Statement at GDC Thematic Deep Dive on Human Rights Online

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Excellencies and colleagues,

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Today, we live in an entirely different world, compared to 75 years ago. One, where the line between the digital and real world is increasingly blurred. In fact, it no longer exists. What happens online has real life consequences, and vice versa.

Our lives are digital. How we work, organize societies, seek information, do business, connect, make payments, travel, archive and document.

And so is the struggle for human rights. Technology has changed the playing field for how human rights are exercised, promoted – and also how they are threatened.

Therefore, it is imperative to recommit to the human rights framework as a corner stone for an international rules-based order – and the starting point for all the efforts undertaken as part of our work to develop a Global Digital Compact.

To be trusted – technology must not simply be imposed upon people. It is crucial that we maintain a holistic, inclusive and human rights-based approach to the design, development and deployment of new and digital technologies – to the entire life cycle - in order to ensure that the technologies of tomorrow respect and reflect people’s rights, needs and desires.

Digital spaces can provide new avenues of voice, creativity and business. But not everyone has access to them. Some are restricted due to lack of connectivity – this is true for almost half of the world’s population. Others are restricted because of deliberate censorship or shutdown of the Internet.

As governments and regulators, we must fulfil our duty to protect human rights – and to regulate toward this end. The pace of technological progress is faster than ever before, but we must insist on moving ahead mindfully. While seeking meaningful guidance from civil society and constructive partnerships with the private sector.

To promote a safe and enabling online space, we must continue to advance fora for multistakeholder collaboration – which are essential to bridge knowledge gaps between civil society, the private sector, academia, activists, independent experts, multilateral institutions, and governments.

We must develop strong guard rails that address challenges of information manipulation, sexual and gender-based harassment, and surveillance. And put in place accountability mechanisms for companies to answer to their responsibilities.

The UN has a key role to play. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights have laid the groundwork for human rights due diligence, and we already see civil society and the private sector working closely on identifying and mitigating harms.

Denmark continues to offer its strong support for these efforts.

In 2021, Denmark launched the Tech for Democracy initiative. A recent report highlights the need to amplify human rights voices – local and global – and continue the critical engagement with tech companies – big and small.

It also identifies a need for continued knowledge production, systematization and dissemination – as a collective and cumulative endeavour between stakeholders that each possess their own unique forms of expertise – technical and non-technical.

On behalf of Denmark, I therefore thank the co-facilitators for inviting all relevant stakeholders to this deep dive – to help bridge the knowledge gap that enables us to jointly comprehend the challenges. So that we can mindfully, proactively, and jointly address them.

Thank you.