Over the last few years, URG has been exploring the human rights implications of digital technologies, including in cooperation with technology companies, through the Council’s work on combating religious intolerance, and in the organisation of events to develop recommendations for States and tech companies.
Reflecting the continued and growing importance of digital technology for human rights, this project will seek to continue URG’s work in this area, alongside its regular partners (States, such as Norway and Switzerland, corporations such as Facebook, and civil society organisations including Carter Centre, International IDEA, and the Centre for Democracy and Technology). This will include further 3D meetings, a review of what major technology companies are doing in the ‘human rights space’ (in cooperation with those companies), and a human rights-based review of emerging State regulatory systems. There is also the possibility that URG could support a UN initiative on the (positive and negative) implications of digital technology for human rights defenders.
