The UN declares that Internet restrictions violate human rights

In accordance with the new resolution adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council, public access to the Internet should not be in any way violated by the government or government agencies. So far, the availability of Internet access has not been officially declared a human right, but it has already been said that all those rights that a person has offline, that is, in real life, must be respected and respected online - in particular, it is about freedom of expression, which The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Countries that disagreed with the resolution

The resolution was adopted by a majority vote, and not by a general consensus, which means that there were those who disagreed with this situation. It is unlikely that anyone will be surprised that the authoritarian regimes of China, Saudi Arabia, that is, those countries where the attitude to human rights is rather shaky, opposed such a resolution. Unfortunately, South Africa, another country that has problems with trust in governance issues, also refused to support this resolution, like India, a democratic country in theory, but not always so in practice.

An attempt to change the resolution

It is reported that these states appealed to the UN Human Rights Council demanding the removal of part of the resolution, which says: "... unreservedly condemns the measures taken to deliberately violate or prohibit access to the universal dissemination of information online." This almost directly indicates that the governments of these countries are more than happy to have the opportunity to cut off access to the Internet for specific groups. Their attempts were loudly rejected by representatives of at least seventy countries.

Optional conditions

Unfortunately, this resolution is not mandatory, therefore, there can not be any legal action against governments that refuse to comply with it. But even if it were mandatory, it is currently difficult to imagine how the Human Rights Council would be going to punish those who do not, and there are a lot of them at the moment.

The Strongest Example

China, for example, is already widely known for prohibiting access to the Internet and its individual sites. The Great Firewall project in China is the clearest example of how things are exactly the opposite of what is said in the resolution. Turkey recently also became a new member of this "shameful" club.

Emphasis on Digital Literacy of Women

This movement not only promotes and protects access to the Internet - it also emphasizes that at the moment there is concern that in many countries there is a "digital divide" between men and women, boys and girls, and much more needs to be done to complete These emptiness. The resolution also emphasizes the importance of empowering all women and girls, improving their access to information and communication technologies, and the importance of promoting so-called digital literacy.

Fighting extremism

This part of the resolution will be particularly appreciated by Malala Yusufzai, a young Pakistani girl, a Nobel laureate and a woman education activist. She appealed to the UN in 2013, when she turned 16 years old. During her landmark speech, she said: "Extremists are afraid of books and pens. The power of education frightens them. The power of a woman's voice frightens them. " The new resolution indirectly recognizes this - and this is definitely for the better. Access to the Internet is something that can make people more equal, human rights must be respected absolutely at all levels.