TWN Info Service on UN Sustainable Development (Oct26/05)
16 October 2026
Third World Network

UN: States & tech firms must uphold human rights in AI design and use
Published in SUNS #10535 dated 16 October 2026

Penang, 15 Oct (Kanaga Raja) -- The design, development, deployment and use of artificial intelligence (AI) must be consistent with international law, including the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, international human rights law and international humanitarian law, according to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

In a resolution (A/HRC/63/L.25), adopted without a vote, at its recently-concluded 63rd regular session last week, the Council reaffirmed that States must protect against human rights abuses, while business enterprises, including technology companies, have the responsibility to respect human rights.

The resolution on the implications of AI for the promotion and protection of human rights was among the 34 resolutions, two decisions and one president's statement that was adopted during the 63rd session of the Council.

In its resolution, the Council recognized that artificial intelligence, when adequate human rights safeguards are in place, has significant potential to contribute to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development, inter alia, by facilitating access to information, education, healthcare and public services, enhancing accessibility and inclusion, advancing scientific research and innovation and supporting efforts to address societal and global challenges.

However, the Council also recognized with concern that artificial intelligence systems may undermine the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including through reproducing and exacerbating patterns of discrimination, structural inequalities, marginalization, stereotypes, biases and exclusion, infringements of the right to privacy, arbitrary and unlawful surveillance, undermining information integrity and access to information, intensifying threats arising from information manipulation, as well as large-scale persuasion, distorting public debate, eroding trust, affecting free formation of opinion and participation in public affairs and electoral processes, amplifying different forms of violence and harm and through the loss of human control over highly autonomous systems.

It stressed that the use of artificial intelligence systems can, without proper technical, regulatory, legal and ethical safeguards, affect the enjoyment of human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights, and pose the risk of reinforcing discrimination, including structural inequalities.

The Council recognized that discriminatory outcomes must be prevented throughout the life cycle of artificial intelligence, particularly in the administration of justice, migration governance, the health sector, education, social protection, workplaces and labour markets through the displacement and disruption of jobs, including in developing countries, and emphasized the importance of ensuring that artificial intelligence-enabled economic transformation contributes to decent work and respects applicable human rights and labour standards.

It also recognized that the development, deployment and use of artificial intelligence systems can have adverse impacts on the enjoyment of a clean, healthy and sustainable environment throughout their life cycle, including in relation to energy and water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, the extraction of critical minerals, land use and electronic waste.

It noted with concern that such impacts may be experienced disproportionately by communities and countries already facing resource scarcity, environmental degradation and heightened vulnerability to climate change.

The Council acknowledged that the adoption of artificial intelligence technology has accelerated broadly, and unevenly, within and among countries and across sectors, that access to technologies, as well as risks, are unevenly distributed within and among populations and countries, while artificial intelligence development and the wealth it creates are highly concentrated, which could undermine accountability for possible human rights violations and abuses facilitated by such systems.

It expressed concern that developing countries, including least developed countries and small island developing States, face particular challenges arising from limited access to digital infrastructure and that digital and artificial intelligence divides and development gaps within and among countries may exacerbate economic, technological, social, developmental and environmental inequalities.

It also recognized the need to ensure that disparities, within and among countries, in access to connectivity, computing resources, data, skills, financing and artificial intelligence capabilities do not prevent individuals, communities and countries from participating meaningfully in and benefiting from the digital transformation.

It emphasized the importance of developing capacities and promoting affordable access to artificial intelligence technologies, including open-source models, and in this regard highlighted the potential of artificial intelligence in delivering services at scale and increasing social and economic opportunities for all through resilient, safe, inclusive and interoperable digital public infrastructure.

It recognized that the implications of artificial intelligence may be experienced differently by women and girls, children, youth, older persons, persons with disabilities, persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers, persons living in poverty and in vulnerable or marginalized situations, as well as people living under foreign occupation.

The Council expressed concern that the potential risks posed by artificial intelligence systems may entail different forms of violence and harm against children, including sexual exploitation, synthetic child abuse material, harmful content, cyberbullying and harassment.

In this regard, it emphasized the need to respect, promote and protect the rights of the child and to ensure that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration throughout the life cycle of artificial intelligence.

It also expressed concern that artificial intelligence systems, including those relying on automated profiling, biometric technologies, predictive analytics and algorithmic decision-making, may reproduce, reinforce or amplify existing patterns of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and other related intolerance, including intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief, as well as advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, particularly where they are developed or deployed on the basis of biased, incomplete or un-representative data or without adequate human rights safeguards.

It emphasized the importance of preventing discriminatory outcomes, ensuring appropriate transparency and accountability, and promoting representative data sets and inclusive design throughout the life cycle of artificial intelligence systems.

The Council recognized that linguistic and cultural diversity constitute an essential dimension of inclusive and human-centred artificial intelligence, and noted with concern that the under-representation of low-resource languages, local knowledge systems and diverse cultural contexts in data sets and artificial intelligence models may reinforce existing inequalities, exclusion and bias.

It also recognized that the collection, processing and use of data, often relating to personal data, including biometric data and data on an individual's behaviour, social relationships, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, in the development and operation of artificial intelligence systems, including for the development of large-scale generative artificial intelligence systems, without adequate human rights safeguards, can pose serious risks to the enjoyment of data protection, access to information, the right to privacy, equality and non-discrimination and other human rights.

It emphasized that human dignity and human agency should remain central to the design, development, deployment, use and governance of artificial intelligence.

It stressed the importance of protecting the right to privacy and promoting equality and non-discrimination, transparency and explainability, accountability, accessibility, appropriate safeguards, meaningful human oversight and access to effective remedies in addressing its human rights implications, in accordance with States' obligations under international human rights law.

The Council recognized the importance of human rights due diligence and appropriate impact assessments to assist States and business enterprises, including technology companies, in accordance with their respective roles and responsibilities, in identifying, preventing, mitigating and addressing actual and potential adverse human rights impacts associated with artificial intelligence systems.

Against this backdrop, the Council recognized the potential of artificial intelligence to contribute significantly to the promotion and protection of human rights and sustainable development, while acknowledging that its development and use can also present risks and challenges to the enjoyment of human rights.

It affirmed that the design, development, deployment and use of artificial intelligence must be consistent with international law, including the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, international human rights law and international humanitarian law, as applicable.

In this regard, it reaffirmed that States must protect against human rights abuses, while business enterprises, including technology companies, have the responsibility to respect human rights.

The Council underscored that artificial intelligence governance should be in accordance with international human rights law, as well as international humanitarian law, as applicable, and guided by the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, including international cooperation, legality, sovereign equality and non-discrimination.

It called upon States to consider the implications of artificial intelligence for the enjoyment of all human rights when developing and implementing relevant legislative, regulatory, administrative and policy frameworks, and to take appropriate measures to prevent, mitigate and address actual or potential discrimination and other adverse human rights impacts that may arise throughout the life cycle of artificial intelligence systems.

It also called upon States to take into account different national contexts, capacities and levels of development when discussing artificial intelligence governance and to expand the participation of all countries, in particular developing countries, in order to harness the benefits and effectively participate in the design, development, deployment and use of safe, secure, trustworthy and human-centred artificial intelligence systems that contribute to the full enjoyment of human rights and sustainable development.

The Council encouraged States to ensure access to information throughout the life cycle of artificial intelligence, particularly concerning artificial intelligence in public functions, and recognized that effective partnerships and cooperation between Governments and other stakeholders is necessary in developing governance approaches and frameworks.

It also encouraged States to adopt and promote approaches to artificial intelligence that respect human dignity and human agency and to uphold the principles of equality and non-discrimination, privacy, accessibility, transparency and explainability, accountability, sustainability, safety, human oversight and access to effective remedies in accordance with their obligations under international human rights law and, where applicable, under international humanitarian law.

It recognized the necessity to prevent harm to individuals caused by artificial intelligence systems and to refrain from or cease the use of artificial intelligence applications that are impossible to operate in compliance with international human rights law or that pose undue risks to the enjoyment of human rights, especially of those in vulnerable situations, including by systems whose capabilities could reasonably be expected to cause the loss of human control.

The Council encouraged States, as appropriate and commensurate with the nature, context and level of risk, to carry out human rights due diligence and appropriate impact assessments in relation to artificial intelligence systems that may affect the enjoyment of human rights.

It called upon States, where artificial intelligence plays a material role in decisions having implications for the enjoyment of human rights, and as appropriate to the nature and level of risk, to put in place mechanisms that ensure meaningful human oversight and accountability and allow affected persons to receive information concerning such decisions, obtain human review and have access to effective remedies.

The Council also called upon States to respect, protect and promote the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, including the right of freedom to seek, receive and impart information, and the right to privacy in the context of artificial intelligence and to ensure that measures aimed at addressing the harmful effects of artificial intelligence are consistent with international human rights law, including articles 19 and 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

It encouraged States to pay particular attention to possible differentiated or disproportionate impacts of artificial intelligence systems on women and girls, children, youth, older persons, persons with disabilities, persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers, persons living in poverty or in vulnerable or marginalized situations and people living under foreign occupation and to facilitate their meaningful participation in relevant policymaking processes.

It reminded business enterprises involved in the pre-design, design, development, provision, procurement, deployment, use and decommissioning of artificial intelligence systems to respect human rights in accordance with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, including through appropriate human rights due diligence, and to identify, prevent and mitigate actual and potential adverse human rights impacts associated with their artificial intelligence-related activities and to provide for or cooperate in remediation where they have caused or contributed to such impacts.

It called for strengthened international cooperation and capacity-building, particularly for developing countries and in accordance with their national needs and priorities, including through policy exchanges, knowledge- sharing activities and the transfer of technology on mutually agreed terms, technical assistance, lifelong learning, personnel training, skilling of workforce, international research cooperation, including cooperation to develop resources, data sets and tools for under-represented languages and knowledge systems, voluntary joint international research laboratories and artificial intelligence capacity-building centres, to enable them to harness the benefits of artificial intelligence while preventing and addressing its potential adverse implications for human rights, and to support developing countries' effective, equitable and meaningful participation and representation in international processes and forums on the governance of artificial intelligence systems and its implications for human rights.

The Council encouraged States, relevant United Nations entities and other stakeholders, as appropriate, to promote digital public goods, digital public infrastructure and open artificial intelligence models, data sets and tools, accompanied by adequate human rights safeguards, as a means of enabling countries with limited resources, to benefit from these technologies.

It encouraged the Office of the High Commissioner and relevant United Nations entities, within their respective mandates and upon the request of States, to support capacity-building and technical assistance, particularly for developing countries, aimed at strengthening their capacity to assess and address the human rights implications of artificial intelligence systems, including through the sharing of knowledge, experiences and good practices and by building on existing assessment methodologies and tools within the United Nations system.

The Council decided to convene, at its sixty-fifth session, a panel discussion on the theme "Placing human rights at the centre of artificial intelligence: artificial intelligence capacity-building and bridging the artificial intelligence divide", with the participation of States, the Office of the High Commissioner, relevant United Nations entities and mechanisms, national human rights institutions, civil society, academia, the technical community, business enterprises and other relevant stakeholders, ensuring, to the extent possible, balanced geographical and gender representation, including meaningful participation of representatives and experts from developing countries.

It also requested the Office of the High Commissioner to prepare a report on the theme of the panel discussion, informed by the outcome of the panel discussion and by meaningful consultations with States, relevant United Nations entities and mechanisms, national human rights institutions, civil society, academia, the technical community, business enterprises, including at the margins of the Second Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance, to be held in May 2027, and to submit the report to the Human Rights Council at its sixty-sixth session. +