Briefer w/ key recommendation on the uses of digital tech by law enforcement inccontext of protests

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

5 FOR USE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

BY LAW ENFORCEMENT

Photo: BodyWorn Police Body Camera by Utility Inc @Flickr

ENSURE HUMAN RIGHTS COMPLIANT USE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONTEXT OF PROTEST 1

To this effect, law enforcement should:

Ensure the use of digital technologies is strictly limited to the express purpose of facilitating peaceful protest and associated rights;

Ensure the development, procurement and use of digital tech in the context of protest meets the strict requirement of legality, necessity, proportionality and non-discrimination;

Subject any use of digital technologies to a rigorous authorisation process and ensure authorisation is evidence-based and fully justified;

Ensure protests are not seen as opportunities for surveillance; Avoid blanket authorisation for use of digital tech in protest and justify the use of digital technology on a case-by-case basis;

Subject the use of digital technologies to impact assessment on the rights and freedoms before, during and after its use;

Safeguard the human rights compliant use of digital technologies at protests by subjecting them, and their use, to impact assessments on an ongoing basis throughout the entire lifecycle of a protest;

Definitively assess the human rights impact of the use of specific tech on individuals or groups in situations of vulnerability, which may in some cases include women, children, minoritised persons and those facing historic discrimination and marginalisation; Ensure meaningful and inclusive community consultation and engagement well in advance of any use of digital technologies by law enforcement, to ensure an intersectional analysis of the potential and actual impacts of the technology.

ESTABLISH A ROBUST AND CLEAR NORMATIVE

DOMESTIC LEGAL FRAMEWORK ENSURING HUMAN RIGHTS SAFEGUARDS

2

Such a framework must:

Govern the development, procurement and use of digital technologies by law enforcement in the context of protests and conform to international human rights law and standards;

Incorporate a human rights impact assessment ;

Address the full range of human rights implications, including with regards to civic freedoms, stigmatisation and chilling effects, and ensure it is not reduced to matters of data protection law;

Ensure due process rights are guaranteed;

Promote, protect and enable the rights and freedoms of those in position of vulnerability, such as children;

Be developed in meaningful and wide consultation with civil society and experts.

3 ESTABLISH EFFECTIVE OVERSIGHT MECHANISMS

These oversight mechanisms should:

Exist both within and external to law enforcement bodies, with alignment ensured between both;

Ensure external oversight is independent, impartial, and possess the authority to hold law enforcement and decision-makers accountable;

Maintain transparency and accountability throughout the entire lifecycle of technological deployment before, during and after a protest.

PROMOTE AND ENSURE TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY MEASURES

4

These measures should:

Ensure maintenance of a transparent and auditable record of decision-making regarding the use of digital technologies, including considerations of potential harm to FoAA rights and mitigation of human rights violations;

Ensure a clear and auditable tracking record of decisionmaking;

Ensure comprehensive training for law enforcement officials in decision-making and the human rights-based use of digital technologies to promote and protect human rights in the context of protest;

Ensure law enforcement understanding of capabilities, limitations and inherent or other forms of bias, and potential human rights and civic freedoms implications, including for children;

Provide law enforcement officials with robust and clear protocols on the use of digital technologies, including in protest settings;

Ensure accountability for human rights violations through the use of tech via a system that is robust, victim-oriented, and that guarentees due process rights.

5

These mechanisms should:

ESTABLISH MECHANISMS FOR EFFECTIVE REMEDY

Implement transparent mechanisms for individuals, including children, to access and challenge information held about them;

Use any retained data only for the purposes that justified its collection, with exception of data depicting use of force and human rights violations in context of protests;

Ensure the right to an effective remedy for any violations related to use of technology or data;

Adopt clear protocols for data deletion to avoid chilling effects and unjustified and excessive data retention.

A toolkit by the UN Special Rapporteur, Clément N. Voulent N. Voule.

Read the full illustrated digital technologies component for law enforcement

Read other components of the toolkit for law enforcement