On 8 May 2023, Viraj Desai (IT for Change), representing the Global Digital Justice Forum, shared a few comments on human rights in the digital sphere, on behalf of IT for Change.

1. How can women and girls, children, and persons in vulnerable situations such as persons with disabilities or persons belonging to linguistic minorities be supported in exercising their human rights online?
2. How can accountability of digital platforms – public and private – be strengthened to promote human rights in the digital domain?
3. How can international organizations, Member States and other stakeholders work together to ensure human rights offline are protected online?

The input foregrounded that the digital paradigm not only reflects, but also amplifies intersectional exclusion and discrimination based on social locations, such as class, race, gender, and caste. Women and marginalized groups in particular face threats to their human rights in the digital public sphere due to the spread of hate speech through algorithms. To tackle this issue, the input underscored the need for new types of rights that encompass datafied existence, and listed out a few actions that can be taken at the multilateral level to realize an updated vision of human rights online.

To learn more about the intervention, read it in full.