We use various third-party cookies to provide social media features and to analyze our traffic. Please use the options below to manage your cookie settings. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Please be aware, if you deny cookies, certain features of our website may not work.
This will apply to all services
Google Analytics
YouTube
Canva>
18 January 2022
Online platforms and social media have become an integral part of the daily lives of millions of individuals worldwide. Concerns about the dissemination of illegal content via these platforms and disinformation and misinformation on social media have prompted states and international organizations to seek to strengthen the regulation of online content.
The respect of human rights by technology companies, such as online platforms and social media companies is therefore crucial for leveraging and fostering a rights-respecting technology ecosystem.
Against this backdrop, our new Working Paper Regulatory Approaches to Online Harms and Human Rights: Three Case Studies discusses how to best place human rights – particularly the United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) – at the centre of regulatory frameworks and legislation on online harms.
Written by our Senior Research Fellow Dr Ana Beduschi and aimed at policy-makers and all those working on the regulation of online harms, it examines their regulation in three jurisdictions – Brazil, the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK).
‘Many countries are currently developing new regulations for online harm. Our analysis precisely aims at supporting them in this endeavour’ underlines Felix Kirchmeier, Manager of Policy Studies at the Geneva Academy.
Geneva Academy
Canva>
Via the three case studies, the author evaluates how different legislative proposals take human rights considerations into account – particularly the corporate responsibility to respect human rights embedded in the three pillars of the UNGPs – with a focus on the right to freedom of expression online.
‘In this paper, I investigate whether these legislative proposals in Brazil, the EU and in the UK put forward substantive or procedural rules, or both, and the key challenges and opportunities for each of these approaches. I also discuss whether there are potential reverse negative impacts for the protection of freedom of expression online’ explains Dr Beduschi.
Adobe
Adobe
Canva
Canva>
The analysis of the three case studies shows that legislative measures laying down substantive and process-oriented obligations for online platforms might support legal certainty. Nonetheless, paradoxically, depending on how these legal obligations are set, they may lead to potential violations of the very rights that they seek to protect.
‘Many challenges still lie ahead. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach for online harms regulation. Still, there is a crucial need for legislative proposals to consider the effects they may have on the protection and respect of human rights’ underlines Dr Beduschi
Canva>
This paper is part of our research on disruptive technologies and rights-based resilience – funded by the Geneva Science-Policy Interface and carried out in partnership with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights B-Tech Project.
It will serve as a background paper for an online workshop in February 2022 that will address regulatory approaches to digital technologies and the UNGPs.
Prior outputs of the project include guidance on incorporating the protection and respect for human rights in the regulation of artificial intelligence as well as a paper that proposes solid and feasible pathways to ensure that artificial intelligence (AI) does not infringe upon human rights.
Geneva Academy
Geneva Academy
News
UN Photo/Manuel Elias
Our new Research Brief Climate Change in the Security Council: Obstacles, Opportunities, and Options identifies entry points for engaging on environmental and climate security issues at the UN Security Council.
News
IMPACT OSS
Via its DHRTTDs Directory, the Geneva Human Rights Platform provides a comprehensive list and description of such key tools and databases. But how to navigate them? Which tool should be used for what, and by whom? In this interview, Dr Domenico Zipoli helps us understand better the specificities of the September highlight of the directory: IMPACT OSS.
Event
Elgar
On the occasion of the launch in Geneva of the volume Armed Groups and International Law. In the Shadowland of Legality and Illegality, panelists will reflect on the status of armed groups within a complex legal landscape.
Event
Adobe
The Annual Conference of the Geneva Human Rights Platform will take place in New York to explore the links between Geneva and New York, the relevance of Geneva's outputs in New York debates, and the implications for human rights.
Training
CCPR centre
This training course will delve into the means and mechanisms through which national actors can best coordinate their human rights monitoring and implementation efforts, enabling them to strategically navigate the UN human rights system and use the various mechanisms available in their day-to-day work.
Short Course
ICRC
This online short course focuses on the specific issues that arise in times of armed conflict regarding the respect, protection and fulfilment of human rights. It addresses key issues like the applicability of human rights in times of armed conflict; the possibilities of restricting human rights under systems of limitations and derogations; and the extraterritorial application of human rights law.
Project
UNAMID
This project will develop guidance to inform security, human rights and environmental debates on the linkages between environmental rights and conflict, and how their better management can serve as a tool in conflict prevention, resilience and early warning.
Project
Olivier Chamard/Geneva Academy
Publication
Geneva Academy
