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MCRB’s Work on ICT and Human Rights in Myanmar is Helping to Shape Global Practice
The research and findings from the pioneering Sector-Wide Impact Assessment (SWIA) on the Information and Communication Technology sector in Myanmar which MCRB conducted, together with its founding organisation the Institute of Human Rights and Business, is being used to help shape approaches at the global level to address the interaction between ICTs and human rights.
IHRB has made a submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, who recently announced the launch of a new long-term project that will explore the responsibilities of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector to protect and promote the freedom of opinion and expression.
His report will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2016. IHRB’s submission to this work focussed on mobile and Internet network shutdowns and blocking of applications/services, drawing on their Digital Dangers case study which focused on the issue in Pakistan, and the growing ICT sector in Myanmar and associated risks to freedom of expression.
The ICT SWIA also included recommendations to government for a “Rights Respecting Model for Communications Surveillance through Lawful Interception and Government Access to User Data”. This model sets out important principles for each step of developing and implementing a communications surveillance legal framework that protects and respects human rights. This issue is currently being hotly debated in a number of jurisdictions, and will shortly be the subject of a consultation in Myanmar on a draft legal framework.
IHRB has put this work into the wider global context and published it as an IHRB Occasional Paper. They have also used the work in their submission to the UK Parliament on the UK’s draft Investigatory Powers Bill, a new piece of legislation to govern the use and oversight of surveillance by law enforcement and the security and intelligence agencies.
Read also
- Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Sector and Digital Rights
- MCRB Submits Input to OHCHR on the Right to Privacy in the Digital Age
- MCRB Submits Input to OHCHR on the Practical Application of the UNGPs to the Tech Sector
- Update on Draft Cybersecurity Law and its Impacts on Digital Rights and the Digital Economy
- Myanmar’s Legal Framework For Cybersecurity Needs To Be Built To International Standards
