Background: The Danish government “Tech For Democracy Initiative”
In 2021, the Danish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Ministry for Development launched the Tech for Democracy Initiative, which promotes and supports multi-stakeholder “Action Coalitions” aimed at making technology work for democracy. The initiative brings together representatives from governments, multilateral organisations, tech industry and civil society to make technology work for democracy and human rights, not against them.
Two pillars: Civic Engagement in AI Design and Responsible Technology
As part of this important initiative, ECNL set up the Action Coalition on Civic Engagement in AI Design, which draws from previous work of the ECNL-led MozFest Trustworthy AI Working Group. Our Action Coalition aims to develop guidance for meaningful participation of CSOs and affected communities in Human Rights Impact Assessments (HRIA) of AI systems, with a particular focus on marginalised and vulnerable groups. Read more about what we do and how you can join our efforts here.
Furthermore, ECNL also joined the Action Coalition on Responsible Technology led by the Danish Institute of Human Rights, whose goal is to support the improvement of human rights considerations in the development and use of digital technologies. ECNL in particular contributes to the work stream focusing on digital tech impact assessment and on meaningful stakeholder engagement.
Roundtable on due diligence, tech and human rights
In that capacity, on 3 June 2022 we participated in the first Roundtable of the Action Coalition on Responsible Technology, focused on “Due Diligence, Tech and Human Rights”, where we outlined examples of challenges encountered by CSOs in assessing the impact of the use and development of digital technologies on human rights and civic space.
The roundtable’s summary report prepared by the Danish Institute of Human Rights, includes all our concerns and recommendations, namely:
- Stakeholder engagement remains a key challenge to achieving effective participation and ensuring sufficient attention is given to discovering potential concerns and impacts on rights holders.
- Even where inclusion is mandated, gaps remain in the transparency of the processes operationalised to solicit input from civil society and rights holders, and in sharing the output and results of these interactions.
- Greater openness is needed to help foster stronger, more productive relations between the different stakeholders. More broadly, greater transparency is a prerequisite to inform the further development of an efficacious and consistent regulatory framework.
- Deliberation amongst the stakeholders also underscored the importance to develop greater transparency for the as yet opaque workings of many of the algorithms that affect decision making in complex systems, given the very often significant impact that the determinations they make can have across human rights. In this respect, further work is necessary to better explain how they are developed and articulate the processes that underpin their development, testing and deployment.
- The need for stronger commitment by policy makers to better ensure that stakeholder engagement channels are open, accessible and inclusive to genuinely provide a means of participation for affected rights holders and groups.
- Gaps in legislative provisions covering tech regulation have also been discovered with respect to a lack of precision on how affected stakeholders can seek access to remedies, and to having their grievances effectively addressed.
- Businesses in the ICT sphere should continue to develop and promote the uptake of more effective mechanisms to engage with stakeholders in civil society, making use of active participation to identify salient risks through constructive dialogue.
- Greater transparency is required in communicating the results of stakeholder engagement by all parties to enable more consistent oversight of the various activities engaged in , thereby facilitating the ongoing review and evaluation of decisions taken. This approach can help counter the risk of reverting to a ‘tick box’ exercise.
Next steps and activities
These key takeaways will be included in a Working Paper that will be published towards the end of 2022, with final guidance, conclusions, and recommendations on developing policy coherence in the regulatory sphere that best support responsible business. In the meantime, ECNL will participate in the next Action Coalition’s Roundtable on 9 September, which will focus on regulatory developments around Human Rights Impact Assessments.
Action Coalitions’ promoters and participants – including governments, international organisations, civil society and tech companies – are also called on to sign and implement the Copenhagen Pledge on Tech for Democracy, a commitment to develop and use digital technologies to strengthen human rights and accountability.
ECNL and other CSOs worldwide – under the coordination of Danish CSO Globalt Fokus – have signed the Pledge and further developed an Action Programme for Tech for Democracy, with recommendations for concrete actions to be taken by a broad range of stakeholders including governments, the private sector, multilateral institutions and civil society.
Please read and sign the Pledge – and stay tuned for more information about our Action Coalitions' activities in September!