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; Security � Counter-Terrorism
Special Rapporteurs
Mass digital surveillance for counter-terrorism purposes
Report presented to the 34th session of the HRC in 2017 on the developments that have taken place in connection with the principal issues addressed in each of his previous thematic reports, including on the use of remotely piloted aircraft in extraterritorial lethal counter-terrorism operations and mass digital surveillance for counter-terrorism purposes
2017
SDGs - Digital divide; Civic space and content governance
Special Rapporteurs
Promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
Report presented to 35th session of the HRC in 2017 on the role of digital access providers, in particular on the roles played by private Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression (continued) actors engaged in the provision of Internet and telecommunications access, and concluding with a set of principles that could guide the private sector?s steps to respect human rights along with a supplementary annex providing materials accompanying the report (A/HRC/35/22/Add.4). http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/35/22/Add.4
2017
SDGs - Digital divide
Special Rapporteurs
Right to education in the digital age
Special Rapporteur on the right to education -2016 - Report presented to 32nd session of the HRC in 2016 issues and challenges to the right to education in the digital age with a focus on higher education, considering, among other things, how the 4 norms and principles that underlie the right to education should be upheld while embracing digital technologies
2016
Security - Counter-Terrorism
Special Rapporteurs
Remotely piloted aircraft in extraterritorial lethal counter-terrorism operations
Report presented to the 34th session of the HRC in 2017 on the developments that have taken place in connection with the principal issues addressed in each of his previous thematic reports, including on the use of remotely piloted aircraft in extraterritorial lethal counter-terrorism operations and mass digital surveillance for counter-terrorism purposes
2017
SDGs - Digital divide; Discrimination and equality;
Special Rapporteurs
Persons with disabilities and assistive devices and technologies
Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities - 2016 - Report presented to the 71st session of the UNGA in 2016 on how to establish disability-inclusive policies that are in conformity with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and which can contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, discussing, among other things, assistive devices and technologies
2016