A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.Session organized by OHCHR B-Tech Project in cooperation with GANHRIBrief description of the session The State duty to protect against human rights abuses by business including from the tech sector requires states to adopt appropriate measures to prevent and address such abuses. States should consider the “full range of permissible preventative and remedial measures, including policies, legislation, regulations and adjudication” (UNGP1). Pillar I of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) Pillar I reflects human rights obligations that states have under international human rights law. Therefore, the UNGPs provide a useful roadmap for governments in addressing technology-related human rights issues. Building back better needs to focus on those individuals and communities most at risk. Through a smart-mix of measures, the State has a critical role in ensuring good corporate conduct, facilitating multi-stakeholder engagement, and driving the corporate responsibility to respect through measures that foster the uptake of human rights due diligence among technology companies. In line with the State duty to protect Human Rights, States should take effective action to prevent and ensure remedy for harm connected to the conduct of technology companies
Key objectives of the session - Discuss the “smart mix of measures” in line with the State duty to protect human rights in the context of digital technologies
- Exploring regulatory and policy options for States to incentivize the tech sector to fulfill their responsibility to respect human rights through a “smart mix of measures” addressing adverse human rights impacts in the technology sector
- Outline the role of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) in the “smart mix of measures” for promoting the respect for human rights in the technology sector
- Identifying examples of selected States‘ attempts to address these issues in their NAPs or domestic policy
- Discussing examples of policy incentives for rights-respecting business conduct in the tech sector and examples of responsible public procurement processes for digital products/services
Key questions - How can the UNGPs strengthen the responsible development and use of technology to prevent human rights abuses arising in the context of rapid technological transformation?
- What could a smart-mix of measures look like for addressing adverse human rights impacts stemming from the use of technology when building back the global economy?
- How can mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence and/or National Action Plans or Business and Human Rights foster human rights in the technology sector?
- What is the role of NHRIs in influencing public policies aimed at fostering company and investor performance and uptake of robust human rights policies, due diligence processes, and grievance mechanisms in the technology sector?
Background to the discussion In line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, States must recognize international human rights law as the foundation for governing the development and use of digital technology. The
B-Tech Project will contribute to addressing the urgent need to find principled and pragmatic ways to prevent and address human rights harms connected with the development of digital technologies and their use by corporate, government and non-governmental actors, including individual users. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) provide a comprehensive and authoritative framework that can inform efforts by a range of actors, including governments and companies, to identify, prevent, mitigate and remedy human rights harm related to digital technologies. The premise of the B-Tech Project is that using the lens of all three pillars – Protect, Respect, Remedy - of the UNGPs can help clarify the respective roles and responsibilities of States and the private sector in relation to specific issues.
The pandemic of Covid-19 has shown that technology can play a vital role in managing public health, yet the use of technological solutions in the state-business nexus comes with opportunities and challenges that need to be managed responsibly. The pandemic has exposed and exacerbated a range of inequalities and vulnerabilities that are present in most current business models, including in the tech industry. The UNGPs provide a useful roadmap for tackling technology-related human rights issues from a government perspective. The experiences and insights emerging from the use of technology for managing the pandemic can offer important lessons for governing adverse human rights impacts of technological use responsibly in other daily business settings and future crisis-scenarios.
The German Institute for Human Rights has recently published a
study about the corporate responsibility of technology companies to respect human rights in the data economy.