UN: Call for inputs on human rights in technical standards for digital technology
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has invited public input on the relationship between human rights and technical standard-setting processes for new and emerging digital technologies.
This follows the UN Human Rights Council’s Resolution 47/23, adopted in July 2021, which focused on digital technologies and human rights. The Resolution outlined both the benefits and potential harms that digital technologies may pose to human rights, and called on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner to convene an expert consultation on “the relationship between human rights and technical standard-setting processes for new and emerging digital technologies”.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights has accordingly invited public inputs for the preparation of a thematic report, which will be tabled with the Human Rights Council at its 53rd session in 2023.
Potential considerations outlined in the call for inputs include:
- The impact of technical standards for emerging technologies for human rights.
- The duties and responsibilities of standard-setting organisations and their stakeholders in integrating human rights considerations.
- Identifying challenges in meaningful participation in technical standard-setting processes.
- Common obstacles to effectively integrating human rights considerations in technical standard-setting processes, and good practices and models to promote effective integration.
- Measuring the accessibility of standard-setting processes for new and emerging digital technologies.
Inputs may be sent to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights by Friday 3 March 2023.
- The call for comments is available here.
- Human Rights Council Resolution 47/23 is available here.
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