IGF 2024 Open Forum #52 A Rights-Respecting Approach to Emerging Tech Development

In past years, we have witnessed a significant increase of conversations around emerging technologies, especially generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools and systems, in the public sphere, peaking in 2023 following the release of ChatGPT. Since then, there have been extensive deliberations on the way these technologies affect human rights, and what implications new developments may have in the future.

Emerging technologies have the potential to significantly impact the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms as defined by the foundational documents for international human rights law: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and pose both opportunities for development and economic and social benefit, as well as risks for further enabling and scaling human rights violations and abuses. Both governments and the private sector have a role to play in ensuring that the benefits of emerging technologies are harnessed, and the risks brought about by the design, development, deployment and the use of these technologies avoided, addressed, mitigated, and remedied.

Under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, businesses have a responsibility to respect all internationally recognized human rights, avoiding infringing on the human rights of others and addressing adverse human rights impacts stemming from or linked to their business activities. This also extends to companies’ participation in technical standard development. At the same time, states have obligations to respect, protect and fulfil human rights, which applies to their involvement in standard-setting. As per the OHCHR’s report on Human rights and technical standard-setting processes for new and emerging digital technologies, technical standards reflect the interests, values and concerns of those participating in their elaboration, with crucial ramifications for human rights. Technical standards regulating digital technologies can generate human rights impacts in several ways, and there has been a growing body of work and research on this topic, including by OHCHR and human rights defenders. However, more specific work is needed to understand the impact of technical standards on human rights in the context of AI systems, particularly with respect to embedded biases that lead to or facilitate discriminatory outcomes, or interfere with the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, privacy, access information, and effective remedy.

This session will explore the role of the private sector in ensuring a rights-respecting approach in developing emerging technologies, including generative AI tools and systems, as well as the role of governments in ensuring that the development and implementation of technical standards around these technologies are conducted in alignment with states’ obligation to respect, protect and fulfil human rights, and avoid fragmentation of international standards. The session will provide a platform for participants to learn about and discuss human rights issues that arise in technical standards-setting for artificial intelligence, consider strategies for integrating human rights concerns and safeguards into technical standards, and learn about existing tools, frameworks and guidelines to facilitate the development of rights-respecting emerging technologies. Speakers and participants, which will include various stakeholders, including private sector, government, civil society, the technical community, and standard-setting body representatives, will also be able to explore avenues for strategic cooperation on the development of technical standards for emerging technologies that is rooted in a multistakeholder approach, and outline existing frameworks and laws that can serve as guidelines.

The outcome of the session will be a raised capacity of the participants on what responsibility each stakeholder group has to ensure the development of a rights-respecting emerging technology and how to utilise the UNGPs and the OHCHR technical standards report practically, as well as what impacts these technologies could have on human rights if they are not developed through a multistakeholder and human-rights approach and if international technical standards are fragmented. The outcomes of the session will be captured in a report, with concrete recommendations.

Policy Questions:

What are the most pressing risks posed by emerging technologies, such as generative AI tools, that are currently being deployed and used all over the world? In which areas can technical standards enhance or undermine human rights protection in the context of emerging technologies?
What is the role of the private sector in ensuring emerging technologies, such as generative AI tools, are rights-respecting? How does this extend to technical standard setting?
What is the role of governments in developing and implementing technical standards around emerging technologies?
What are the trends / direction of discussions in addressing human rights implications of technical standards for emerging technologies, including AI?
How can we ensure the process of setting technical standards around emerging technologies is rooted in a multistakeholder approach, allowing civil society and human rights experts input? What have been the challenges to date in ensuring multistakeholder engagement in technical standard setting processes?
What role can the FOC and its member governments play to uphold human rights in technical standards (e.g., to help facilitate stakeholder participation, provide assistance and support to civil society to develop capacity to meaningfully and independently participate in standard-setting processes, to create dedicated working groups/task forces in standard setting bodies, coordinate support to stakeholder work in standard setting bodies through FOC, etc.)?


1) On-site support staff and online moderators will ensure that there is a seamless level of interaction between panelists present at the venue and those participating through a virtual meeting platform. Attendees both in-person and online will also be invited to ask questions through the available platforms. Ample time will be carved out for engagement from audience members.

2) We will aim to set rules of engagement for all attendees (inform them about the different ways they can interact during the event with the speakers and fellow participants, both online and offline, let online attendees know how they should use the chat feature, help them understand when to stay muted/unmuted, advise all participants on how and when they should ask questions, tell them who to contact in case any technical or practical issues arise). We would also assign designated online and on-site moderators, and prepare compelling content and structure of the agenda while being wary of meeting length.

3) We have not had any complementary tools or platforms planned at this time (subject to change).