On June 29  Estonia, in the capacity of the President of the Security Council, held a high-level open debate on the theme ‘Maintaining international peace and security in cyberspace’. All Member States were invited to share national views on several issues: What kind of impact may the malicious use of cyberspace have in relation to conflicts [...]

During a UN Security Council meeting, the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) head Izumi Nakamitsu underscored the potential harm of digital technologies on human life and how ‘we must remain vigilant' in the face of malicious technologies that ‘could imperil the security of future generations.’ ‘Digital technologies are increasingly straining existing legal, humanitarian and [...]

Eighteen organisations alongside more than 50 artists, journalists, and human rights defenders kicked off the #StopSilencingPalestine campaign to advocate against  Facebook’s censorship of Palestinian voices. The latter was manifested when Facebook took down Palestinians’ posts and accounts that reported the forced evictions in Sheikh Jarrah and police brutality and clampdown on peaceful demonstrators. The campaign [...]

A number of civil society organisations working in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region kicked off MENA Coalition to Combat Digital Surveillance. The coalition is co-led by the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and Access Now among other nine organisations. It aims at advocating against the sales of digital surveillance tools to [...]

During a high-level dialogue at the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) global conference for World Press Freedom Day, the UNESCO released a brief under the title of Letting the Sun Shine In: Transparency and Accountability in the Digital Age. The brief, which includes a selection of high-level principles to enhance the transparency of [...]

Following the leak of the European Commission’s draft legislation on artificial intelligence (AI), two groups of European Parliament members (MEPs) have sent letters to the Commission calling for a ban on biometric mass surveillance. The first letter, sent on 15 April and signed by 40 MEPs, urges the Commission to propose a clear ban on [...]

The World Economic Forum issued a white paper on Co-designing Digital Interventions and Technology Projects with Civil Society which examines the concept of co-design in partnership with civil society with a special focus on COVID-19 technology interventions. The paper looks at the role of civil society in developing such technologies in collaboration with the private [...]

President of the Republic of Slovenia Borut Pahor and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Audrey Azoulay launched the International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI) with the presence of policy makers, researchers, representatives of the private sector, civil society organizations. The IRCAI and its partners outlined the agenda for AI-related research, [...]

The Council of Europe’s Ad hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAHAI) has launched a multistakeholder consultation to gather views that will feed into the work of its Legal Frameworks Group. The group is in charge of preparing the main elements of a legal framework on the design, development, and application of artificial intelligence (AI), based [...]

The UN Child Rights Committee made up of 18 individual experts, has published a legal guidance note also known as the general comment on how states should protect children’s rights with regard to the digital environment. This general comment 25 is a result of two year consultation with states, inter-governmental organizations, civil society, national human [...]