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
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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.
Civic space and content governance; Privacy, surveillance, data
Special Rapporteurs
Surveillance, arbitrary blocking or filtering of online content
Report presented to 41st session of the HRC in 2019 on the opportunities and challenges facing the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in the digital age, addressing, among other things, State obligations, roles and responsibilities of business, opportunities, and trends in State restrictions such as surveillance, arbitrary blocking or filtering of online content, and network disruptions
2019
Civic space and content governance
Special Rapporteurs
Online hate speech
Special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression presented a report to the UN General Assembly on online hate speech that discusses the regulation of hate speech in international human rights law and how it provides a basis for governmental actors considering regulatory options and companies determining how to respect human rights online
2019
Privacy, surveillance, data
Special Rapporteurs
Persisting impunity for human rights violations
Report presented to the 74th session of the UNGA in 2019 on the persisting impunity for human rights violations committed against human rights defenders and the challenges that exist in combating it, noting that digital attacks require complex investigations and most States have the resources to acquire technology and powerful software that can be used in digital attacks on human rights defenders and that the existence of legislation restricting access to public information and the lack of independent accountability mechanisms makes it impossible to determine how the acquired technology is being used, let alone establishing responsibility, and recommending that States should establish independent to monitor and investigate the use of digital technologies for surveillance, to ensure that any such use is consistent with the principles of legality, necessity and legitimacy of objectives and that companies that sell surveillance technology should refrain from doing so if there are indications that it is being used in ways that violate human rights.
2019