladesh hinder fight against COVID-19, say rights groups ANKARA The World Health Organization (WHO) has been urged to \u201cpublicly denounce the use of internet shutdowns as a hindrance\u201d to its mission and urge governments to allow internet use to aid the fight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oct_exclude_from_cache":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[789,203],"tags":[238,752,753,227,215],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25868"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25868"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25870,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25868\/revisions\/25870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}