ABOUT
Welcome to the United Nations Hub for Human Rights and Digital Technology. As our world becomes ever-more digital, there is a greater need for our rights to be respected both online and offline. The UN has been considering how our valuable human rights protections apply in the digital space. You can find the full scope of key texts, including standards, analysis, and recommendations emerging from the United Nations human rights mechanisms, on this site.
"Together, as we seek to recover from the pandemic, we must learn to better curtail harmful use of digital technology and to better unleash its power as a democratizing force and an enabler."
UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL
ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
BROWSE BY THEME
NEW SEARCH
Use the search bar below to find materials on specific issues. You may also explore different themes by clicking on the boxes below. New materials will be added regularly.
Privacy, surveillance, data
Special Rapporteurs
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye. Report presented to the 38th session of the HRC in 2018 in follow up to the Rapporteur?s prior report to the HRC in 2015 on the use of encryption and anonymity to exercise the rights to freedom of opinion and expression in the digital age, examining new trends and issues since the initial report
2018
SDGs - Digital divide; Discrimination and equality;
Special Rapporteurs
Refugees and the right to education
Special Rapporteur on the right to education 2018 - Report presented to the 73rd session of the UNGA in 2018 on situation of refugees with regard to the right to education, in particular in the context of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, discussing, among other things, the role of information and communications technology in providing innovative solutions, such as e-Learning, to address come challenges in this context
2018
Civic space and content governance
Special Rapporteurs
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, Report presented to the 38th session of the HRC in 2018 on the regulation of user-generated online content, along with a supplementary annex providing an overview of submissions received in preparation of the report (A/HRC/38/35/Add.1). https://undocs.org/A/HRC/38/35/Add.1
2018
Security � Counter-Terrorism
Special Rapporteurs
Technologies can help to prevent torture and ill-treatment
Report presented to the 73rd session of the UNGA in 2018 on achievements and primary challenges concerning the universal implementation of the absolute prohibition of torture and ill-treatment, discussing how the use of new equipment and technologies can help to prevent torture and ill-treatment and hold its perpetrators accountable, but that the emergence of new types of weapons, equipment and technologies may also raise significant concerns about their possible misuse, and recommending, among other things, that States should conduct systematic legal reviews with a view to determining whether the use new weapons, restraints and other equipment or technologies, in some or all circumstances, would violate the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment or any other obligation under international law, or would significantly increase the risk of such violations occurring
2018
Civic space and content governance ; Artificial Intelligence
Special Rapporteurs
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
Report presented to the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly in 2018 on the implications of artificial intelligence technologies for human rights in the information environment, focusing in particular on rights to freedom of opinion and expression, privacy and non-discrimination
2018
Civic space and content governance
Special Rapporteurs
Role of technology in the spread of neo-Nazi ideology
Report presented to the 38th session of the HRC in 2018 on recent, concerning shifts in ideologies and support for Nazism and neoNazism and their glorification, examining, among other things, the role of technology in the spread of neo-Nazi ideology
2018
Civic space and content governance
Special Rapporteurs
Digital technology in the spread of neo-Nazi and related intolerance
Report presented to the 73rd session of the UNGA in 2018 on the contemporary use of digital technology in the spread of neo-Nazi and related intolerance, providing as well good practices for States and technology companies to address this issue
2018