29 November 2017, 18:30-20:00
Event
Social media platforms are under considerable pressure from states to be more proactive in both preventing and eliminating hate speech as well as ‘terrorist’ and ‘violent extremist’ content. As a result, many social media companies have stepped up efforts, jointly and individually, to spot such content in a more efficient manner, thereby becoming the de facto regulators of online content and the ‘gatekeepers’ of freedom of expression and interlinked rights in cyberspace.
Having corporate entities carry out such quasi-executive and quasi-adjudicative tasks, effectively outsourced to them by governments under the banner of self- or co-regulation, raises a series of difficult questions under human rights law.
The Geneva Academy is a partner of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded Human Rights, Big Data and Technology Project, based at the University of Essex’s Human Rights Centre. HRBDT maps and analyzes the challenges and opportunities presented by the use of technology and big data from a human rights perspective. Drawing on the wide range of expertise of its interdisciplinary researchers, the project considers whether fundamental human rights concepts and approaches need to be adapted to meet the rapidly evolving technological landscape. The work brings together practitioners in the fields of human rights, technology and Internet governance, the United Nations, technology industries and academics, to assess existing regulatory responses and the need for reforms in order to maximize effective human rights enjoyment and protection.
Geneva Academy
The GHRP’s annual training equipped 19 diplomats with key insights into the UN Human Rights Council’s mechanisms and multilateral processes.
adobe
Our latest research brief critically explores how, under the guise of national security, governments misuse laws and narratives to target minorities and suppress political opposition.
Wikimedia
In this Geneva Academy Talk Judge Lətif Hüseynov will discuss the challenges of inter-State cases under the ECHR, especially amid rising conflict-related applications.
UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré
This training course will explore the origin and evolution of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and its functioning in Geneva and will focus on the nature of implementation of the UPR recommendations at the national level.
Adobe
This training course, specifically designed for staff of city and regional governments, will explore the means and mechanisms through which local and regional governments can interact with and integrate the recommendations of international human rights bodies in their concrete work at the local level.
Olivier Chamard / Geneva Academy
The Treaty Body Members’ Platform connects experts in UN treaty bodies with each other as well as with Geneva-based practitioners, academics and diplomats to share expertise, exchange views on topical questions and develop synergies.
UNAMID
This project will develop guidance to inform security, human rights and environmental debates on the linkages between environmental rights and conflict, and how their better management can serve as a tool in conflict prevention, resilience and early warning.
Geneva Academy
Geneva Academy