AICHR hosts another regional consultation on freedom of opinion and expression in ASEAN

JAKARTA, 2 December 2023 – The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) hosted another regional consultation on freedom of opinion and expression in ASEAN on 1-2 December in Jakarta, through a hybrid format.

During the opening session, the Chair and Representative of Indonesia to AICHR, Wahyuningrum underscored that while digital technologies may provide new means to exercise human rights, they can also be used to limit, suppress and violate human rights. This would have a disproportionate impact on marginalised individuals and groups. She further called for the assurance of human rights protection at the centre of the digital technologies regulation approaches.

The consultation aimed to provide a platform for ASEAN Member States (AMS), sectoral bodies, and stakeholders to share practices, experiences, and challenges to address the spread of hate speech, fake news, misinformation, and disinformation. It also explored ways to strengthen the state obligation to respect, protect and fulfil freedom of opinion and expression in a digital environment.

The consultation also discussed relevant frameworks, governance, and the challenges of the online dimension of human rights. This includes gendered disinformation, hate speech, cyber vulnerability, artificial intelligence regulations, civil space and digital transformation, data protection, digital literacy, access inequality and the right to remedy.

Over 55 participants representing AICHR, AMS, relevant ASEAN sectoral bodies, the ASEAN Task Force on Anti-Fake News, the National Human Rights Institutions, the Civil Society Organisations, universities, internet intermediary platforms and content creators, attended the consultation.

Participants came up with the following recommendations in realising ASEAN as a region free from hate speech, fake news, and disinformation:

• AICHR to encourage ASEAN, Member States and corporate sectors to consider the views of children in formulating policies governing digital transformation and human rights in a digital world.
• AICHR to ensure that universal human rights principles and norms, such as inclusivity, accountability, transparency, safety, non-discrimination, and intersectionality are followed when it comes to artificial intelligence regulations,
• AICHR and ASEAN to protect and amplify the spaces where civil society and other stakeholders can be heard, particularly for vulnerable and marginalized groups, such as people with disabilities, the elderly, and those living in rural areas, among others, and to recognize their autonomy in deciding when and how to participate, for instance by providing interpreters, translators, and sign language.
• ASEAN to establish a Regional Task Force for Digital Rights and Cybersecurity to monitor digital rights violations, cybersecurity breaches, online harassment, including technology-facilitated gender-based violence, and to develop referral mechanisms for transboundary cases to prevent and address gender-based violence.

The consultation is part of the AICHR Five-Year Work Plan 2021-2025 and was organised by AICHR Indonesia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia.