RightOn – Contact tracing and challenges to privacy

In partnership with the Permanent Missions of Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands, UNFPA, the Geneva Academy, the Human Rights Centre of the University of Essex, World Jewish Conference, the Geneva Rights Platform, and the Geneva Internet Platform, the URG has launched a new digital initiative to keep the conversation on key human rights issues going during these times of lockdowns and self-isolation.

The RightOn initiative provides a platform for debate and exchange of ideas on topical human rights issues through regular webinars, which takes place every Wednesday at 3 PM CEST. The fifth of these Wednesday Web Chats took place on 6th May 2020 and focused on the issue of ‘Contact tracing and challenges to privacy’.

The current global health crisis brings interesting dilemmas and tough choices for governments, individuals, and society. Many agree that using technology for the tracking of infections and their routes is an essential piece of information – not only to understand the virus, but also to protect the population and control the pandemic. On the other hand, human rights, privacy, as well as our comfort may be challenged with surveillance of this kind.

What if the data gets leaked? What if the data is used for other purposes? Will this surveillance stay in place forever or is it just temporary? Is it legal? What should the safeguards be? How do approaches of different countries compare to each other?

A summary of the event can be found here:

https://righton.dig.watch