The Sudanese authorities’ decision to block voice and video calls on WhatsApp for an unspecified period came into effect on Friday 25 July. It seems that text messaging and group chats remain unaffected.
The Sudanese Telecommunications and Postal Regulatory Authority has described this the move as a “precautionary measure” to address threats to national stability and safeguard the country’s interests.
Not too surprisingly, this assessment has not been taken entirely at face value in some quarters. Activists and digital rights defenders describe it as an attack on freedom of communication.
In particular, in a recent statement, media development organisation Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) Sudan has said that the action constitutes a “blatant and direct violation of internationally guaranteed human rights” under a number of national laws and international conventions.
These include an article of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right to freedom of expression and to receive and impart information, another from the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the right of everyone to access information, and the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa. All these agreements have apparently been ratified by Sudan.
International standards do permit specific restrictions on certain rights in exceptional cases, but JHR has noted that the ban does not meet these standards.
The Sudanese authorities’ move is likely to impact civilians, both at home and abroad (notably refugees) who depend on WhatsApp to organise aid, seek support, find missing people and communicate with family, especially given the impact of over two years of war in the country.
VPNs, satellite services like Starlink, or foreign SIM cards may now be used to stay connected, albeit these are more costly and technically demanding than WhatsApp. It’s not clear what the legal position is on these methods, though no clear Sudanese law bans VPN use at present.
