Responding to Human Rights Abuses in the Digital Era: New Tools, Old Challenges

Abstract

The twenty-first century cyberspace offers unprecedented opportunities for prosperity and development, but also a series of new and evolving threats to international peace, security, and human rights. For some years now, there have been sustained efforts from civil society groups across the world to harness the Internet for human rights causes. However, by publicising human rights abuses in near-real time to mass audiences, the new uses of digital technologies may also challenge the legitimacy of the international legal order itself, especially if states are not able to action their legal obligations to prevent those crimes. This Article examines some examples of the interplay between people, digital tools, and open data, and the capacity to deploy innovative digital ways to assist human rights monitoring. It also considers both the opportunities and challenges involved in using digital tools to assist in the prevention of egregious human rights abuses, such as war crimes and genocide. The paper concludes by reflecting on the impact of digital technologies on public perceptions about international law.

Keywords: human rights, international criminal law, digital tools, technology and human rights