HRC@20 - Roundtable Interpretation and Guidance in the Digital Age

The 20th anniversary of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) offers an opportunity to reflect on its institutional achievements and consider how it can continue to provide authoritative guidance in rapidly changing contexts. Digitalisation and artificial intelligence are reshaping the ways in which rights are exercised, monitored, restricted and protected. They affect civic space, privacy, equality, freedom of expression and accountability, while also creating new possibilities for human rights monitoring, knowledge management and implementation tracking.

This roundtable addresses how the Council can continue to fulfil its interpretive and guiding role in a digital environment. It examines how the Council can help clarify the application of existing human rights law to digital systems, strengthen rights-based uses of data and AI and ensure that digital transformation supports rather than weakens the mandate of the Council.

Objectives

This event aims to:

• Reflect on the evolving role of the Council in providing interpretation and guidance on digital technologies and human rights.

• Examine how existing human rights norms apply to AI, data systems, online platforms and emerging technologies.

• Discuss how OHCHR and partners are developing digital tools, knowledge systems and recommendation-tracking approaches to support human rights monitoring and follow-up.

• Consider how AI-supported tools may assist human rights implementation, identifying the necessary safeguards to address risks such as bias, data protection and over-reliance on automated analysis.

Programme

Organised as a three-hour expert roundtable, the event combines short framing interventions with a moderated discussion, divided into two substantive segments:

• Segment 1: Interpreting human rights in the digital age: the Council's guidance role (09:20 – 10:30) This segment will examine how the Council, special procedures and other parts of the UN human rights system translate established human rights norms into guidance for digital contexts. It will consider where further guidance may be needed to ensure that digital governance, including platform regulation, remains anchored in existing human rights standards.

• Segment 2: Future-proofing the Council's ecosystem: data, digital tools, AI and implementation (10:45 – 11:55) Moving to institutional practice, this segment will explore how data systems, recommendation-tracking tools and knowledge platforms can support the Council. Discussions will focus on the growing integration of AI into this ecosystem and the safeguards needed to ensure that digital transformation strengthens rights protection.

Participants and speakers

The discussion will bring together representatives of states, the UN Secretariat, civil society, academia, digital rights organizations and technical experts working at the intersection of human rights, digital technologies, data systems and AI. Speaking organizations and institutions include the Permanent Mission of Estonia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, the Geneva Human Rights Hub, OHCHR, UPR Info, Article 19, CNAM, Diplo Foundation and HURIDOCS. The discussion will also include independent expertise on freedom of expression and digital technologies. It will be moderated by Stefania di Stefano (CNAM) and Domenico Zipoli (Geneva Human Rights Hub).

Organisers

Geneva Human Rights Hub (GHRH) in collaboration with the Research Chair on Online Content Moderation of the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (CNAM), Article 19, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), HURIDOCS, UPR Info, Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF), International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), DIPLO Foundation and the Permanent Missions of Estonia and Mexico.