HomeUnited StatesCombined Statement on Protecting Individual Rights Defenders Online

Combined Statement on Protecting Individual Rights Defenders Online

We will always give human rights defenders a platform to emphasize the online threats they encounter, including through public events, as we did  in the framework of the 49 th   Session from the Human Rights Council .   We recognise the key role that the UN Workplace of the High Commissioner regarding Human Rights (OHCHR) and UN Special Procedures possess in identifying innovative options for the online protection associated with human rights defenders.   We are committed to working carefully to elevate these issues within the EL system, including with the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders and the UN Tech Envoy.   We call on likeminded countries to join in the effort and to publicly amplify their support for human rights defenders.   The EU as well as the United States are committed to assure access and meaningful involvement of civil society within conversations around human legal rights in the multilateral fora.
All of us also emphasize the responsibility from the private sector, in particular technology companies and digital systems across the digital ecosystem, to respect human rights in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Legal rights.   We urge companies to prevent the misuse of their products and platforms, conduct due diligence, take effective action to deal with all forms of online violence and unlawful or irrelavent surveillance against human rights defenders, support victims and survivors in their search for treatment and accountability for violations and abuses, and provide the safe space for human rights defenders to carry out their particular work.   We motivate companies to establish a complaint mechanism for internal and external confirming of misuse.   We also support stronger responsibility for technology platforms and recognize the role of government to enhance online security, security and privacy.
The text of the subsequent statement is released with the Governments of the United States of The united states and the European Union in advance of the 3rd U. S. -EU Business and Technology Council Ministerial in Washington, D. C. on December 5, 2022.
End text.  
The United States and EU strongly condemn the misuse associated with technology by both condition and non-state actors to focus on human rights defenders.   We reaffirm that all human being rights and fundamental freedoms apply both online and off-line.   We recall, that according to the  UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders , adopted simply by consensus by UN member States, States “ shall take all essential measures to ensure the protection from the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, dangers, retaliation, de facto or even de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other irrelavent action as a consequence of his or her genuine exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration ”.   States should function to prevent attacks against human being rights defenders and provide perpetrators of attacks to justice.
The United States and EUROPEAN are also committed to fostering assistance through our missions around the globe. U. S. Embassies and EU Delegations play a good instrumental role in supervising developments and conducting combined outreach on issues surrounding human rights defenders’ safety.   The United States and the EU stand ready to engage with authorities partners to strengthen plus support their national attempts, including capacities and institutions, to prevent and address risks against human rights defenders.
The U. S. -EU partnership is a cornerstone in our shared strength, prosperity, and commitment to advancing freedom, democracy, and respect to get human rights around the world.   In the framework of the U. S. -EU Trade plus Technology Council, we deal with the misuse of technologies threatening security and human rights and have committed to improve our cooperation on safeguarding human rights defenders on-line; promoting the open, free of charge, global, interoperable, secure, plus reliable Internet as stated within the Declaration for the Future of the Internet; combatting online harassment and abuse; eliminating arbitrary plus unlawful surveillance; combatting government-imposed Internet shutdowns; and countering disinformation and foreign details manipulation and interference.
Start Text:
Women human being rights defenders are disproportionately impacted by threats and attacks, which are more often gendered and sexualized than threats against their male counterparts and increasingly take place online.   Many women human rights defenders face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and intimate and gender-based violence, including on the basis of other characteristics, which includes race, religion, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic position, or gender identity.   Acts of gender-based online harassment and abuse have a chilling effect, leading to self-censorship and disengagement of women through public life and discouraging the political and social ambitions of adolescent women.
The United States and EUROPEAN UNION will continue to support systems, including the  Electronic Defenders Partnership , the  Lifeline Embattled CSO Assistance Fund , and  ProtectDefenders. EU   that provide resources meant for at-risk HRDs and civil society organizations, including designed for preventing digital attacks as well as for supporting digital security needs.     In the platform of the Trade and Technology Council, we commit to growing cooperation and mutual learning between U. S. : and EU-funded emergency mechanisms and the broader community associated with practice, with the goal of expanding the beneficial effect of these resources for individual rights defenders worldwide.
Given these types of trends, and in line with the respective policies, the EU Action Plan pertaining to Human Rights and Democracy 2020-2024   and the  EU Suggestions on Human Rights Defenders   as well as the Guidelines for  U. S. Diplomatic Objective Support to Civil Society and Human Rights Defenders ,   we reaffirm our mutual commitment to protecting human rights defenders from risks and attacks and promoting freedoms of expression, organization, and peaceful assembly, each online and offline.
Digital technologies really are a vital resource for human legal rights defenders and civic stars around the world, including in the framework of documenting human legal rights violations and abuses, plus international humanitarian law infractions.   However , these systems can also be misused to target human being rights defenders and weaken civic space.   The usa and the European Union (EU) are deeply concerned by the rapid growth of online risks against human rights defenders and the ongoing contraction of civic space around the world.   Human rights defenders carry on and face threats and assaults, including arbitrary or unlawful online surveillance, censorship, harassment, smear campaigns, disinformation to include gendered disinformation, targeted Internet shutdowns, and doxing.   Online attacks often pave the way for physical individual rights violations and abuses, including beatings, killings, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary detention.
We will continue leveraging our joint expertise to spot and mitigate threats confronted by human rights defenders online.   The United States plus EU will work to develop effective policies to mitigate dangers to democracy and human rights online, and to promote appropriate oversight and safe guards for the use of surveillance technologies.   We will take a multistakeholder approach, including through working with companion governments, private sector, academia, civil society including human rights NGOs and human rights defenders, survivors associated with online harassment and mistreatment, multi-stakeholder organisations, and international organisations.   We invest in counter the proliferation associated with foreign commercial spyware and hacking tools by stars that misuse them to target human rights defenders yet others, and to promote accountability regarding companies that are complicit within enabling human rights violations.

Source

Stay Connected
255FansLike
473FollowersFollow
Must Read
Related News