OHCHR and privacy in the digital age

About digital privacy and human rights

Digital technologies do not exist in a vacuum. They can be a powerful tool for advancing human progress and contribute greatly to the promotion and protection of human rights.

However, data-intensive technologies, such as artificial intelligence applications, contribute to creating a digital environment in which both States and business enterprises are increasingly able to track, analyze, predict and even manipulate people’s behavior to an unprecedented degree. These technological developments carry very significant risks for human dignity, autonomy and privacy and the exercise of human rights in general, if applied without effective safeguards.

OHCHR’s work on privacy in the digital age

OHCHR has organized expert consultations and published reports to explore the challenges that the right to privacy and other human rights face in the digital age, as requested by relevant resolutions by the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.