Promotion, Protection and Enjoyment of Human Rights on the Internet

A/HRC/RES/57/29View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2024.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Extracted automatically from each entity’s budget submission.

What subjects does this mandate have?

6 topics

Access to Information Anti-Discrimination Measures Digital Divide Freedom of Expression Human Rights Internet

What does this mandate say?

24 operative paragraphs

Affirms that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, in particular freedom of expression, which is applicable regardless of frontiers and through any media of one’s choice, in accordance with article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

Condemns unequivocally all human rights violations and abuses committed against persons for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms on the Internet, and calls upon all States to ensure accountability and effective remedies in this regard, in accordance with their international obligations;

Also condemns unequivocally online attacks against women and girls, including sexual and gender-based violence and abuse of women that occurs through or is amplified by technology, in particular where women journalists, media workers, human rights defenders, public officials or others engaging in public debate are targeted for their expression, and calls for gender-responsive approaches that take into account these particular forms of online discrimination and harassment;

Urges States to develop comprehensive intersectional approaches grounded in international human rights law to counter all online manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, both offline and online, with a victim-centred and gender-responsive approach;

Recognizes the global and open nature of the Internet as a driving force in accelerating progress towards development in its various forms, including in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, ensuring to leave no one behind;

Calls upon all States to accelerate efforts to bridge digital divides, including the gender digital divide, and to ensure meaningful connectivity, use of information and communications technology, promotion of open and secure digital access and digital inclusion, including through digital, media and information literacy, in order to promote the full enjoyment of human rights for all, including by:

Fostering an enabling online environment that is safe and conducive to engagement by all, without discrimination and with consideration for individuals facing systemic inequalities;

Maintaining and enhancing efforts to promote access to information on the Internet as one means of facilitating affordable, inclusive, equitable and quality education, health, justice and other public services globally, underlining the need to address digital literacy and digital divides;

Promoting equal opportunities, including gender equality and equal opportunities for persons with disabilities, in the design, development, governance and implementation of information and communications technology and in mainstreaming gender, racial and disability inclusive perspectives and prioritizing accessibility in policy decisions and the frameworks that guide them;

Applying a comprehensive human rights-based approach in providing and expanding access to information and communications technology and promoting, in consultation with all sectors of society, including business enterprises and civil society actors, policies and guidelines for information and communications technology that include specific attention to gender and accessibility considerations;

Encouraging diverse and rights-respecting technological solutions to advance connectivity, including by creating an enabling and inclusive regulatory environment for small, non-profit and community Internet operators;

Facilitating easy, prompt, effective and practical access to public information and proactively disclosing information held by public bodies as a means of intensifying efforts to advance universal and meaningful connectivity;

Ensuring that victims of violations and abuses, both online and offline, have access to effective remedy, that threats and acts of violence are investigated effectively and promptly and that those responsible are brought to justice in order to combat impunity;

Respecting their human rights obligations in the development of regulatory frameworks and legislation on the development and use of digital technologies;

Encourages all States to support civil society in its efforts to address the lack of meaningful connectivity as a human rights-related issue;

Also encourages all States to take the necessary and appropriate measures to promote free, open, interoperable, reliable, accessible and secure access to the Internet and, in a manner that complies with their international human rights obligations, address disinformation and advocacy of hatred constituting incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, in order to ensure the full enjoyment of human rights;

Condemns unequivocally measures in violation of international human rights law that prevent or disrupt an individual’s ability to seek, receive or impart information online, as well as other measures that prevent or disrupt access to meaningful connectivity, including Internet shutdowns and online censorship, and measures that use digital technologies to silence, unlawfully or arbitrarily surveil or harass individuals or groups, including but not limited to, human rights defenders, journalists, media workers and civil society actors, calls upon all States to refrain from and to cease such measures, and also calls upon States to ensure that all domestic laws, policies and practices are consistent with their international human rights obligations with regard to freedom of opinion and expression and of association and peaceful assembly online;

Calls upon States to ensure net neutrality, subject to reasonable network management, and to prohibit attempts by Internet access service providers to assign priority to certain types of Internet content or applications over others for payment or other commercial benefit;

Calls upon all States to address security concerns on the Internet in accordance with their international human rights obligations to ensure the protection of all human rights online, in particular freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of association and of peaceful assembly and privacy, including through democratic and transparent national institutions, based on the rule of law, in a way that ensures freedom and security on the Internet so that it can continue to be a vibrant force that generates economic, social and cultural development;

Stresses that many States all over the world, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and developing countries, need support in expanding infrastructure, technological cooperation and capacity-building, including human and institutional capacity-building, to ensure the accessibility, affordability and availability of the Internet in order to bridge digital divides and ensure meaningful connectivity, to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and to ensure the full enjoyment of human rights for all;

Calls upon all States to consider meaningful, transparent and inclusive participation with all stakeholders, including civil society, as well as remote and rural communities and persons belonging to groups at risk of being disconnected, when starting connectivity initiatives, and adopting national Internet-related public policies that have at their core the objective of universal access and the enjoyment of human rights;

Encourages the special procedures of the Human Right Council to take these issues into account within their existing mandates, as applicable;

Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a report on a human rights approach to meaningful connectivity and to overcoming digital divides, including by addressing threats to individuals’ access to the Internet, and to present it to the Human Rights Council at its sixty-second session, to be followed by an interactive dialogue;

Decides to continue its consideration of the promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights, including the right to freedom of opinion and expression, on the Internet and with other information and communications technology, and of how the Internet can be an important tool for access to information, as well as fostering citizen and civil society participation, for the realization of development in every community and for exercising human rights, in accordance with its programme of work.

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