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.
Business - Private Sector
Special Procedures
Employing digital technologies and new media to document cultural heritage
Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights - 2015 - Report presented to the 71st session of the UNGA in 2016 on a human rights approach to the intentional destruction of cultural heritage in conflict and non-conflict situations by States and nonState actors, recommending, among other things, that States should prepare in peacetime for any possible threat to cultural heritage in time of war, including through documenting the tangible and intangible cultural heritage within their jurisdiction, as well as employing digital technologies and new media, wherever feasible
2015
Security - Counter-Terrorism
Special Rapporteurs
Impact of new technology with regard to the protection of the right to life such as armed drones and autonomous weapons
Report presented to the 71st session of the UNGA in 2016 providing an update on some of the areas covered by the mandate from 2010 to 2016 and comments on some of the current issues in the area of the right to life, including on the impact of new technology with regard to the protection of the right to life such as armed drones, autonomous weapons, and fact-finding through information and communications technologies
2016
Business - Private Sector; Civic space and content gobvernance; SDGs - Digital divide
Special Procedures
Copyright law and policy from the perspective of the right to science and culture
Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights - 2015 - Report presented to the 28th session of the HRC in 2015 on copyright law and policy from the perspective of the right to science and culture, emphasizing both the need for protection of authorship and expanding opportunities for participation in cultural life
2015
Civic space and content governance ; 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 (A/HRC/29/32) 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
2015
Privacy, surveillance, data
Special Rapporteurs
Big Data and Open Data
Report presented to the 71st session of the UNGA in 2016 outlining the mandate's priorities and activities, namely Thematic Action Streams (TAS) on Big Data and Open Data; Security and Surveillance; Health Data; Personal data processed by corporations; and A better understanding of Privacy
2016