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Reflecting on the past year in the field of human rights advocacy in digital environments is an exercise that begins with an analysis of the problems. 2023, like previous years marked by the pandemic and the War in Ukraine, reminded us that complex situations can escalate further. This year showed that, when it seems that challenges cannot increase, new scenarios always arise to complicate everything.
The human catastrophe that is occurring in the Gaza Strip and that has escalated since October 7, 2023, calls us as organizations of the AlSur consortium to make a collective position calling for a ceasefire and attention to the human rights that are currently being violated.
From October 8-12, the eighteenth Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was held in the city of Kyoto, Japan with an agenda centered around concerns for the deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, climate resilience and the deepening of the Global Digital Compact (GDC). AlSur organizations were present in 11 sessions and made progress in the development of their governance and Strategic Plan.
The organizations Derechos Digitales, Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales (R3D), Instituto Panamericano de Derecho y Tecnologías (IPANDETEC) and Hiperderecho, belonging to the AlSur consortium, and officially registered to participate as civil society in the sessions of the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive International Convention on Combating the Criminal Misuse of Information and Communication Technologies, prepared a specific contribution to the draft text (
Since 2022, the international organization UNESCO has been promoting the process of elaboration of guidelines for the regulation of platforms, a document that is in its third version and whose last open consultation ended on June 27.
The organizations of the AlSur consortium had a notorious presence at the 2023 edition of RightsCon in Costa Rica, one of the most important global conferences on human rights in digital environments.
The AlSur consortium, composed of 11 Latin American civil society and academic organizations that seek to strengthen human rights in the digital environment in the region, submitted its contribution to the Global Digital Compact (GDC) in April. The full document can be found here.
The "Internet for Trust" Conference, organized by UNESCO, addressed the regulation of platforms, an important topic for democracies, lives and agencies around the world. There is a need for more spaces for the exchange of ideas and experiences, especially from an intersectional and Global South perspective, for the formulation of Guidelines for the Regulation of Digital Platforms, considering that the topic involves enormous complexities. Furthermore, it is important that these Guidelines are the product of a careful process that reinforces the human rights to freedom of expression and access to information.
Cybercrime is currently a global concern. Therefore, several States are creating tools to combat it. International organizations, such as the UN and the World Economic Forum, have drawn attention to the issue. As it is a phenomenon without borders, there is an increased interest in having more coordination and cooperation mechanisms for the prevention and punishment of crimes committed through information and communication technologies.
At almost the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the consortium of 11 organizations from academia and civil society, AlSur, worked collectively to strengthen its Strategy for the coming years and articulate a perspective from the global South on the impacts of technologies on human rights.
The consortium of 11 organizations working in civil society and academia to strengthen human rights in the digital environment in Latin America, Al Sur, has been a member of Twitter's Trust & Safety Council for several years. That is why we express our concern about the news of its closure, an action that adds to other arbitrary measures taken by the new management of Twitter.
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