Internet and the UN Human Rights Council: The good, the bad and the road ahead

Printer-friendly versionSend by email

Governments in the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) have taken up internet issues much faster than anticipated and it is safe to predict that this will increase. But governments’ discussions about the internet and human rights must become more multi-stakeholder. Until this happens, civil society must continue to look for opportunities within the HRC to find strategic entry points for advocacy and support each other to do so, writes Joy Liddicoat for APC's Internet Rights are Human Rights (IRHR) section.

UN Flag (Photo Scazon)Concrete action and follow up on the HRC Panel is needed before the next annual resolution on freedom of expression and the internet. The most useful next step would be to have a thematic discussion focussing on a rights based approach to internet access including access to infrastructure, access to diverse content and for diverse marginalised groups.

We’ve come a long way since May 2011 when Frank La Rue’s report drew the attention of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) to freedom of expression and the internet for the first time. Activists working on internet rights and freedoms every day find it hard to believe that the HRC is only just beginning to wake up about the internet. Poised between the recent HRC21 meeting and the Internet Governance Forum in November 2012, now’s a good time to stop and take a look at what’s happening: the good, the bad, what civil society and governments are doing and consider some implications.

Read the whole article at the APC website.