Think As Historian: THINK AS A HISTORIAN: HUMAN RIGHTS IN A DIGITAL AGE

This topic has explored an era of human rights in the context of a shifting world after World War II and decolonization. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights assigns responsibility to each member nation to protect and promote the human rights of its people.

In November 2018, the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, addressed students at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, situating human rights in a new context, the digital landscape:

“. . . [W]e are seeing increasing reports of the use of bots and

disinformation campaigns on social media to influence the opinions

and choices of individual voters.

Maybe you think this doesn’t apply to us: we are too clever to be

affected by a bunch of bots. But I am not so sure. It appears the internet

is increasingly becoming an arena for sometimes very sophisticated

forces for propaganda—whether by movements of violent extremism,

or by private actors or even State authorities for political purposes.

In such a context, can there be any doubt that our freedom to think,

to believe, to express ideas, to make our own choices and live as we

wish, is under threat?

If our thoughts, our ideas and our relationships can be predicted by

digital tools, and even altered by the action of digital programmes,

then this poses some very challenging and fundamental questions

about our future.”

Situate human rights in the broader context of the digital landscape. Identify three challenges to promoting and protecting human rights in this context.