The El Hak Foundation for Freedom of Expression and Human Rights (EFHR), through its African Human Rights Index (AHRI) Programme, has released a new analytical report titled “Digital Surveillance and the Risks of Arbitrary Detention and Torture in Africa.” The report examines digital surveillance in Africa and its relationship with security action, arbitrary detention, and the use of digital data during investigations, based on an exploratory survey involving civil society organizations and experts from seven African countries.

The report examines how digital surveillance may move beyond information gathering and the monitoring of activities and communications to security or judicial measures, including summons, arrest, detention, interrogation, device-data extraction, and coercion to unlock accounts or disclose passwords.

Background to the Report

This research process began while EFHR was preparing a paper for the Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Africa, a special mechanism of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, in response to its 2026 call for contributions on “Torture and Digital Surveillance in Africa.”

During the preparation of that paper, EFHR concluded that understanding the relationship between digital surveillance, torture, and ill-treatment required moving beyond abstract legal analysis and directly examining the experiences of civil society organizations and experts working across African countries.

Through its AHRI Programme, EFHR conducted an online survey in Arabic and English between 8 and 22 August 2026. The survey received 14 unique responses. The published findings are based on 12 publishable responses from seven African countries, following the application of consent and participant-protection safeguards.

Digital Surveillance in Africa as Part of a Wider Chain of Violations

Key Findings

The report found that:

• 83.3% of respondents had documented at least one situation in which digital surveillance was followed by security or judicial action.

• 75% reported the direct use of digital information or data during investigations or interrogations.

• 83.3% identified human rights defenders among the groups most exposed to digital surveillance.

• 58.3% identified journalists and media workers among the groups most exposed.

• Seven out of 12 respondents described the relationship between surveillance and torture or ill-treatment as direct and documented or highly probable.

• Nine out of 12 respondents reported the existence of a clear or partial legal framework governing surveillance.

• Only two out of the 11 respondents who answered the complaints-related question considered the available complaints body to be independent and effective.

Digital Surveillance as Part of a Wider Chain of Violations

The findings indicate that respondents do not view digital surveillance solely as an isolated violation of privacy. Instead, it may form part of a wider process beginning with the identification of a person, their location, or their network of contacts, before moving to summons, arrest, detention, and the use of digital data during interrogation.

Half of the respondents reported coercion to unlock online accounts, while 41.7% referred to compelled disclosure of passwords and the same percentage reported coercion to unlock phones or other devices. A further 41.7% reported threats to publish personal information or images.

The report emphasizes the need to distinguish between the digital nature of evidence and the method used to obtain it. Although the evidence itself may be technical, its extraction may take place in circumstances involving threats, pressure, or coercion.

The Gap Between Law and Implementation

The report applies the diagnostic methodology developed by the African Human Rights Index, which distinguishes between legal and institutional structures, implementation and oversight, and actual outcomes.

The findings suggest that the existence of a legal framework or a judicial-authorization requirement is not, by itself, sufficient to ensure effective protection. Although most respondents reported the existence of legal safeguards to varying degrees, confidence in the effectiveness of complaints, investigative, and remedy mechanisms remained extremely limited.

This does not mean that laws or judicial authorization cause violations or are without value. Rather, it demonstrates that measuring the existence of legislation alone is insufficient to assess the level of protection achieved in practice.

Key Recommendations

The report recommends:

• Strengthening the independence and effectiveness of bodies receiving and investigating complaints concerning surveillance abuses.

• Enabling independent investigative and oversight bodies to access technical records and surveillance orders.

• Adopting explicit safeguards against coercing individuals to disclose passwords or unlock devices and accounts.

• Examining the legality and voluntariness of obtaining digital evidence during arrest, detention, and interrogation.

• Increasing oversight of spyware, data-extraction tools, and biometric systems.

• Integrating digital risks into the work of national human rights institutions and national preventive mechanisms against torture.

• Developing transparency and human rights due-diligence obligations for telecommunications companies and surveillance-technology suppliers.

• Providing specific protection for journalists, human rights defenders, lawyers, and others whose devices contain professional data or information about confidential sources and clients.

Limitations of the Study

EFHR stresses that the survey relied on a purposive, non-probability sample. Its findings do not constitute a comprehensive statistical measurement of digital surveillance across Africa and cannot be used to rank countries or generalize the results to the continent as a whole.

The chronological sequence between surveillance and arrest, detention, or torture does not, by itself, establish causation. The report’s value lies in identifying recurring patterns, risks, and institutional gaps requiring further research, documentation, and investigation.

Download the full report:

[Digital_Surveillance Arbitrary Detention and Torture Risks in Africa EFHR 2026]