The New Frontier for Humanity: Interlinking Technology and Human Rights

‘A man’s growth and progress will be hindered if he does not have a pure mind and a clean body’

-Sam Veda

It is this universal value, equality, justice, and the intrinsic dignity of every living being that the ancient wisdom of India enshrines in texts such as the Vedas or Upanishads. This is one of the foundational principles that deeply resonates with the ideals of modern human rights, striving for the highest excellence.

Illustration by The Geostrata

When technological advancement is the very future today, it is time for these age-old philosophies to blend into emerging international rights frameworks and guide a more inclusive, more equitable digital world.

Global inequality is a long-standing human rights challenge that digital technology has exacerbated.

This is caused by a lack of access to technology, not the technology itself. While those of us who live in the digital ecosystem can't imagine what life would be like without Internet access or digital gadgets, the vast majority of the world's population lacks digital experience.

Globally, roughly six out of ten individuals do not have access to the Internet. Even more striking is that around 63 per cent of individuals utilise the Internet. Women, like individuals living in rural regions, have limited access to the Internet (another example of gender inequality).

TECHNOLOGY AND INEQUALITY

Technology has worsened a pre-digital era problem: human rights crimes done in the name of national security and counterterrorism, even by democratic, human rights-respecting governments. New generations of digital technology have transformed government capabilities in law enforcement, counterterrorism, and international monitoring.

Many of these new capacities' human rights consequences were poorly understood before implementation. Despite our improved awareness of the repercussions, security services worldwide have been unwilling to limit these new capabilities.

The right to technology is a forgotten human right. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) created the concept in 1948 as a response to the immense destruction caused by technologically superior weaponry during World War II.

This human right symbolises essential practices that the UDHR's founders took away from the war: technology must benefit humanity rather than harm it.

Digital technology can also aid in repression. Unfortunately, authoritarian governments have caught up and often surpassed human rights campaigners in their skilled use of digital technology.

They now have a remarkable ability to censor expression, prevent or filter access to information, monitor online activities, and govern populations more effectively and efficiently than before the digital age. Unfortunately, the most sophisticated authoritarian systems now have new comparative advantages because of digital technology.

Technology transcends international geographical boundaries and must be regulated in a way that is understandable and applicable across such limits.

Existing global and European human rights norms were agreed upon in the 1940s and 1950s. They are made up of a well-established and enforced structure, a plethora of previous laws, and fundamental concepts that neatly map onto a product's lifecycle.

There is positive potential since the technology may be used to support the exercise of human rights. The ability to communicate ideas and opinions, access information, form groups to coordinate action, and expand access to education and healthcare are all beneficial advances that can and do enhance human rights.

GLOBAL FRAMEWORKS TO ADDRESS DIGITAL INEQUALITY

The link between human rights and technology is anticipated to be a primary focus of discussions on the UN Global Digital Compact, which is set to finish at the Summit of the Future in 2024. While the growing emphasis on the role of human rights in the emerging technology agenda is encouraging, there is a risk of fragmentation and inconsistency in approach.

On the 25th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Society for Computers and Law was founded. Over the next 25 years, human rights and human rights legislation frequently fell behind ethics in arguments concerning technology control.

However, there is a growing realisation that regulation of artificial intelligence and other kinds of technology must be firmly based on the existing human rights framework rather than undermining or replacing existing human rights standards. 

As artificial intelligence is increasingly used in practical applications, the possibility of Man becoming increasingly AI-dependent in various fields emerges. This involves adding a constitutional and international component to a right that requires crucial state-level choices affecting the human condition, life, and freedom to be decided by people rather than automated systems or other AI contraptions.

However, if artificial intelligence is to make decisions, it must be adequately equipped with value-driven criteria. The culture of disregarding privacy protection may foster consent to the development and practical application of technology capable of penetrating an individual's awareness without theirpermission. Evidence based on such mind interference should be excluded from court proceedings.

To effectively address their issues, the following procedures must incorporate a larger civil society community, including human rights defenders and marginalised and vulnerable groups.

hey are conducting studies on the impact of new and emerging technologies on human rights, including freedom of thought, opinion, expression, peaceful assembly, and association and drafting frameworks, legislation, and safeguards for the conception, design, use, development, deployment, and impact assessment of digital technologies.

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BY GARGI TAMBOLI

TEAM GEOSTRATA

info@thegeostrata.com