In a Joint Declaration issued on the occasion of World Democracy Day (15 September 2023), the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom to peaceful assembly and of association (UN SR), jointly with experts from the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) raised serious concerns about how rapidly evolving emerging technologies pose threats to civic space online and offline.
The Joint Declaration is particularly important because it draws on the global and regional perspectives of the mandates, which unanimously raise concerns related to the misuse of digital technologies by state and non-state actors. It issues detailed recommendations for states and companies on the use and regulation of the following:
- internet censorship and shutdowns;
- digital surveillance;
- mis/disinformation;
- online hate speech;
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems;
- enabling digital literacy;
- ensuring effective remedies and accountability.
Leading up to this statement, ECNL supported the process by co-organising with the UNSR a webinar on how we can safeguard digital assemblies and online protests on 28 February 2023. Hosting civil society activists and representatives of multilateral human rights bodies, the event focused on:
- sharing inspiring examples of digital activism and discussing digital challenges to the right to peaceful assembly,
- increasing awareness of the role and mandate of the global and regional mechanisms;
- promoting the ongoing dialogue between regional mechanisms and civil society on what more can be done to strengthen the right to peaceful assembly in the digital space.
Following the fruitful discussion at the convening, the UN SR and the regional mechanisms launched their Framework for Joint Action and decided to prepare their next Joint Declaration on the topic of freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and misuse of digital technologies. ECNL was asked to provide additional feedback to the text, following our expertise and work on digitally-mediated assemblies.