Neurotechnology and Human Rights: Developments Overseas and the Challenge for Australia

Abstract

Recent neurotechnological advancements have attracted the attention of human rights scholars, national legislatures and organisations such as the United Nations Human Rights Council. Overseas debate is taking place about whether domestic and international frameworks require modification to address the emerging issues. However, in Australia there is little work focussing on such challenges. This paper outlines what neurotechnology is and draws attention to developments overseas before arguing that Australian scholars and human rights bodies should address neurotechnology. It concludes by identifying ways that this might be done.

Keywords: neurotechnology, brain-computer interface, human rights, sentencing, privacy, criminal law