Our reports cover a country’s human rights obligations, developments since the last review, and pressing examples with evidence to show how rights are being violated or put at risk. …
10 October 2018
The 26th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC26) will take place in Geneva from 10 to 27 June. A wide range of internet-related human rights issues will be discussed at this HRC26 session, including racism and the internet, online freedom of expression during elections processes, and technology-related violence against women. These discussions signal a continuing trend at the HRC of a focus on the internet and human rights.…
18 December 2015
Access, together with the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), Reporters Without Borders (RWB), the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and Privacy International have submitted a written statement to the UN Human Rights Council’s 24th session. The statement highlights the need to bring surveillance practices in line with international human rights norms, in a manner consistent with the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance, and makes specific recommendations to the HRC. …
18 December 2015
Access and the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) have prepared a short briefing on the internet related human rights items that will be addressed at Human Rights Council 24, as well as some background on the Council’s work on the internet and human rights.…
18 December 2015
The 27th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC27) will take place in Geneva from 8-26 September 2014. Internet rights and freedoms will feature prominently with the highlight being the Council’s consideration of the landmark report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the Right to Privacy in the Digital Age and related panel discussion on September 12th and a discussion on violence against children online. Learn more in this briefing note prepared by APC and Access. …
15 December 2015
Today countries around the world urged the small island state of Nauru to restore access to social media and support free expression. Delivered in a session at the United Nations Human Rights Council, the recommendations — presented by official delegations from the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Timor Leste, among others — represent a sharp rebuke after Nauru clamped down on free expression over the past year, including blocking Facebook. In a separate action, Access Now delivered a petition to the government of Nauru signed by more than 5,000 people calling on the government to restore full access to the internet.…
3 November 2015
The 28th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC28) is taking place right now through March 27 in Geneva. Access developed a policy brief with our partners at APC highlighting the key digital rights issues on the Council’s agenda, as well as relevant side events and countries under review in the Universal Periodic Review.…
17 March 2015
Access joined 62 other non-governmental organizations in calling for the UN Human Rights Council to appoint a new, independent expert on the right to privacy on Monday. The letter recommends a mandate of exploring the scope and content of the right to privacy and also that the expert should provide guidance to ensure that states, companies, and implement and enforce the right. …
2 March 2015
The UN Human Rights Council will review the human rights record of the government of Spain on Wednesday as part of its Universal Periodic Review. Access calls on UN member states to recommend that Spain halt the criminalization of encryption, and to protect the rights of all users in the country. …
20 January 2015
Access, in coordination with partners, has submitted a comment in advance of the Human Rights Council 2015 Universal Periodic Review of the United States of America, which calls for reform of current surveillance laws, including the establishment of remedial mechanisms.…
16 September 2014
This briefing note, prepared by APC and Access, highlights the key internet rights-related issues in the Human Rights Council’s agenda for the 27th session, as well as countries scrutinized in the Universal Periodic Review. …
4 September 2014
As the 26th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) nears its close, the Council today adopted a resolution on the “The promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet,” spearheaded by Sweden, Brazil, Tunisia, Nigeria, Turkey, Sweden, and the USA. As we noted in our HRC briefing note, this resolution follows up on the Council’s landmark resolution two years affirming that human rights apply online as they offline.…
26 June 2014
The 26th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) opened this week and there are a number of internet-related human rights issues on the agenda, including a new resolution on promotion, protection, and enjoyment of human rights on the internet.…
11 June 2014
Last Thursday, the U.N. Human Rights Committee released a report criticizing NSA surveillance, for among things, failing to protect rights of non-U.S. persons. The Committee’s report comes in the context of its overall review of civil and political rights in the U.S. in accordance with its treaty obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).…
1 April 2014
Amidst reports of declining human rights at home, Vietnam will appear before the U.N. Human Rights Council on Wednesday for a review of its human rights record. Access, as part of a coalition of freedom of expression organizations, is urging the international community to address Vietnam’s deteriorating human rights situation, in particular the increase in cyber attacks against civil society.…
4 February 2014
The 24th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) opened last Monday, and already in the first week, internet-related human rights issues were highlighted as areas of concern by governments, civil society, and the High Commissioner for Human Rights, alike. With the international community still reeling from the revelations of mass state surveillance sparked by Edward Snowden’s leaks in May, much, but not all, discussion of internet issues focused on how to protect human rights, in particular privacy, in the digital age.
…16 September 2013
A broad civil society coalition of more than 90 civil society organizations and individuals issued a joint statement at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) today calling for the protection of human rights in the digital age in the wake of the recently revealed PRISM and US National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance program. The statement, which was delivered at the 23rd session of the HRC, by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and Reporters without Borders, in particular highlighted the need to protect the rights of whistleblowers and to prevent the establishment of a global internet surveillance system.
…10 June 2013