The June 2019 report of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation,
The Age of Digital Interdependence, makes a series of recommendations related to human rights and human agency. This open consultation will focus specifically on Recommendation 3a, which calls on diverse stakeholders to take part in a review of how States, international organizations and companies practically implement obligations and responsibilities under international human rights law in the digital age:
Recommendation 3a
: Given that human rights apply fully in the digital world, we urge the UN Secretary-General to institute an agencies-wide review of how existing international human rights accords and standards apply to new and emerging technologies. Civil society, governments, the private sector and the public should be invited to submit their views on how to apply existing human rights instruments in a proactive and transparent process. The report reaffirms that rights offline apply fully online, and recommendation 3a seeks to
‘identify how human rights can be meaningfully applied to ensure that no gaps in protection are caused by new and emerging digital technologies.’ The report notes, in reference to international human rights law that:
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The rights these treaties and conventions codify apply in full in the digital age – and often with fresh urgency.
Universal human rights apply equally online as offline… There is an urgent need to examine how time-honoured human rights frameworks and conventions – and the obligations that flow from those commitments – can guide actions and policies relating to digital cooperation and digital technology.’As part of an open consultation process that has started just weeks ago in Geneva, the UN Human Rights Office, UN Global Pulse and Access Now invite to this meeting to gather ideas and feedback on the implementation of Recommendation 3a and to build a multistakeholder constituency interested in contributing to follow-up to Recommendation 3a. We would like identify the key areas where a review would be most needed and will thus discuss with all participants questions such as:
- In which areas of digital technology policy and practice do you see the largest gaps in applying the international human rights framework?
- How can we close this gap? What would good guidance look like?
