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 Global Digital Compact (GDC) is an open consultation led by the Tech Envoy of the United Nations Secretary General. The GDC seeks to outline shared principles for an open, free and secure digital future for all, and it is hoped that it can become a common agenda on several critical issues for the internet, including: enforcement of human rights online, introduction of accountability criteria for discrimination and misleading content, connectivity, how to avoid internet fragmentation, data protection and regulation of Artificial Intelligence.
The organizations that are part of AlSur are aware that the problems related to digital technologies have differentiated impacts on the societies of the global South. These problems and impacts must be considered in the formulation of any agenda or common guidelines, such as the GDC. In this sense, this document represents a key opportunity to promote perspectives that take into account the inequalities and challenges differentiated at the international level and promote actions that take into account the most vulnerable populations. If these views are not taken into account in decision-making related to digital and internet governance, technological advances could deepen inequalities instead of promoting change and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
AlSur's proposals include contributions on almost all of the agenda items proposed by the GDC. These were drafted after a series of collective meetings and joint actions based on the experience of the 11 AlSur members in the 8 countries where we work, and summarize in turn, six years of trajectory and joint reflection on the challenges, realities, lessons learned and proposals systematized in more than 20 collective publications available in English, Portuguese and Spanish.
At a time of accelerated growth of internet connectivity and increasingly intensive use of digital technologies, the enforcement and protection of human rights in digital environments is one of the greatest challenges for national, regional and global agendas. In our contribution, we focus on two issues in particular, freedom of expression and privacy, both of which are enablers for the exercise of other rights.
1a. Freedom of expression
In Latin America, freedom of expression online continues to be restricted in both direct and indirect ways. On the one hand, with rules and practices that impose censorship on legitimate content or with Internet interruptions, for example. On the other, with the spread of online violence, hatred and the use of surveillance technologies against journalists and human rights defenders. We emphasize online gender-based violence, which silences women's voices and discourages their participation in public debates.
Some recommendations are:
1b. Surveillance
Surveillance has a disproportionate impact on the exercise of human rights. Despite this, the acquisition and use of legal surveillance mechanisms by States and companies has increased in recent years, often without the necessary safeguards. This increase is also reflected in the use of these technologies in public policy to address a wide range of societal challenges, such as public safety, border control, surveillance of social protests, access to public services and, recently, as a way to combat pandemics.
Therefore, there is a pressing need to develop standards governing the acquisition, development and application of technologies with surveillance capabilities, with a focus on prevention, especially considering that the assessment of rights violations always takes place after they have occurred.
Some recommendations are:
Ensure that mechanisms and standards are in place to ensure that the surveillance technology industry complies with its duty to protect human rights.
2. Connecting all the people and schools
The challenge of connectivity in Latin America remains an undeniable reality. The link between poverty and inequality has its share in this problem, but there are other disparities that we must recognize: among them, that the digital divide also affects female populations and geographically or socially isolated groups to a greater extent. To address these challenges and ensure universal access to telecommunications services, States must combine different regulatory initiatives that guarantee the principles of availability, affordability and accessibility.
Some recommendations are:
Include specific measures to enable persons with disabilities (PWD) to take full advantage of the Internet.
3. Data protection
The regulatory and data protection frameworks applied by States have lagged behind the accelerated pace of adoption and development of digital technologies. Moreover, regulation constantly comes into tension with the implementation of surveillance technologies, which takes place in an unequal power relationship between data owners vis-à-vis states and companies. At the same time, the debate on international instruments to fight cybercrime is also currently a reason for setbacks in data protection, without a clear reflection on the problems that transborder data flows without proper safeguards may imply in the future.
Some recommendations are:
States should adopt legislative, administrative and other measures with high standards for the protection of personal data and human rights in general; in particular, in relation to cross-border criminal investigations.
4. Promoting regulation of Artificial Intelligence.
The characteristics of Artificial Intelligence (AI) such as its high complexity, autonomous behavior, the need for large amounts of data to operate and opacity can negatively affect several fundamental rights. In Latin America, there is an alarming trend of increasing use of AI systems without proper safeguards and in sensitive areas of public policy such as the provision of state services. Although our analysis shows that data privacy laws are often the main source of control to prevent abuses, in most countries they are not yet mature enough to apply to these new technologies and sometimes fall short in providing specific protections.
Some recommendations are: