Vodafone shut down their Egyptian network coverage during the revolution, arguably prolonging the event’s bloodshed and indirectly leading to the death of Egyptians who couldn’t summon ambulances when they were needed. This is bad. So it’s nice that AccessNow, a human rights NGO with Vodafone stock, are trying to force a company-wide human rights assessment.

AccessNow took the company to task last week at the Vodafone Board meeting in London, holding them to account for the network shutdown during revolution which, so we’re clear, was ordered by the now-toppled Mubarak regime.

More encouraging was their asking the board to endorse a plan to uphold customer’s human rights:

I am asking this question as a proxy and on behalf of thousands of people from over 85 countries who have endorsed this question to the Vodafone Board.

Our question is, in recognition of the challenges that you and other telcos faced during the Egyptian revolution and the lessons you’ve learned from this experience might you be better prepared for any future crises – which is undoubtedly in the wings – by committing to doing a human rights assessment of your licensing agreements in the roughly 70 countries you operate in, to ensure that, for example, you are both able to protect your staff and the integrity of the network, but not in the position of having to once again shut down the internet or send pro-regime messages to your customers as happened earlier in the year in Egypt?

I would like to present you with a five step action plan, consistent with the GNI principles, which we believe would assist you to protect Vodafone’s brand and shareholder’s profits and ask that you consider adhering to the practices outlined in the action plan.”

So yay accountability.

[AccessNow]
[Image via flickr]