ABSTRACT It is now widely recognised that the unregulated processing of personal information has had a significant impact on key human rights like privacy, dignity, integrity, personality and autonomy. However, while other regions of the world have taken concerted action to protect the personal rights of individuals by adopting data protection instruments, Africa has generally lagged behind. This is so in spite of the steady growth in access to and usage of ICT and the internet which has facilitated the exploitation of individuals’ personal information with the attendant risk of infringement of their rights. An important step to change this situation was taken when African leaders in June 2014, agreed to a landmark Convention on data protection. This Convention has provoked mixed reactions from stakeholders and privacy advocates. While some are sceptical as to the effectiveness of this Convention, others have welcomed it as a cause for celebration of human rights on the continent. This paper assesses the potential impact this Convention will have on the protection of individual's personal data.

中文翻译：

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非洲联盟2014年数据保护公约：在非洲庆祝人权的可能原因？

摘要现在，人们普遍认识到，对个人信息的无限制处理已对诸如隐私权，尊严，完整性，个性和自主权等关键人权产生了重大影响。但是，尽管世界其他地区已采取一致行动通过采用数据保护工具来保护个人的人身权利，但非洲总体上还是落后了。尽管ICT和Internet的获取和使用稳步增长，但仍促进了个人信息的利用，并伴随着侵犯其权利的风险。2014年6月，非洲领导人同意一项具有里程碑意义的数据保护公约，这是改变这种状况的重要一步。该公约引起了利益相关者和隐私倡导者的不同反应。尽管有些人对该公约的效力表示怀疑，但另一些人对此表示欢迎，认为这是在非洲大陆庆祝人权的原因。本文评估了该公约对保护个人个人数据的潜在影响。