WAVERING RESOLUTIONS: THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL ON DIGITAL RIGHTS

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WAVERING RESOLUTIONS:  THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL ON DIGITAL RIGHTS

Digital, cyber, and human rights in the language of UN Security Council resolutions between 2001-2023 June 2024

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Wavering resolutions: the UN Security Council resolutions in the digital age

Annex: relevant language from General Assembly resolutions

A/RES/73/173 - Promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of association

• 4. Calls upon all States to ensure that the same rights that individuals have offline, including the rights to freedom of expression, of peaceful assembly and of association,are also fully protected online, in accordance with human rights law, particularly byrefraining from Internet shutdowns and content restrictions on the Internet thatviolate international human rights law, by ending attacks by States and takingsteps to end attacks by non-State actors against journalists and other mediaworkers covering demonstrations and protests and by ending governmentshutdowns of media outlets for attempting to report on such protests, andcondemns unequivocally and calls for an end to all attacks and violence by State andnon-State actors against journalists and media workers, including through attacks on,or the forced closure of, their offices and media outlets, in both conflict andnon-conflict situations, in particular for journalists and media outlets covering orattempting to cover demonstrations and protests

A/RES/74/173 - Promoting technical assistance and capacity-building to strengthen national measures and international cooperation to combat cybercrime, including information-sharingStressing the need to enhance coordination and cooperation among Member States in combating cybercrime, including by providing technical assistance to developing countries, upon request, to improve national legislation and enhance the capacity of national authorities to deal with cybercrime in all its forms, including its prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution, emphasizing in this context the role that the United Nations, in particular the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, plays, and reaffirming the importance of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in the use of information and communication technologies

• 5. Encourages Member States to develop and implement measures to ensure thatcybercrime and crimes in which electronic evidence is relevant can be effectivelyinvestigated and prosecuted at the national level and that effective internationalcooperation can be obtained in this area, in accordance with domestic law andconsistent with relevant and applicable international law, including applicableinternational human rights instruments

A/RES/76/227 - Countering disinformation for the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms 

Wavering resolutions:

the UN Security Council resolutions in the digital age

• Stressing that responses to the spread of disinformation must comply with international human rights law and the principles of legality, necessity, and proportionality, and underlining the importance of free, independent, plural, and diverse media and of providing and promoting access to independent, factual, and evidence-based information to counter disinformation

• Reaffirming the need to ensure that efforts to counter disinformation promote andprotect and do not violate individuals’ freedom of expression and freedom to seek,receive, and impart information, and noting that media and information-relatedtechnology literacy can help to achieve this through independent and free media,awareness-raising, and a focus on the empowerment of people

• Encouraging States, international and regional organizations, national human rightsinstitutions and civil society, business enterprises, including media, online platforms,social media, and technology companies, to foster respect for human rights onlineand offline in the context of new and emerging digital technologies and human rightsdue diligence processes
•  Emphasizes that all forms of disinformation can negatively impact the enjoymentof human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as the attainment of theSustainable Development Goals

• 6. Expresses concern about the spread of disinformation and propaganda, includingon the Internet, which can be designed and implemented so as to mislead, to violatehuman rights, including the rights to privacy and to freedom of expression, tospread hatred, racism, xenophobia, negative stereotyping or stigmatization, and toincite violence, discrimination and hostility, and emphasizes the importantcontribution by journalists in countering this trend

• Encourages online platforms, including social media companies, to review their business models and ensure that their design and development processes, theirbusiness operations, data collection and data processing practices are in line with theGuiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and emphasizes theimportance of conducting human rights due diligence of their products, particularlyof the role of algorithms and ranking systems in amplifying disinformation, and callsupon them to adopt and make publicly available, after consultation with all relevantstakeholders, clear, transparent, narrowly defined content and advertising policies oncountering disinformation that are in line with international human rights law

• Underlines that countering disinformation requires multidimensional and multi-stakeholder responses that are in compliance with international human rights

Wavering resolutions:

the UN Security Council resolutions in the digital age law and the proactive engagement of international organizations, States, business enterprises, and all other stakeholders

• Invites the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,special procedures, treaty bodies, and all other human rights mechanisms and entitiesof the United Nations, within their respective mandates, to consider, as appropriate,addressing the impact of disinformation on human rights

A/RES/75/176 - The right to privacy in the digital age

• Noting that the rapid pace of technological development enables individuals all overthe world to use new information and communications technologies, and at the sametime enhances the capacity of Governments, business enterprises, and individuals toundertake surveillance, interception, and data collection, which may violate or abusehuman rights, in particular the right to privacy, as set out in Article 12 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 17 of the InternationalCovenant on Civil and Political Rights, and is therefore an issue of increasingconcern

• Reaffirming the human right to privacy, according to which no one shall be subjectedto arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home, orcorrespondence, and the right to the protection of the law against such interference,and recognizing that the exercise of the right to privacy is important for the realizationof the right to freedom of expression and to hold opinions without interference andthe right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and is one of thefoundations of a democratic society

• Recognizing the need to further discuss and analyze, based on international humanrights law, issues relating to the promotion and protection of the right to privacy inthe digital age, procedural safeguards, effective domestic oversight and remedies, theimpact of surveillance on the right to privacy and other human rights, as well asthe need to examine the principles of non-arbitrariness, lawfulness, legality, necessity,and proportionality in relation to surveillance practices,

• Noting also that the use of artificial intelligence can contribute to the promotion andprotection of human rights and has the potential to transform governments andsocieties, economic sectors, and the world of work and can also have various farreaching implications, including with regard to the right to privacy

• Expressing concern about the spread of disinformation and misinformation,particularly on social media platforms, which can be designed and implemented soas to mislead, to spread racism, xenophobia, negative stereotyping, and

Wavering resolutions:

the UN Security Council resolutions in the digital age stigmatization, to violate and abuse human rights, including the right to privacy, to impede freedom of expression, including the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information, and to incite all forms of violence, hatred, intolerance, discrimination, and hostility, and emphasizing the important contribution of journalists, civil society, and academia in countering this trend

• Emphasizing that States must respect international human rights obligationsregarding the right to privacy when they intercept digital communications ofindividuals and/or collect personal data, when they share or otherwise provide accessto data collected through, inter alia, information- and intelligence-sharing agreementsand when they require disclosure of personal data from third parties, including business enterprises

A/RES/78/213 - Promotion & protection of human rights in the context of digital technologies

• Reiterating that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interrelated,interdependent and mutually reinforcing, and affirming that the same rights that
  people have offline must also be protected online
• Noting that the increasing use of digital technologies has impacts on the enjoyment of a wide range of human rights, and recognizing that digital technologies can work as enablers of human rights, but that, without appropriate safeguards, they can be used to seriously threaten the protection and full enjoyment of human rights

• Recognizing the need to ensure that human rights are promoted, respected,protected, and fulfilled through the entirety of digital technologies’ life cycle,including through their conception, design, development, deployment, use,evaluation, and regulation, and to ensure that they are subject to adequate safeguardsin order to promote a free, open, universal, interoperable, safe, secure, stable,accessible, and affordable digital environment for all
  
• Recognizing also that certain applications of new and emerging digitaltechnologies are not compatible with international human rights law, and notingthat uses of new and emerging digital technologies that impact the enjoyment ofhuman rights may lack adequate regulation and governance mechanisms, andrecognizing the need for accountability and effective measures to prevent, mitigate,and remedy potential and actual adverse human rights impacts of such technologiesin line with obligations of States under international human rights law andresponsibilities of business enterprises in line with the Guiding Principles on Businessand Human Rights

Wavering resolutions:

the UN Security Council resolutions in the digital age

• Recognizing further that a lack of access to affordable, safe, quality, and reliabletechnologies and services remains a critical challenge in many developing countries
  
• Stressing the importance for all Member States, and stakeholders as appropriate, topromote universal, free, open, interoperable, safe, reliable, and secure use of andaccess to the Internet by facilitating international cooperation aimed at thedevelopment of media and information and communications facilities in all countries,by respecting and protecting human rights and by refraining from unduerestrictions, such as Internet shutdowns, arbitrary or unlawful surveillance, oronline censorship

• Underlining that digital contexts provide opportunities for exercising human rights,including by improving access to information, and by seeking, receiving, and impartinginformation and ideas of all kinds, and emphasizing that efforts to promote access todigital technologies, digital, media and information literacy, civic participation, andonline safety are important to bridge digital divides and ensure digital inclusion in itsbroader interpretation, which includes the development of digital skills

• Noting with deep concern the use of technological tools developed by the privatesurveillance industry and by private or public actors to undertake surveillance,hacking of devices and systems, interception and disruption of communications,and data collection, interfering with the professional and private lives of individuals, including those engaged in the promotion and defense of humanrights and fundamental freedoms, journalists, and other media workers, inviolation or abuse of their human rights

• Noting that the use of algorithmic or automated decision-making processes cannegatively affect the enjoyment of human rights, including by perpetuatingstereotypes or by resulting in discrimination, in particular when the data used for thetraining of algorithms are non-representative, inaccurate, or irrelevant
  
• Noting with concern that artificial intelligence or machine-learning technologies,without human rights safeguards, as well as proper technical, regulatory, legal,and ethical safeguards, and without adequate and effective evaluation and feedback mechanisms, may pose the risk of reinforcing systemic, racial, andgender-based discrimination and can lead to decisions that have the potential to affectthe enjoyment of human rights, including economic, social, and cultural rights, andaffect non-discrimination, and recognizing the need to prevent racial and otherwise discriminatory outcomes and apply international human rights law anddata-protection frameworks in the conception, design, development, deployment,use, evaluation, and regulation of these technologies and practices

Wavering resolutions:

the UN Security Council resolutions in the digital age

• Recognizing that persons in vulnerable situations, including children, may be particularly exposed to online risks, and that there is a need to take steps to ensurethat the digital environment, including safety information, protective strategies,services, and forums relating to it, is accessible, inclusive, and safe

• Calls upon all Member States: (a) To consider developing or maintaining and implementing adequate legislation, in consultation with all relevant stakeholders,including business enterprises, international organizations, civil society, andtechnical and academic communities, with effective sanctions and appropriateremedies, that protects individuals against violations and abuses of their human rights in the digital context

• Calls upon the private sector and all relevant stakeholders to ensure thatrespect for human rights is incorporated into the conception, design, development,deployment, operation, use, evaluation, and regulation of all new and emerging digitaltechnologies and to provide for redress and effective remedy for the human rightsabuses that they may cause, contribute to, or to which they may be directly linkedA/78/L.49 - Seizing the opportunities of safe, secure, and trustworthy artificial intelligencesystems for sustainable development

• Recognizing also that the improper or malicious design, development, deployment,and use of artificial intelligence systems, such as without adequate safeguards or in amanner inconsistent with international law, pose risks that could hinder progresstowards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and itsSustainable Development Goals, and undermine sustainable development in itsthree dimensions – economic, social, and environmental; widen digital dividesbetween and within countries; reinforce structural inequalities and biases; lead to discrimination; undermine information integrity and access to information;undercut the protection, promotion, and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right not to be subject to unlawful orarbitrary interference with one’s privacy; and increase the potential risk foraccidents and compound threats from malicious actors

• Emphasizes that human rights and fundamental freedoms must be respected,protected and promoted throughout the life cycle of artificial intelligence systems, calls upon all Member States and, where applicable, other stakeholders to refrain fromor cease the use of artificial intelligence systems that are impossible to operate incompliance with international human rights law or that pose undue risks to the

Wavering resolutions:

the UN Security Council resolutions in the digital age enjoyment of human rights, especially of those who are in vulnerable situations, and reaffirms that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, including throughout the life cycle of artificial intelligence systems

• Encourages all Member States, where appropriate, in line with their nationalpriorities and circumstances and while implementing their distinct national regulatoryand governance approaches and frameworks, and, where applicable, otherstakeholders to promote safe, secure, and trustworthy artificial intelligence systems inan inclusive and equitable manner, and for the benefit of all, and foster anenabling environment for such systems to address the world’s greatestchallenges, including achieving sustainable development in its three dimensions– economic, social and environmental – with specific consideration of developingcountries and leaving no one behind [...]