# Global South Continuity Access **Domain:** Development / Infrastructure / Continuity Justice **Doc Type:** Access Framework **Maturity:** Developed **Related:** [[wiki/Continuity Access Inequality|Continuity Access Inequality]], [[wiki/Treaty-Backed Custody|Treaty-Backed Custody]], [[wiki/Digital Divide|Digital Divide]] --- ## Definition **Global South continuity access** examines how infrastructure, capital, energy, legal capacity, cloud concentration and standards shape access to continuity across developing economies and historically subordinated regions. “Global South” is an analytical shorthand, not a homogeneous jurisdiction, culture or income group. Conditions vary within and between African, Asian, Latin American, Caribbean and Pacific societies, and national averages can conceal severe local inequality. ## Structural Constraints Continuity may depend on reliable electricity, affordable networks, secure identity, data centers, skilled operators, legal recognition, long-duration finance and cross-border recovery agreements. Where these are imported as a closed stack, access can expand while dependency deepens. Data localization can support sovereignty in one setting and create a fragile single failure domain in another. ## Questions of Control - Who owns the hosting, keys, models and migration tools? - Can local institutions audit and repair the system? - Which law governs data and personhood claims? - Does capital leave the jurisdiction while environmental and energy burdens remain? - Can a community choose regional or public infrastructure rather than one foreign vendor? - Are standards adapted through local institutions or merely imposed as eligibility conditions? ## Governance Direction Regional interoperability, public technical capacity, diversified custody, nonexclusive procurement and enforceable portability can reduce dependence. The African Union Data Policy Framework provides one regionally authored model centered on rights, collective interests and an inclusive data economy; it should not be generalized as the position of every African state or people. ## Sources - [ITU — Global Connectivity Report 2025](https://www.itu.int/itu-d/reports/statistics/global-connectivity-report-2025/) - [World Bank — Advancing Cloud and Data Infrastructure Markets](https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/advancing-cloud-and-data-infrastructure-markets) - [African Union — AU Data Policy Framework](https://au.int/en/documents/20220728/au-data-policy-framework) ## See Also [[wiki/Indigenous Data Sovereignty|Indigenous Data Sovereignty]] · [[wiki/Decolonial Critique of Continuity Infrastructure|Decolonial Critique of Continuity Infrastructure]] · [[wiki/Jurisdictional Arbitrage in Continuity Hosting|Jurisdictional Arbitrage in Continuity Hosting]]