Protection Desk
The guidance has been developed by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in consultation with UN entities and external stakeholders. The guidance is grounded in the Secretary-General’s Call to Action for Human Rights1 and Our Common Agenda,2 which call for the application of human rights frameworks to the digital space and basing all UN engagement in this area on human rights risk assessments. It was developed in response to the Roadmap for Digital Cooperation,3 in which the Secretary-General tasked the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights with developing guidance on HRDD and impact assessments for the use of digital technologies. Both the Call to Action and the Roadmap recognise that digital technologies provide new means to advocate for, defend and exercise human rights. The guidance aims to assist UN entities to achieve those positive impacts in their digital technology use, consistent with the UN’s purposes and principles.