Georgette Gagnon, Director, Field Operations and Technical Cooperation Division, OHCHR Pic: Salim Matramkot/ The Peninsula
Georgette Gagnon, Director Field Operations and Technical Cooperation Division at Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, has said that the social media conference will lead to positive action on ensuring human rights standards reflected in new technology and use of social media.
“On behalf of the UN Human Rights Office, we hope the conference will lead to positive action on ensuring human rights standards reflected in new technology and use of social media,” Gagnon said while talking to The Peninsula on the sidelines of the International Conference on ‘Social Media: Challenges and Ways to Promote Freedoms and Protect Activists’ which began yesterday.
The two-day conference is being organised by the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) in cooperation and coordination with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the European Parliament, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI).
Talking on the collaboration between NHRC and OHCHR, Georgette Gagnon said that cooperation between two entities was very constructive. “We view the cooperation as very constructive and we hope it will continue and what we have planned to do is to take recommendations from this conference and move forward for action.”
“We support national human rights institutions in their efforts to advance human rights and ensure that all laws in a country meet any state’s international legal obligations.”
On the role of NHRC, she said that NHRC’s role is to provide independent, impartial support to people to take their human rights concerns and also advance human rights agenda by ensuring that laws, policies and actions of the State meet human rights standards.
Earlier in her speech at the conference, Gagnon warned that restrictions on social media platforms and the arrest and torture of those expressing dissenting views online are destroying the trust that should exist between peoples and their governments.
Gagnon said that the Internet, which has become a means of obtaining information and undertaking many different activities such as mobilising support, organisation and protest, has raised other concerns about the abuse of digital platforms, including incitement to hatred and violence against individuals, organizations and societies.
She condemned many countries’ ban and heavy interference in the work of journalists and human rights defenders, stressing that freedom of expression, thought, assembly and association, as well as the right to privacy, are essential elements for strengthening democratic societies and achieving development, peace and security.
She expressed concern about the positions of some politicians who widely use social media to achieve political goals and impose significant restrictions on the content available on social media within the framework of their terms of reference.
“Human rights law requires that any interventions in the work of these platforms be well-designed to avoid irregularity and that they are accurate and clear to enable users to understand what is happening with the data they share, as well as enable them to object to any decisions that they consider to be unfair.”
She said that online access is vital for civic space all over the world, any breakdowns in communications services can have a devastating effect, including Internet blackout, which severely restricts the ability of societies to communicate, access and share information.
Gagnon condemned the tactic of disrupting telecommunications services by some countries in silencing political opposition, curbing peaceful protests, and preventing human rights defenders from documenting violations and influencing the vital contributions of civil society to public accountability.
