The Role of Good Governance in the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights

A/HRC/RES/63/12View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2026.

What other versions does this mandate have?

9 versions · 2008–2026

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2026	A/HRC/RES/63/12	The role of good governance in the promotion and protection of human rights	2,633	—Compare
2024	A/HRC/RES/57/5	The role of good governance in the promotion and protection of human rights	2,826	67%Compare
2022	A/HRC/RES/51/5	The role of good governance in the promotion and protection of human rights	2,134	44%Compare
2020	A/HRC/RES/45/9	The role of good governance in the promotion and protection of human rights	2,185	56%Compare
2018	A/HRC/RES/37/6	The role of good governance in the promotion and protection of human rights	1,579	68%Compare

What subjects does this mandate have?

8 subjects

Accountability Anti-Discrimination Measures Artificial Intelligence Corporate Social Responsibility Governance Human Rights International Obligations Public Administration

What’s in this document?

18 operative paragraphs

Recognizes that international human rights law provides a set of standards to guide governing processes and to assess performance outcomes, and in this regard stresses that good governance is necessary for establishing and maintaining an environment conducive to the promotion and protection of human rights;

Underlines that the primary responsibility lies with States at the national level, including through their constitutional provisions and other enabling legislation, consistent with their international obligations, to ensure that professional public services uphold the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity and are predicated on good governance principles, including impartiality, the rule of law, transparency, accountability, participation, inclusivity and combating corruption, including where public functions are supported by artificial intelligence systems, and stresses the importance of human rights training and education in this regard;

Reaffirms that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, including in the context of the design, development, procurement, deployment, use, operation and decommissioning of artificial intelligence systems by public authorities;

Notes with concern that many forms of the digital divide remain between and within countries, and along gender, age, disability, socioeconomic and geographic lines, recognizes the need to close them, and encourages States to take a comprehensive approach to doing so, including by promoting affordable and equitable access to technologies and through international cooperation and capacity-building, and by taking measures to improve digital, media and information literacy and data literacy;

Urges States to ensure that every person has equal and equitable access to public services in their country, including where such services are delivered or supported by artificial intelligence systems, that such systems do not reproduce or exacerbate gender bias, disability-based discrimination or multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, and that non-digital channels for accessing public services remain available for those who cannot or do not wish to use digital ones, and encourages States to address any weaknesses in the way public services are being delivered, including in the areas of health, education and justice;

Encourages States and, where applicable, other stakeholders to promote, following a risk-based approach, the safe, secure and trustworthy design, development, procurement, deployment, use, operation and decommissioning of artificial intelligence systems in an inclusive and equitable manner, and for the benefit of all, and to foster an enabling environment for such systems to protect the exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms and to prevent and mitigate the potential adverse impacts on their full and equal enjoyment, and to promote the full, equal and meaningful participation, representation and leadership of women and girls at all levels, including in the conceptualization, design, development, deployment and governance of artificial intelligence systems;

Calls upon States to ensure that the design, development, procurement, deployment, use, operation and decommissioning of artificial intelligence systems in public administration are consistent with their obligations under international human rights law, and, as appropriate, to consider measures, including carrying out human rights due diligence and conducting gender-responsive and disability-inclusive human rights and, where relevant, child-rights impact assessments prior to and periodically following deployment in order to prevent and mitigate adverse human rights impacts, ensuring human oversight, accountability and legal responsibility, promoting transparency and adequate explainability of artificial intelligence-supported decisions, affording affected individuals meaningful opportunities to understand and challenge decisions supported by automated systems, adopting and maintaining independent oversight of such systems with regard to discrimination, including gender and disability bias, accuracy and compliance with international human rights law, and ensuring effective investigation and access to an effective remedy where such deployment results in human rights violations;

Also calls upon States to deliver meaningful public participation, commensurate with the potential human rights impact of the systems concerned, in decisions concerning the introduction of artificial intelligence systems into the public sector, including through transparent consultation procedures that engage civil society, technical experts, Indigenous Peoples concerned, through their own representative institutions, and affected communities, with particular attention to persons in vulnerable or marginalized situations, and notes States’ obligations to closely consult with and actively involve persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in the development and implementation of legislation and policies that affect them;

Urges States to ensure that any use of artificial intelligence-enabled surveillance technologies, including biometric identification and recognition technologies such as facial recognition technologies, is compliant with international law and international human rights law, including with the principles of legality, necessity and proportionality, and is subject to effective, independent domestic oversight in order to prevent violations of the rights to privacy, to freedom of expression and to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association;

Encourages States to safeguard democratic processes administered by public authorities, including electoral processes, and the integrity of the information environment, as conditions of good governance and of public trust in public institutions, including by promoting media, digital and information literacy, transparency in political advertising and the labelling of content generated by artificial intelligence, while ensuring that measures taken to address disinformation comply with the requirements of article 19(3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and do not result in undue restrictions on freedom of expression;

Calls upon States to ensure that any integration of artificial intelligence systems into judicial proceedings and correctional settings preserves human oversight, judicial independence, procedural fairness and the inherent dignity of the human person, and that decisions affecting the liberty of the person are not based solely on automated systems;

Encourages States to address proactively the socioeconomic impacts of automation driven by artificial intelligence, particularly in the labour and social security sectors, and its differentiated and disproportionate impacts on women and persons with disabilities, including by adapting educational systems, providing reskilling and upskilling opportunities and strengthening social security systems, in order to uphold the rights to work and to social security and to ensure inclusive and just transitions;

Also encourages States to assess and mitigate the environmental impacts of the deployment of artificial intelligence systems, including the energy and water consumption of data centres and the generation of electronic waste, while facilitating international cooperation, capacity-building and access to environmentally sound technologies for developing countries on mutually agreed terms;

Encourages the international community to promote the inclusive and equitable participation of all States, in particular developing countries, in the formulation of norms and standards applicable to artificial intelligence systems, and to facilitate capacity-building, technical assistance and technology transfer on mutually agreed terms, to support the development of context-appropriate governance frameworks in order to leave no one behind;

Calls upon business enterprises that design, develop or supply artificial intelligence systems for use in the public sector to meet their responsibility to respect human rights, in line with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, including by carrying out human rights due diligence throughout the artificial intelligence life cycle, ensuring appropriate transparency, documentation and risk-management measures, providing appropriate safeguards and human oversight, establishing or participating in effective grievance mechanisms and being accountable for identifying, mitigating and addressing adverse human rights impacts arising from the development and deployment of such systems;

Calls upon States to strengthen good governance in their interactions with business enterprises, including through transparent and accountable procurement and contracting processes, effective human rights oversight of public-private partnerships, meaningful stakeholder participation and measures to ensure that business enterprises providing goods or services for public functions respect human rights, in line with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights;

Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to develop practical guidance on the procurement, deployment and use of artificial intelligence systems at all levels in public administration, including guidance on gender-responsive and disability-inclusive human rights impact assessments, reasonable accommodation and measures to identify and address discriminatory bias, good practices, necessary safeguards, independent oversight and audit methodologies, and avenues for an effective remedy, in a manner consistent with international human rights law and the principles of good governance, building on existing international human rights standards and relevant work of the United Nations, avoiding duplication, distinguishing between the obligations of States and the responsibility of business enterprises to respect human rights, informed by meaningful consultation with States and other relevant stakeholders, and to present a comprehensive report, including the practical guidance, to the Human Rights Council at its sixty-ninth session;

Decides to remain seized of the matter.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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