IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2023 - 59

technologies become operational [44]. This point
relates to the adverse implication of fully automated
decision-making processes. One such area is the
content moderation practices of digital platforms
where human oversight is the exception. While one
can discern from this principle that private actors-
namely digital intermediaries-are primarily responsible
to put in place such ex post safeguards, the
role of States in the process is not straightforward.
Would States, for example, be required or expected
to legislate mandating human oversight mechanisms
vis-à-vis fully automated online decision-making processes?
This appears to be left for future international
legislation. Related to this is that the resolutions stress
the need to introduce a legislative framework that is
protective of human rights at the national, regional,
and international levels [44, preamble, para 16].
This caveat appears to be a pushback against the
adoption of or proposal for authoritarian regulatory
practices and legislation. With the increasing use of
new and emerging technologies such as facial recognition
in law enforcement and border control, a
number of countries are introducing legislation to
provide some legal basis for such measures.
The ongoing discussion at the Council departs
from its post-Tehran predecessors in at least two
ways. One is that Cold War-induced divergence on
the type of rights that should be given primacy is
largely absent. Because of Cold War ideological
lines, consideration of human rights impact varied
between western and nonwestern countries [45].
Western countries sought to highlight the impact
of new technologies on civil and political rights,
while nonwestern States focused on socioeconomic
and cultural rights [46]. Perhaps, reflective
of the relatively narrowed ideological divergences
since the ongoing discourse at the HR Council
appears to focus mainly on civil and political
rights, but with no explicit disregard for other generations
of rights [47]. The voting pattern on the
latest resolutions also lends weight to this point.
While three members of the Council (China, Eritrea,
and Venezuela) abstained, Resolution 47/23,
for instance, was not voted against by any member
of the HR Council.
Another point of departure relates to the focus
given to the nature of the impact on new and emerging
technologies. During the post-Tehran process,
countries in what was traditionally called the " South/
East camp " which mostly included developing
March 2023
countries insisted on the need to emphasize the
socioeconomic benefits of scientific and technological
discoveries [48]. Whereas those in the North/
West bloc-mainly industrial nations-argued for
priority to be given to the negative impact that these
technologies may bear on human rights [48]. In contrast,
the ongoing HRC Council discourse focuses on
opportunities as well as challenges and impacts. In
that regard, it recognizes the double-edged nature
of technologies both in enabling and undermining
the enjoyment of human rights. That reveals a sense
of progress in understanding and responding to the
advent of new and emerging technologies from a
human rights perspective.
As the foregoing overview illustrates, the ongoing
discourse engages with some of the principles
widely considered to be building blocks of legislation
on the governance of new and emerging
technologies. Not only because the discourse is
still ongoing, but also because of the structural constraints
of the resolution, it is unlikely that further
substantive norms and principles will find articulation
in future HR Council resolutions. Or at least,
in the near future. With this state of affairs, the
question of what future lies ahead for the discourse
remains. More particularly, it is vital to consider
how this much needed and timely international
discourse may be saved from the fate of being overtaken
by another round of hype-induced discourse
at the UN. That is considered in what follows.
Shortcomings of the discourse
Predicting the prospect of a process that is still
ongoing and hence in a constant state of flux is
inherently challenging. But one may point to at
least two factors that fundamentally undercut the
potential of the discourse on digital human rights at
the UN. One relates to the lack of clarity of purpose
reflected mainly in the fragmented way in which
it has proceeded in the past five years. Similar to
related preceding UN processes highlighted above,
the digital human rights discourse appears to pursue
a disjointed path with no explicit endgame. Whether
resolutions are meant to trigger global discussions or
to ultimately lead to an international hard law such
as a treaty is entirely unclear. In the face of no clear
ultimate goal, this process is likely to reach a dead
end at some juncture or be overtaken by the next
hype. The UN often broaches such discussion out
of the need to project relevance regarding topical
59

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2023

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