HRC 44 - Panel Discussion on New Digital Technologies (res 41/11) - EU Intervention
Madam President,
The European Union would like to thank the Advisory Committee for the oral update on its preparation of the report[1].
The pandemic crisis has shown us both the great potential of new technologies to promote and protect human rights as well as their potential to put human rights at risk.
New technologies have been widely used by states to track and curb the spread of the COVID-19 disease. However, in using these new technologies, states must ensure that any measures taken do not violate human rights, with a specific focus on ensuring the rights of persons in a vulnerable situation are respected. Moreover, technological solutions introduced to fight COVID-19 during the emergency could, in the absence of regulation, stay in place even after the pandemic and be used for other purposes. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that only in certain circumstances, such as public health emergencies, may some human rights in the digital sphere be limited, and only if the measures taken are necessary, proportionate, limited in time, and non-discriminatory.
We strongly oppose the use of new technologies in spreading disinformation, which risks weakening democratic governments and societies and undermining the rules-based international order.
The EU firmly believes that to maximise the benefits, and avoid any potential adverse impacts of new digital technologies, it is fundamental to apply a human rights-based approach to all development and use of these technologies. The same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, regardless of the technology applied.
The EU reaffirms its unwavering commitment to further advancing the digital and human rights agenda, inter alia by addressing artificial intelligence and human rights. The EU adopted the General Data Protection Regulation in 2018 to protect and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms in the face of challenges stemming from the ever rapidly digitalising world. The EU considers it vital to reduce the digital divide and encompass this objective in efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030.
We support the UNSG’s Call for Action for Human Rights and the UN SG Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, which provides concrete recommendations on how to foster a human rights compliant digital sphere.
Respected panelists, how can we ensure that human rights are protected and promoted during the development, design and deployment of new and emerging technologies? How do you envision the role of, and collaboration between, different stakeholders [the HRC, other UN human rights mechanisms, Member States, the private sector and civil society] in this work?
Thank you
[1] Report on the possible impacts, opportunities and challenges of new and emerging technologies with regard to the promotion and protection of human rights, to be presented at the HRC 47th session -in line with the resolution 41/11 July 2019-.