Resources

U.N. Update: Cyber-related developments

This paper provides an update on the proceedings of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where discussions of cyber-related issues take place. It includes updates from the deliberations at the second Open-Ended Working Group on Information and Communications Technologies (OEWG) and the Ad Hoc Committee of Experts (AHC) between 3 September 2023 and 12 July […]

UK’s Code of Practice for the Cyber Security of AI

Policy Reports

Introduction  The UK government is taking forward a two-part intervention to address the cyber security risks to AI. This involves the development of a voluntary Code of Practice which will be used to help create a global standard in the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) that sets baseline security requirements. We believe a Code focused […]

Report of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights*| Human rights and technical standard-setting processes for new and emerging digital technologies

Resolutions and Declarations

General Assembly Distr.: General18 September 2023Original: English Human Rights CouncilFifty-third session19 June–14 July 2023Agenda items 2 and 3Annual report of the United Nations High Commissionerfor Human Rights and reports of the Office of theHigh Commissioner and the Secretary-General Promotion and protection of all human rights,civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights,including the right to development […]

UNESCO Guidance for regulating digital platforms: a multistakeholder approach 

Regulations and Policies

Draft 1.1   December 2022 Source: UNESCO Disclaimer: This document presents the overall UNESCO initiative and an initial draft proposal  of the guidance document for regulating digital platforms. A further developed draft of this  document will be circulated by the end of January 2023 ahead of the Global Conference  Internet for Trust, which will provide a […]

The geopolitics of digital standards: China’s role in standard-setting organisations

Policy Reports

Executive summary Standards for digital technologies are all around us, enabling devices to interact with each other, allowing us to connect to mobile networks, and facilitating the exchange of information. By providing rules or guidelines for the development and functioning of technologies, products, and services, standards foster interoperability and enable safety and quality of service. […]

Impact of measures to address terrorism and violent extremism on civic space and the rights of civil society actors and human rights defenders

Policy Reports

In the present report, submitted in pursuant to General Assembly resolution 73/174 and Human Rights Council resolutions 31/3 and 37/27, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, examines the impact that measures and practices used to counter terrorism and to prevent and […]

ICGS proposal to transition the stewardship of the internet assigned numbers authority (IANA) functions from the U.S. Commerce department’s national telecommunications and information administration (NTIA) to the global multistakeholder community

Principles and Recommendations

The document contains a series of proposals aimed to transfer NTIA’s current stewardship role over the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions to the global multistakeholder community. It is composed of three distinct proposals, from the three communities directly affected by the transition: the domain names community, the numbering resources community (mainly the Internet Regional […]

A mission statement for the IETF

Network Working Group H. AlvestrandRequest for Comments: 3935 Cisco SystemsBCP: 95 October 2004Category: Best Current Practice A Mission Statement for the IETF Status of this Memo This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) […]

FOC Joint Statement on Technical Standards and Human Rights in the Context of Digital Technologies 

The Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) is a group of 41 countries strongly committed to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). We strongly emphasize that the human rights that individuals enjoy offline must also be protected online, including the right to freedom […]

Human Development Report 2025

A matter of choice: People and possibilities in the age of AI The 2025 Human Development Report explores the profound transformations brought by artificial intelligence (AI) and their implications for human development. The report argues that while AI is advancing rapidly and reshaping economies and societies, its ultimate impact depends not on technology itself, but […]