TECHNOLOGY INTERTWINED WITH HUMAN RIGHTS

In a 2018 publication, Enrique Piracés, a human rights technology practitioner opined that “the future of human rights will be intertwined with the advancement of technology”.  These words, though predictive, have a strong historical and normative backing. From the mid-twentieth century onwards, world powers recognised the universal right to “share in scientific advancement and its benefits” and to enjoy the “benefits of scientific progress and its applications”. They also acknowledged in a Declaration that “scientific and technological progress” is increasingly influencing the “development of human society”.  Various technological tools present great prospects for improving efforts to secure human rights; as technology evolves and continues to impact our lives enormously, it is important to examine the approaches guiding its conceptualisation, design, and deployment and how these will actually affect human rights.

WHY A RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH?

Although primarily conceived from a global development context, the human rights-based approach (HRBA) was noted in 2004 as becoming “specialised and diverse”. It has since been flexibly applied and adopted in other fields including cultural property, food security, migration, and the rights of children. Regardless of this flexibility, the common and central thread of the approach relates to work shaped by global human rights standards.

Because of its legal foundations, HRBA provides a clear mechanism for “balancing competing interests in the development of technology”. It encourages technologists to appreciate the implications of their products on fundamental human rights and prescribes mandatory safeguards against the infringement of rights like privacy and non-discrimination in the conceptualisation of technological products. HRBA is further touted as a panacea for "issues raised by new and emerging technology” and can guide the “design, development and implementation” as well as regulation of these technologies. The approach can bring about insights into the ethical implications of new technologies and can help us to examine how existing policies can resonate with developments in science. HRBA provides innovators with the “aspirational, normative, and legal guidance to uphold [the] human dignity” of all without geographical or jurisdictional distinctions.  

A rights-based approach is buttressed by five major principles which guide its implementation. These are: participation; accountability; non-discrimination; empowerment; and legality. These principles therefore require that technology should be developed with input from its prospective user(s) if it is to comply with human rights standards. Technology should facilitate accountability by ensuring that individuals who violate rights are brought to book. Technology ought to be inclusive and accessible to all people regardless of economic, social and physical status. Additionally, technological innovations should skill and tool rights holders so that they can demand and fight for their rights. Lastly, technology must be aligned with universally accepted legal standards.

THE FLIP SIDE 

However, HRBA is not without its limits. Some scholars contend that it is being “force-fed” by development agencies and hastily promoted before “very troubling matters” are addressed at the heart of human rights themselves. These include addressing the competing hierarchy of various rights, the need to balance individual and collective rights, the idea of progressive realisation, the role of non-state actors and the efficacy of legal recourse, among others. 

Additionally, the dependence of the approach on the ratification of international human rights law instruments by states is highlighted as another downside, since ratification is largely driven by political rather than human rights considerations. Lastly, some researchers have raised particular concerns with the flexibility of a rights-based approach, arguing that stretching its meaning and applying it to different situations might dilute its meaning and complicate efforts to distinguish its application from that of other approaches. This means it risks becoming conceptually weak as it may be used based on the interests of those pushing for a specific agenda.

CONCLUSION

It is undeniable that technology is a tool for the protection of human rights and adopting a rights-based approach is essential during the design of technological innovations. Its weaknesses aside, the approach provides a solid normative basis and inspiration for technologists to design innovations that are aligned with global human rights standards, so helping to entrench human rights in society.

Jonathan Ochom is a human rights lawyer and Co-Founder of Legal Hub Uganda, a human rights non-profit that leverages technology to enhance access to justice in Uganda. He holds an LLM (Human Rights) from Swansea University where he focused on rights-based approaches for access to justice technologies. He has thematic interests in social justice, land rights, and justice innovations.

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