The Need for Digital Human Rights
The Need for Digital Human Rights: The advancement of digital technologies have revolutionized the way people access and share information, form their opinions, debate, and mobilize. It has provided new opportunities for individuals and organizations to advocate for, defend, and exercise their human rights. However, at the same time, these technologies are also being used to suppress, limit, and violate human rights, especially for vulnerable individuals and those seeking to promote human and civil rights.
The digitalization of society has created new challenges and risks, eroding social protections, deepening inequalities, and exacerbating existing discrimination. Facial recognition, robotics, digital identification, and biotechnology are examples of technologies that have created protection gaps, which require the adaptation and updating of human rights tools established in a pre-digital era.
AI-enabled tools, in particular, can cause profound harm in the absence of fairness, accountability, explainability, and transparency. To ensure that everyone benefits from the profound advances of digital technologies, the application of the human rights framework in the digital space is crucial.
In response to the evolving digital era, the Secretary-General launched two initiatives in 2020: A Call to Action for Human Rights and a Roadmap for Digital Cooperation. These initiatives recognize digital human rights as essential for a fair, safe, and dignified future for humanity. The online resource hub provides a comprehensive library of relevant and reliable guidance from the United Nations human rights mechanisms that address human rights issues in the digital age.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is also developing system-wide guidance for human rights due diligence in the United Nations’ use of new technologies to ensure compliance with human rights principles and standards. Further guidance on how human rights standards apply in the digital age is being developed through the Human Rights Council, special procedures and treaty bodies, OHCHR, and other stakeholders.
Digital technologies have provided new opportunities for the promotion and exercise of human rights, but they also pose new challenges and risks. The application of the human rights framework in the digital space is essential to ensure that everyone benefits from the profound advances of digital technologies. The United Nations is committed to providing guidance and support to stakeholders to address human rights issues in the digital age.
The inclusion of digital rights into the Human Rights Declaration is an important and complex task that requires a multi-stakeholder approach.
One approach could be to create a separate digital rights declaration that complements the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This declaration could outline the specific digital rights that individuals are entitled to, such as the right to access information online, the right to privacy, and the right to freedom of expression and assembly in digital spaces.
Another approach could be to integrate digital rights into existing human rights treaties and conventions. This could involve updating these documents to reflect the evolving digital landscape and the new challenges and opportunities it presents. For example, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights could be updated to include specific provisions on digital rights.
In addition to these approaches, it is essential to involve all stakeholders in the process of developing digital rights. This includes governments, civil society organizations, the private sector, and individuals. This collaborative approach can ensure that digital rights are comprehensive, inclusive, and reflective of the needs and experiences of diverse communities.
Ultimately, the inclusion of digital rights into the Human Rights Declaration will require a sustained and coordinated effort from all stakeholders. It will involve ongoing dialogue, research, and advocacy to ensure that the rights of individuals in the digital age are recognized and protected.