On 4 November 2024, HURIDOCS joined the Geneva Human Rights Platform (GHRP) and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to host the Third Expert Roundtable on Digital Human Rights Tracking Tools and Databases (DHRTTDs).
The theme of this year’s roundtable was on interoperability through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The discussions continued the following day at the 2024 Annual Conference of the Geneva Human Rights Platform where HURIDOCS participated and co-sponsored Workshop 4. This workshop followed the discussions from the roundtable, and focused on ‘Human rights and sustainable development: Advancing monitoring and collaboration through digital tools’.
Established in 2022, the expert roundtable brings together an international group of human rights stakeholders to examine various digital tools and databases that are used for human rights documentation, monitoring and implementation. The first roundtable looked at emerging tools in this space and paved the way for the establishment of a tool-focused research project that fosters exchange among tool developers and administrators. The second roundtable focused on the transformative aspects of digital tools and how they impact the human rights landscape in terms of accessibility, sustainability, and interoperability. These two roundtables culminated in a research publication The Human Rights Data Revolution that explores the evolving landscape and innovation offered by these digital human rights.
Interoperability through AI and ML
Over the last decade, there have been great strides to use information technologies to increase coordination and develop compatible systems in the pursuit of human rights progress, but fragmentation and siloing of information remain a challenge. By leveraging new and emerging tools that use AI and ML to perform certain tasks, stakeholders can bolster these advances and create a representative and interconnected human rights information system.
This year, the theme of the roundtable focused on the opportunities and challenges in achieving interoperability through the use of AI and ML. Interoperability refers to the ability of different systems, platforms, tools and databases to work together and exchange information in a unified approach. The aim of interoperability between human rights data hubs is to increase efficiency, ensure accuracy and promote collaboration among stakeholders to make human rights information accessible and usable for the human rights community and the general public.
Among those participating in the roundtable were tool developers, platform administrators, researchers, academics, government representatives, and stakeholders from various bodies who document human rights information related to monitoring progress, reporting on obligations and tracking of the implementation of recommendations.
The roundtable kicked off with opening remarks from Felix Kirchmeier (Executive Director of the Geneva Human Rights Platform), Ana Edelmira Rolon Candia (Deputy Permanent Representative and Chargée d’affaires (a.i), Permanent Mission of Paraguay to the United Nations Office in Geneva), Andrea Ori (Chief, Human Rights Treaties Branch (a.i.), OHCHR) and Yolanda Booyzen (Director of Development and Communications, HURIDOCS).
The crucial role of civil society
In her opening remarks, Yolanda reminded participants that the theme of interoperability has been on the HURIDOCS agenda for a long time, even before the organisation was officially established. As early as 1981, HURIDOCS founding President Martin Ennals highlighted that many organisations have developed techniques for information-gathering, but what they collect is not shared with those who could make the best use of it, or they are duplicating efforts. He wrote that “unless this problem is tackled in a co-ordinated and authoritative manner through the UN and related international agencies, there is a serious risk that new collections will be started with systems that are quite incompatible. This would be a serious setback to work in this field.” Since then, there have been tremendous efforts to create more universal and standardised methods. The Events Standard Formats is a case in point where there was a deliberate approach to support networks of human rights actors to enhance communications through a universal language and thesauri.
Yolanda further underscored the crucial role of civil society in efforts to document and monitor human rights information and reiterated that human rights defenders should be better equipped to work smarter with advanced tools to strengthen the human rights ecosystem. She said that this roundtable is the ideal opportunity to develop a roadmap for using AI and ML responsibly to facilitate data exchange, reduce fragmentation, avoid duplication, and promote collaboration in the human rights space. As participants reflected on the potential opportunities of AI and ML and how it can enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of human rights monitoring, one key message remained at the heart of the discussions: the human should be kept in the loop at all times while our tools should be modelled on a human rights-based approach.
“The human rights community must be mindful of both the promises and perils of AI. By keeping the human in the loop, and through building ethical human rights-centred tools, we can increase the efficiency and therefore the impact of the human rights ecosystem.”
— Yolanda Booyzen, HURIDOCS
In addition, Bono Olgado (Senior Documentalist, HURIDOCS) presented on the challenges and risks of AI and ML and said that we should look at these technologies as an ethical question of infrastructure and expertise. These tools should be developed in collaboration with, and in service of, those who defend human rights and the people they fight for and along with. Our sector must not only leverage AI and ML and along the way manage risks, we also have to drive their evolution in human rights-centred ways.
“Simply put, what if we envision not only how to use ‘AI for Good’ but to pursue ‘AI as public good’?”
— Bono Olgado, HURIDOCS
The way forward
After a full day of interactive presentations and discussions, the roundtable ended with a session that was chaired by Domenico Zipoli (Project Coordinator, Geneva Human Rights Platform) on collaborative approaches and knowledge sharing.
During this session, participants considered how relevant stakeholders can work together to promote knowledge-sharing and uncover innovative approaches to building a unified and comprehensive monitoring system. Suggested approaches included expanding the DHRTTDs directory to include more tool developers and tool administrators, identifying potential avenues for cooperation and interoperability among different digital human rights projects, creating a dedicated dialogue space or mechanism, establishing a knowledge exchange partnership with academia, collecting ideas on user needs and feature developments, and the compilation of a compendium of AI and ML functionalities that could enhance human rights and sustainable development monitoring. One key action point is to continue the discussions, potentially under the auspices of the AI for Good Summit, which will be held in June 2025, in Geneva.
“The potential of AI to automate and analyse vast amounts of data can be transformative for human rights monitoring. But we must ensure it serves as an ethical and trustworthy partner in this work, not a source of bias or opacity.”
— Domenico Zipoli, Geneva Human Rights Platform
HURIDOCS extends its appreciation to the Geneva Human Rights Platform and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for its support and continued collaboration, and is eager to contribute and build on this timely initiative.
Photos by Tim Young / Geneva Human Rights Platform