Towards a Human Rights-Based Approach to New and Emerging Technologies: A Framework

Abstract

The HRBA@Tech model integrates three different perspectives, each of which brings unique insights to the questions posed above. First, it explores the principles that are most relevant in the development of new and emerging technologies (“the What” of the HRBA@Tech model). Drawing from both human rights standards as well as classical technological ethics literature, the paper articulates seven interlocking principles, organised into two pillars. The first (the ‘do no harm’ pillar) postulates that new and emerging technologies should be accountable, secure, non-discriminatory, and grounded in international human rights law. The second (the ‘make the world a better place’ pillar) additionally specifies that new and emerging technologies should also be based on proactive representation of, transparency towards, and the empowerment of those who would likely be impacted by new and emerging technologies.

Each of these principles is associated with a list of discrete processes, for example ‘consultation,’ ‘human rights by design,’ or ‘capacity building.’ The articulation and study of these discrete processes – of which we argue there are a total of 24 – is the true added value of this HRBA@Tech model, since it suggests actionable ways to make real the lofty principles of the HRBA@Tech model in an applied, real- world setting.

Second, the paper describes how these principles and corresponding processes apply to new and emerging technologies along the course of a classical technology lifecycle, starting from the initial days of innovation all the way to a technology’s eventual irrelevance. We call this ‘the How’ of the HRBA@Tech model. The report shows that certain processes tend to be far more relevant at certain stages of the technology’s lifecycle than others.

The third and final perspective is that of the stakeholders (‘the Who’ of the HRBA@Tech model). Here we ask what stakeholders are relevant, working in which coalitions, to drive the HRBA@Tech model. While these descriptions remain somewhat abstract, the discussion highlights how various stakeholders must learn to work not only in opposition to one another, but also join hands in collaborative problem solving to make headway on this issue.

The paper concludes by illustrating how the HRBA@Tech model would apply to artificial intelligence, highlighting how aspects of this approach are already being utilised by ethically-minded technologists, academics, government officials and corporate managers to nudge technologies in the direction of the promotion and protection of human rights.

The final Chapter of the paper distills those findings into a succinct list of recommendations.

Our intention in these pages is to bring together the various strands of technological ethics underneath the umbrella of a human rights- based approach, using accessible language to do so and highlighting specific processes that will be essential in any such efforts. We especially hope that this paper will contribute to efforts at the United Nations and elsewhere at the international level to use human rights mechanisms to systematically and progressively advance the issue of technology and human rights. Such a concerted effort is sorely needed, and we believe the diplomatic common ground exists to gradually develop implementable standards that can provide tangible guidance for all those who are involved in the process of designing and developing New and Emerging Technologies (NETs).

Keywords: Human rights based approach, new and emerging technologies, artificial intelligence, global governance