Yet another alarm has been sounded about the repercussions of the continued use (read: abuse) of the Digital Security Act (DSA). This time, it was Olivier De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, who flagged the law for its intimidating effect on people with critical opinion, and recommended its suspension until significant improvements are made to it. What Mr Schutter said, however, has been said many times before. Rights defenders have frequently highlighted all the problematic provisions in it, the plight of victims, and the culture of fear that it has created, but to little effect so far.

Lately, however, in the face of sustained criticism and potentially to convince voters ahead of the national election, the government seemed inclined to accept some of the concerns raised. But while it says it is open to make some amendments to the law, it remains adamantly opposed to the idea of repealing it, or scrapping two of the provisions as recommended by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. This is quite concerning.

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A blatant disregard for rights treaties

The fact is, token amendments will neither assure voters nor build trust in the usefulness of the law, so we urge the authorities to pay heed to the UN call for suspending it for now. With the 12th parliamentary elections approaching fast, the next six or seven months are going to be crucial. We do not want to see the DSA being used as a tool to suppress critical opinions or punish journalists and political opponents. We want to see free flow of thoughts so that voters can make informed decisions.

Any suspension, however, will be a stopgap solution – just to keep the political environment on an even keel till the elections. The ultimate solution is a complete abolition of the DSA. There are so many flaws in the law that mere amendments cannot save it. So the government must scrap it eventually, and go back to the drawing board to come up with one that truly serves the people.