IT for Change responded to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’ (UN OHCHR’s) call for comments and textual suggestions on the Draft Convention on The Right to Development. Our submission focused on strengthening obligations on State Parties by specifically addressing the development challenges of the digital moment.
Read the full submission here.
The Draft Convention on The Right to Development comes at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the entrenched inequalities in the global politico-economic order. In its light, the draft seeks to preserve the sovereign prerogative of developing countries to chart their course for self-determined development by instituting a 'duty to cooperate' and other safeguards.
Our inputs to the draft covers the following topics:
1. Protecting and preserving the regulatory space of developing countries to self-determine their
digital development trajectories and safeguard their data sovereignty.
2. Emphasizing that the duty to cooperate necessitates structural changes through which everyone
can gain equitably from the advancements in digital technologies.
3. Enshrining commitments to decent work and gender justice as integral to the state obligation to
fulfill the right to development.
For more details, read the full text of our submission here.