A/HRC/44/49/Add.1 Rapporteur welcomes the appointment of government and agency officials who are experts in their chosen fields. This ensures that official duties can be carried out competently and without regard to political affiliation. 48. The Ministry of Innovation and Technology is actively engaged in expanding Internet, broadband and mobile access. The Government is seeking to increase 3G mobile penetration from 45 per cent to 90 per cent in the next five years and increase broadband access speeds from 2MB to 1000MB per second. The Ministry is also seeking to increase public access to information by creating a digital library centre and 19 community radio systems to both disseminate to and receive information from people living outside urban areas. The Ministry is also planning to open up the telecommunications sector by issuing more licences in the short term and establishing a regulatory body. 49. The Special Rapporteur applauds the efforts of the Ministry to open up access to information to all groups through the use of evolving technology. The Special Rapporteur would like to note that these plans will require broad support and prioritization. One area, in particular, that will require prioritization is opening up Internet access in primary schools. A partnership with the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority may be beneficial to both the Ministry and the Authority, since both entities have similar duties and goals in promoting freedom of expression. 50. Despite the commendable advancements of Ethiopia in technology for the benefit of the public, the Special Rapporteur regrets that the Government still routinely asserts control over Internet access. The blocking of websites and apps, and general disconnections, have continued well after the election of Abiy Ahmed as the Prime Minister. Shutdowns are reported to have accompanied anti-government protests, national exams and ethnic conflicts. One shutdown, which occurred immediately after the coup attempt in June 2019 in which six government officials were assassinated in the Amhara Region and the capital, lasted for several days. During the week that the Special Rapporteur was in Ethiopia, the Information Network Security Agency confirmed that the Internet had been shut down in order to address a cyberattack on government and private banks. 51. Shutdowns ordered covertly, without an obvious legal basis, 18 and/or pursuant to vaguely formulated laws and regulations, violate the requirement under article 19 (3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that restrictions be “provided by law”. Shutdowns must also be necessary to achieve aims specified in article 19 (3) of the Covenant, and shutdowns often fail to meet this requirement. The failure to explain or acknowledge shutdowns creates the perception that they are designed to suppress reporting, criticism or dissent. Shutdowns are often disproportionate, as they affect areas beyond the Government’s specific concerns and cut users off from a variety of essential activities and services such as emergency services and health information, mobile banking and ecommerce, transportation, school classes, voting and election monitoring, reporting on major crises and events, and human rights investigations. 52. Despite condemnation from a multitude of stakeholders, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the same Commission’s Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, and from the Special Rapporteur himself, Ethiopia has continued to shut down the Internet with no apparent legal basis. 19 These shutdowns severely undermine the ability of the public to access information – which is even more important in times of unrest, health crisis or elections, so that the public can be informed and take proper safety precautions. The Special Rapporteur urges the Government to cease and desist from its continued use of Internet shutdowns. 18 19 14 The Government indicates that the Information Network Security Agency is “vested with the power to keep the country safe from any threats against national security and it can take measures when the necessity arises” (A/HRC/44/49/Add.3, para. 20). Human Rights Watch, “Millions of Ethiopians can’t get COVID-19 news”, 20 March 2020.