XI JEAIL 1 (2018) Human Rights based Approach to Science 163

STUDENT CONTRIBUTION

Human Rights-Based
Approach to Science,
Technology and Development:
A Legal Analysis
Ridoan Karim∗ & Md S. Newaz∗∗ & Rafsan M. Chowdhury∗∗∗

The nexus between science and human rights are intertwined in many ways. Though
the acknowledgment in international law have been available for decades, the right to
savor the fruits of scientific advancement and its applicability has gained just small
recognition of the human rights from the international community. A human rights-
based approach to science, technology, and development endeavors a concern for human
rights at the heart of the international community facing with critical global challenges.
Thus, the paper initially discusses the relevant international human rights instruments
including laws, regulations, declarations, conventions and provides a thorough
analysis. The doctrinal and qualitative study of the paper presents human rights
approaches in order to show insight on the ethical implications of new technologies
and investigate how policy can compete with briskly advancing science. The paper also
recommends the international community to promote regulatory processes that can
help in blocking the disputes by securing an equilibrium between human rights and
science.

Keywords
Human rights, Science, ICT, Technologies, Digitalization, International
law
∗ Corresponding Author. Doctoral Researcher in the Faculty of Law at University of Malaya, Malaysia. LL.B. (BRAC
Univ.), MCL (IIUM). ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0835-3137. This article is a fully revised and updated version
of the paper presented at the Science, Technology and Society Conference (STS 2017), held in University of Malaya
on Nov. 1, 2017. He may be contacted at: ridoankarim1@gmail.com / Address: Faculty of Law, University of Malaya,
Jalan University, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
∗∗ Postgraduate Student at the Faculty of Business and Accountancy. He may be contacted at: saminewaz@gmail.com /
Address: Faculty of Business and Accountancy, Jalan University, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia.
∗∗ Undergraduate Student at the School of Business Administration, East Delta University, Chittagong, Bangladesh.
LL.B. (Int’l Program of Univ. of London). He can be contacted at: rafsan.chy1994@gmail.com
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14330/jeail.2018.11.1.08
164 R. Karim et al.

I. Introduction

Science and human rights are inextricably linked in many ways. Although it is
acknowledged for decades in international law, the right to rip off gains from
scientific advancement and its utilization has gained minuscule recognition from
the human rights and scientific communities. It would be difficult today to find any
academic discussion or proper forum that address the core relation between science
and human rights.1 Nonetheless, this does not particularly suggest that the idea is
deficit of focus or substance.
A human rights-based approach to science, technology, and development
endeavors a concern essentially on how the international community interlaces with
critical global-scale challenges.2 Regarding science and technology, this approach
demands scientists to push their knowledge further in understanding “how their
work bridges with human rights and demands” that they endeavor to confirm and
secure human rights by the knowledge they generate. Thus, people oriented with
scientific discoveries or technological advancement must have a clear idea regarding
international human rights instruments including laws, regulations, declarations and
conventions.
The aim of this research is to enlighten the international human rights instruments
in order to pave a clear understanding of how science and human rights are co-
related within several different aspects. The paper will initially discuss the core
international human rights instruments. It will then analyze how those human rights
are related to the scientific and technological advancement; examines how technology
can be used to ensure and validate the applications and violations of human rights;
discusses the importance of sustainable development of technology for a better
society; and concludes with the discussion of “right to scientific advancement.” It also
recommends the international community to promote regulatory processes that can
avert the disputes and confirm a proper balance between human rights and science.

1 F. Varela et al., The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience 13 (2017).
2 T. Evans (ed.), Human Rights Fifty Years On: A Reappraisal 105 (1998).
XI JEAIL 1 (2018) Human Rights based Approach to Science 165

II. Human Rights Instruments relating

to Science and Technology

In general, international human rights instruments consist of treaties and other

international documents for the international protection of human rights.3 They can
be classified into two categories: declarations and conventions. The former, adopted
by organizations such as the UN General Assembly, does not have actual binding
force, but is working for a normative ground as soft law.4 The latter is a group of
binding legal means under international law. Scientists have defended the freedom
to engage in scientific inquiry and to report their findings without interference by
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“UDHR”).5 So, it can be inferred that the
advantages of scientific improvement should be freed from impediments by social
groups and shared openly with corporate entities or states.
On top of everything, there is a rights-focused approach in dealing with science.
It attempts to generate the provisions for equal cooperation in the worldwide science
community and reasonable passage to scientific goods and information. Other
than the UDHR, two more international human right instruments are also very
important which ensures the advancement, safe usage and application of science
and technology. It is known as UNESCO Recommendation on the Status of Scientific
Researchers 1994 and the UNESCO Declaration on the Use of Scientific Knowledge
1999.6
All progressions in scientific and technological knowledge should guarantee
welfare for global inhabitants. They would request member countries to develop
the required policies, protocols and strategies keeping in mind to control and obtain
this goal, which of these are confirmed by the UNESCO Proposition on the Status
of Scientific Researchers 1974 (hereinafter UNESCO Proposition).7 Scientific and
technological innovations should be brought together in order to ensure that the
human rights are secured with priority. As per the Declaration of the UNESCO on
the Use of Scientific Knowledge 1999 (hereinafter UNESCO Declaration), scientific

3 T. Meron, On a Hierarchy of International Human Rights, 80 Am. J. Int’l L.1-23 (1986).

4 P.-M. Dupuy, Soft law and the international law of the environment, 12 Mich. J. Int’l L. 420 (1990), available at http://
heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/mjil12&div=20&id=&page= (last visited on Apr. 24, 2018).
5 UDHR art. 27(1).
6 M. Osborn, Status and prospects of women in science in Europe, 263 Sci. 1389-91 (1994), available at http://www.
jstor.org/stable/2883307 (last visited on Apr. 24, 2018).
7 UNESCO Proposition art. 4. For details, see S. Teufel & M. Moens, Summarizing Scientific Articles: Experiments with
Relevance and Rhetorical Status, 28 Computational Linguistics 409-45 (2002).
166 R. Karim et al.

applications and science itself are vital for growth. The government as well as private
sector from every level should render extra help in building up an evenly distributed
and sufficient scientific and technological capacity by proper education and research
programs as an essential base for social, cultural, economic, and environmentally
reliable development (societal advancement).8 In general, the international human-
rights instruments as a means of protection against the abuse of science and
technology can be categorized by the following divisions.

A. Instruments of a General Character

The provisions contained in the International Covenants on Economic, Social, and
Cultural Rights (“ICESC”),9 as well as on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”),10
adopted on December 16, 1966, have emphasized on the rights which identified
general protection of each and every human individuals.11 Those rights to life,
physical and spiritual integrity, privacy, freedom of opinion and expression and
information are the basic protective measures that international human rights
instruments have already ensured.
ICCPR protects the right to life (Article 6), the right to physical and spiritual
integrity (Article 7), the right to privacy (Article 17), and the right to information
(Article 19). Article 7 stipulates: “No one shall be subjected without his free consent
to medical or scientific experimentation.”12 Article 19 adds details about various
forms of communication for receiving and conveying information. It implies that
freedom of expression should be adapted to the conditions posed by the advances in
communication technology. As the right to freedom of expression that everyone shall
have, this article enumerates the freedom to seek, receive and impart information
of every possible form and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in
writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of choices.

8 UNESCO Declaration art. 33. For details, see G. Aikenhead & O. Jegede, Cross-cultural Science Education: A
cognitive explanation of a cultural phenomenon, 36 J. Res. in Sci. Teaching (1999), available at https://www.usask.ca/
education/documents/profiles/aikenhead/cross_culture.pdf (last visited Apr. 24, 2018).
9 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 993 U.N.T.S. 3, adopted on Dec. 16, 1966; entered
into force on Jan. 3, 1976, available at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx (last visited
on Apr. 24, 2018).
10 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 999 U.N.T.S. 171, adopted on Dec. 19, 1966; entered into force
on Mar. 23, 1976, available at http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx (last visited on Apr. 24,
2018).
11 R. Smith, International Human Rights Law 37 (2017).
12 Id.
XI JEAIL 1 (2018) Human Rights based Approach to Science 167

B. Instruments of a Specific Character

Other than the general protection, the human rights instruments provide specific
grounds for protecting the rights related with science, technology and development.
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
(hereinafter Genocide Convention), adopted by the UN General Assembly on
December 9, 1948, protects, in Article 11(d), the right to life against the abuse of
science and technology.13 The problems relating to the right to life posed by recent
developments in gene technology have inspired many international and national
research projects on this matter.14 Although the Council of Europe, as well as the
UNESCO, have ongoing research programs on the impacts of gene technology on
human rights. This has not yet reached the stage of a normative instrument being
drafted.15
In the case of the right to physical and spiritual integrity, the existing instruments
do not specifically refer to medical, scientific, or biological techniques that can ensure
the protection of human body and minds. It is a matter of consciousness that these
protections are incorporated by any international instruments. However, the legal
protection can be ensured through the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons
from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment (December 9, 1975).16 In addition, the Code of Conduct for Law
Enforcement Officials (December 17, 1979), as well as the Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (December
10, 1984) protect the right of physical and spiritual integrity by providing specific
provisions against torture.17
Recently, national legislations have been elaborated in many Western and Asian
countries on the “right to privacy and personal data protection.” Although it has
been a point of contention for legal researchers, no specific normative instrument
has been drawn up to protect these rights under the UN system. However, regional
organizations such as EU, OECD, ASEAN and APEC have put a lot concerns to
develop legal instruments to protect the right to privacy, especially in respect of the
handling of personal data.18 The UNESCO has also encouraged various research in

13 Genocide Convention art. 11(d). For details, see C. Tams et al., Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of
the Crime of Genocide: A Commentary 32 (2014).
14 Id.
15 Id. at 35.
16 A. Clapham, Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction 5 (2015).
17 Id.
18 S. Gutwirth et al., Data Protection on the Move: Current Developments in ICT and Privacy/Data Protection
168 R. Karim et al.

comparative legislation concerning data protection.19

Other than the personal data protection, the right to information has also gained
attention in the international community. At times, it is rather a call for managing the
conflict between the right to privacy and the right to information. In 1947, the UN
established a Sub-Commission on Freedom of Information and the Press.20 However,
no normative instrument has been elaborated by the UN on the right to information,
with the exception of the Convention on the International Right of Correction
(December 16, 1952).21 This Convention assures the contracting state to exercise the
right of correction against other contracting states. In their territories, a news dispatch
capable of damaging the state’s prestige or dignity or its relations with other states
has been published or disseminated.
Significant developments have been observed in the national laws ensuring the
access to information or documents held by the administration or the institutions
carrying out public missions such as the Freedom of Information Act (US in 1966,
amended in 1976; Denmark in 1970; Norway in 1970; the Netherlands in 1978; France
in 1978; Canada in 1982; Australia in 1982; New Zealand in 1982).22 In comparison
with these developments in national laws, no attempt has been made to elaborate an
international instrument to protect this “right to know” vis-à-vis public or semi-public
institutions.23
If considering the effects of scientific and technological progress on human
rights in terms of both the positive and negative effects, such information should
be protected with due reasoning. Protective measures that ensure a state’s integrity
is necessary while dealing with such sensitive data. In this regard, the right to
knowledge could become a curse for an individual.24 During World War II, for
example, millions of people were sent to concentration camps and eventually to gas
chambers for information disclosure on people’s ethnicity and race. At the national
level, however, information related to the effects of industrial waste on water, the
side-effects of medical products on human bodies, or the content of pollution from
power plants or uranium recycling plants can be requested by law.25

476 (2016).
19 Id.
20 J. Symonides, Human Rights: International Protection, Monitoring Enforcement 339 (2017).
21 N. Petersen, The International Court of Justice and the Judicial Politics of Identifying Customary International
Law, 28 Eur. J. Int’l L. 357-85 (2017).
22 P. Hallberg & J. Virkkunen, Freedom of Speech and Information in Global Perspective 21 (2017).
23 Id.
24 G. Fuster, Emergence of Personal Data Protection as a Fundamental Right of the EU 37 (2014).
25 M. Prakash & G. Singaravel, An Approach for Prevention of Privacy Breach and Information Leakage in Sensitive
XI JEAIL 1 (2018) Human Rights based Approach to Science 169

Within the Council of Europe, attempts have been made in drawing up a

Convention on mass media based on Article 10 of the European Convention on
Human Rights 1950 (“ECHR”), which stipulates: “Everyone has the right to freedom
of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive
and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and
regardless of frontiers...”26 It is often confused that freedom of expression is a defense
to defamation or innuendo, but it is not. A person may have freedom to express their
beliefs, but can nevertheless abuse emotions of others in any form of innuendo.
At the Colloquium organized in Sevillia in November 1986, which examined this
right in connection with the restrictions, “necessary in a democratic society” contained
in paragraph 2 of Article 10, the participants (international law experts, regulators and
legal practitioners) argued that such a new formula could be interpreted as the right
to know or the right to have access to information, which is not explicitly recognized
in the text of the ECHR, could be included in the right to freedom of expression, if
affirmed in the case law of the Convention.27 The public right to receive information
and the duty of the mass media to contribute to it, was affirmed by the ECHR in the
Sunday Times case.28 This case is of particular interest, because it has the impacts of
scientific progress on human rights and concerns the harmful side-effects of medicine
(thalidomide).29 In this case, Article 10 of the ECHR was interpreted to include the
right of the public to ‘know’ the effects of pharmaceutical products and the obligation
of mass media in diffusing such information.30 Everyone has the right to know what
might affect him/her once the products will work (e.g., a professional painter should
know the consequences of inhaling lead; a software developer should know the
consequences of seeing long hours in front of computer screen, etc.). Therefore, mass
media and communications should also promote such legal instruments in order to
create awareness among everyone.

Data Mining, 45 Computers & Electrical Engineering 134-40 (2015).

26 L. Kiestra, The Impact of the European Convention on Human Rights on Private International Law 27-48 (2014).
27 Hiroko Yamane, Impacts of Scientific and Technological Progress on Human Rights: Normative Response of the
International Community, pt. 3 (International Response), available at http://archive.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/
uu06he/uu06he0c.htm (last visited on Apr. 24, 2018).
28 Sunday Times v. United Kingdom (No 6538/74), 30 Eur. Ct. H.R. (ser. A), 2 E.H.R.R. 245, 26 April 1979, available at
http://www.hrcr.org/safrica/limitations/sunday_times_uk.html (last visited on Apr. 24, 2018).
29 Supra note 25.
30 Id.
170 R. Karim et al.

C. Instruments to Assure Positive Uses of Scientific and Technological

Progress
ICESC refers vaguely to the obligation of the state to use scientific and technologic
progress for welfare.31 For example, to achieve the full realization of the right to work,
Article 6 of ICESC stipulates that the state should take steps including technical and
vocational guidance and training programs, policies and techniques to achieve steady
economic, social and cultural development.32 This is conducted along with full and
productive employment under the conditions safeguarding fundamental political
and economic freedoms to the individual.33 The state should also take the following
steps:

1. To improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of food by making

full use of technical and scientific knowledge, by disseminating knowledge of the
principles of nutrition and by developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a
way as to achieve the most efficient development and utilization of natural resources.
[Article 11, para. 2(a)]34

2. [To ensure the] improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene
in order to realize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable
standard of physical and mental health. [Article 12, para. 2(b)]35

Article 15, Paragraph 1(b) of ICESC also assures that individual has the right to
enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications. 36 The UNESCO
Recommendation on the Status of Scientific Researchers 1974 combines the freedom
of researchers with the implications of science and technology for the global questions
such as development and international peace.37 This Recommendation particularly
recalls Article 27 of the UDHR, which provides that everyone has the right to
participate freely in the cultural life of the community and to share any scientific

31 H. Lambert, The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Perspective and Its
Development, 72 Int’l Aff. 176-7 (1996).
32 ICESC art. 6(2).
33 B. Neimark & S. Vermeylen, A Human Right to Science?: Precarious Labor and Basic Rights in Science and
Bioprospecting, 107 Annals of the American Association of Geographers 167-82 (2016).
34 Id.
35 Id.
36 Id.
37 H. Ten. Have, The Activities of UNESCO in the Area of Ethics, 16 Kennedy Inst. Ethics J. 333-51 (2006), available at
http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/SHS/pdf/KIEJ-2006.pdf (last visited on Apr. 24, 2018).
XI JEAIL 1 (2018) Human Rights based Approach to Science 171

advancement and its benefits.

However, different legal provisions of the international instruments provide
obligation for the states to encourage conditions in which scientific researchers can
work in a spirit of intellectual freedom to pursue, expound and defend the scientific
truth as they see it. The UDHR also enumerates provisions to contribute positively
and constructively to the fabric of science, culture, and education in their own
country. In addition, the UDHR contains provisions to achieve the national goals
to enhance the living standard of their fellow citizens.’ Furthermore, all of these
provisions were adopted in order to achieve the ideals and objectives of the UN.
The Proclamation of Tehran, adopted by the International Conference on
Human Rights on May 13, 1968 introduced the distinct categories of developed and
developing countries with regard to human rights.38 However, it is also important to
understand that while recent scientific discoveries and technological advances have
opened vast prospects for economic social and cultural progress, such developments
may nevertheless endanger the rights and freedoms of individuals and thus will
require continuous attention.39
The Declaration on the Use of Scientific and Technological Progress in the
Interests of Peace and for the Benefit of Mankind, adopted by the UN General
Assembly on November 10, 1975, takes into consideration: “While scientific and
technological developments provide ever-increasing opportunities to better the
conditions of life of peoples and nations, in a number of instances they can give rise
to social problems. This include threaten to human rights and fundamental freedom
of individual.”40 This Declaration indicates that the major preoccupation of the UN
in dealing with the impact of science and technology on human rights has turned to
economic development and that, in order to achieve this goal, extensive emphasis
has been placed on the economic and social functions of the state, both internally and
externally.41
This tendency towards the identification of connection between human rights
and development coincide with the ongoing effort of the international community to

38 R. Burke, From Individual Rights to National Development: The First UN International Conference on Human Rights,
Tehran, 1968, 19 J. World Hist. 275-96 (2008).
39 Y. Donders & V. Volodin, Human rights in Education, Science, and Culture: Legal Developments and Challenges
111(2008).
40 A. Chapman, Towards an Understanding of the Right to Enjoy the Benefits of Scientific Progress and Its
Applications, 8 J. Hum. Rts. 1-36 (2009).
41 UN Declaration on the Use of Scientific and Technological Progress in the Interests of Peace and for the Benefit of
Mankind 1975, arts. 5, 7 & 8, available at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/ScientificAndTechnolo
gicalProgress.aspx (last visited on Apr. 24, 2018).
172 R. Karim et al.

establish a new international economic order. The Declaration on the Establishment

of a New International Economic Order, adopted by the General Assembly on May 1,
1974, proclaims:

our united determination to work urgently for the establishment of a new international
economic order based on equity, sovereign equality, interdependence, common
interest, and co-operation among all states, irrespective of their economic and social
systems, which shall correct inequalities and redress existing injustices, make it possible
to eliminate the widening gap between the developed and the developing countries...42

Article 4(p) of the Declaration lays down the principle of giving to the developing
countries access to modern science achievements and technology, promoting the
transfer of technology, the creation of indigenous technology for the benefit of the
developing countries in forms and in accordance with procedures which are suited to
their economies.43
The overriding concern with development gives new rights to the state. The
Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States adopted by the General Assembly
in the same year grants the state the right, inter alia, to regulate and supervise the
activities of transnational corporations within its national jurisdiction (Article 2,
Paragraph 2(b)).44 Moreover, the Charter was adopted in order to acquire benefits from
the scientific and technological advances for its economic and social development
(Article 13, Paragraph 1).45
The UN Conference on Science and Technology for Development (“UNCSTD”),
held in Vienna in 1979, adopted the same line of idea, in a declaration encouraging
future programs to be conducted for exploring alternative technologies and better
use of science and technology for development.46 The implementation of human
rights requires appropriate social conditions in all aspects of society, bearing in mind
that a state with social anarchy could be a misleading example when considering
human rights’ implementation as well as development in technological aspects.

42 U.N. Doc. A/RES/S-6/3201 (May 1, 1974), available at http://www.un-documents.net/s6r3201.htm (last visited on

Apr. 24, 2018). See also General Assembly Declaration on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order,
68 Am. J. Int’l L. 798-801 (1974).
43 Id.
44 U.N. Doc. A/RES/29/3281 (Dec. 12, 1974), available at http://www.un-documents.net/a29r3281.htm (last visited on
Mar. 19, 2018).
45 Id. For details, see generally M. Bulajić et al., The Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States: Ten Years of
Implementation (1986).
46 K. Crane, Guidebook for Supporting Economic Development in Stability Operations 109 (2009), available at https://
www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/technical_reports/2009/RAND_TR633.pdf (last visited on Apr. 24, 2018).
XI JEAIL 1 (2018) Human Rights based Approach to Science 173

It is therefore natural that the conditions allowing for the implementation of the
individual right to benefit from scientific and technological progress, as well as the
right to an adequate standard of living, include not only the change of national social
conditions, but also the entire world order.47

D. Recent Developments
Recent international conferences expressed concern regarding scientific progress in
genomics, robotics, neuroscience, reproductive health technology and other fields of
biomedicine and the life sciences.48 Today’s scientific development such as artificial
inoculation in vitro fertilization, parthenogenesis, choice of sex of offspring, cloning,
manipulation of the DNA molecule would interfere with the human rights issues.
The advances in the relevant scientific fields raise complex challenges for human
rights of contemporary world, which can only be addressed with the cooperation
of medical specialists, geneticists, cell biologists, neuroscientists and others in the
scientific community in dialogue with human rights experts.49
Air and water pollution is harmful to human health. Meanwhile, the international
legal instruments are also promoting the technologies that mitigate harmful
emissions and allow people to adapt in ways that protect them from harm.50 Such
legal instruments contribute to realizing the new rights associated with the climate
change and environmental degradation. In its latest resolutions on human rights and
climate change, the Human Rights Council emphasized:

… the adverse effect of climate change-related impacts have a range of implications,

both direct and indirect, for the effective enjoyment of human rights, including, inter
alia, the right to life, the right to adequate food, the right to the highest attainable
standard of health, the right to adequate housing, the right to self-determination and
the right to safe drinking water and sanitation, and recalling that in no case may a
people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.51

Once the international debate on human rights opens up all these divisive questions

47 Supra note 27.

48 S. Marks, Human Rights and the Challenges of Science and Technology, 20 Sci. & Engineering Ethics 869-75 (2014).
49 See Book Review: The medical profession and human rights: handbook for a changing agenda/ British Medical
Association, 19 Neth. Q. Hum. Rts. 374-5 (2001).
50 D. Bell, Climate change and human rights, 4 Wiley Interdisciplinary Rev.: Climate Change 159-70 (2013).
51 H.R.C. Res. 29/19, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/29/19 (July 2, 2015), available at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/
RegularSessions/Session29/Documents/A_HRC_29_19_en.doc (last visited on Apr. 24, 2018). See generally C. Wold
et al., Climate Change and the Law (2013).
174 R. Karim et al.

concerning the relationship between the state and the individual, more efforts seem
to be required for superficially conceptual compromises rather than effective ways
of implementing human rights. If merely claiming the rights of all kinds together we
may just encounter the impossibility of achieving real progress in devising remedies.52
One of the possible solutions to this impasse would be to specify the areas for
implementing different categories of human rights and to dissociate them from the
general issues of economic development, such as transfer of technology, exploitation
of natural resources, etc. This could also result in other beneficial aspects that are
explicitly linked with general human rights as aforementioned. The latter areas
concern primarily with the social and economic functions of the state, private
enterprise, the economy, and the dispute settlement between private enterprise and
the state. These problems could perhaps be better solved if they were dealt with in a
more proper context.53

III. Intersection of Human Rights and Technology: Opportunities

and Challenges

Technology is so foundational that it scratches all the surface in every sector. It is

intertwined everywhere in the modern-day’s human rights journey.54 With the
support from myriad of technological tools, great opportunities persist to improve
human rights efforts. Simultaneously, however, a thriving call is there to warrant the
security and safety of human rights defenders, activists, and laymen in this the world
of globalized surveillance.

A. Opportunities
The concepts of human rights are continuously changing and adapting new forms
of understanding as human lives transforming themselves in online digital world.
“The same rights that people have offline must also be protected online.”55 Latest
technologies have attained their own place in society and are regularly applied by
individuals in performing most of their works. In order to enjoy their protection

52 M. Scheinin, The art and science of interpretation in human rights law, in Research Methods in Human Rights: A
Handbook 17-37 (B. Adreadssen et al. eds., 2017).
53 J. Miletzki & N. Broten, Development as Freedom 34 (2017).
54 D. Forsythe, Human Rights in International Relations 72 (2017).
55 J. Liddicoat & A. Doria, Human Rights and Internet Protocols: Comparing Processes and Principles 10 (2015).
XI JEAIL 1 (2018) Human Rights based Approach to Science 175

entirely, the frameworks, understandings, functions of different tools and factors

to preserve and uphold human rights need to be defined, reviewed, refined and
modified.56
For instance, technology has supported individuals for entire human rights. In
the case of freedom of expression, the result is possibly most compelling. Technology
has empowered individuals to use their liberty “to seek, receive and allow
information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing
or in print” on an exceptional level by employing a complete range of latest types
of communication.57 Starting from a blog to a crowd-funding expedition, people are
frequently allowed to distribute information in different ways.
Information technology has transformed human communication patterns.
Some of these developments are so natural that we take the benefits of technology
for granted today. Encompassing the globe, for instance, millions of migrants stay
connected with their families and transfer remittances back to home using the online
tools. Technology allows people to display their distinct individualities. It further
enables collective mobilizations and empowers minorities.
Usually, human rights and science heavily depend on each other. For instance,
scientists rely on human rights to safeguard their individual scientific freedom,
which consecutively allows them to better welfare and human rights by their work.
Human rights approaches can bring about insights on the ethical meaning of new
technologies and investigate how policy can compete with increasingly evolving
science.58
Moreover, science and technology stimulate the development and fulfillment of
human rights. This stretches to information and communication technologies (“ICTs”)
as instruments that conceivably promote gateway toward scientific knowledge.
For instance, ICTs are fast moving democratic practice for social networks and
e-government.59 Nevertheless, the application of ICT instruments can also be reduced
by under-development or censorship, thereby leading to digital divisions that cause
new sorts of separation. This shows how human rights approaches can uphold
demands for effective and fair application of technologies like ICTs.
The use of technologies such as satellite imagery, geo-spatial, and geographic

56 S. Moyn, Do human rights treaties make enough of a difference?, The Cambridge Companion to Human Rights Law
329-47 (C. Gearty ed., 2012).
57 ICCPR art. 19. See generally J. Penney, Internet Access Rights: A Brief History and Intellectual Origins (2011).
58 D. Pink, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future 166 (2006).
59 J. Bertot et al., Using ICTs to create a culture of transparency: E-government and social media as openness and anti-
corruption tools for societies, 27 Gov’t Information Q. 264-71 (2010).
176 R. Karim et al.

positioning systems is another way to combine science and technology with human
rights issues. Such amalgam could identify and track human-rights infringements.60
They offer access to remote parts of the world, providing both new information and
a powerful way of communicating it for advocacy, policy debates or litigation. For
example, the “Science for Human Rights Project” has been created by the Amnesty
International,61 in order to access conflict zones and gather visual evidence with
geo-spatial technologies. “Eyes on Syria”62 which is the recent work of the Amnesty
International in Syria shows the magnitude of these technologies that can track
tortures, property destructions, and unlawful executions with great precision. When
tackling human rights violations under international law, this approach could have
a huge influence. As a result, the progress of scientific technologies can be utilized to
secure human rights through various means.
The continuous search for extensive global sustainability is closely bounded
to the rights-based approaches to science, technology, and development. Human
rights approach to public policy can have a bearing on many domains of science,
technology, development, covering housing, surveillance, energy production,
climate change, access to fresh water, biological warfare, deforestation, public health,
and gender issues. Furthermore, they are at the center of discussions on forming a
‘green’ global economy.63 The UNESCO’s note to Rio+20, “From Green Economies
to Green Societies” looked for reconstructing traditional knowledge on the future
of sustainability.64 It argues that as economies are rooted in the society, obtaining
sustainable development demands more than green investments and low-carbon
technologies.65 This initiative entails human rights-based policies that consider not
only economic but also social, scientific, and educational attention. Human rights-
based approaches should not be used simply as a fancy moral aspect to policy or
scientific and technological innovation. They can form the very heart of sustainable
futures.

60 M. Gould et al., Next-generation digital earth: A position paper from the vespucci initiative for the advancement of
geographic information science, 3 Int’l J. Spatial Data Infrastructures Res. 146-67 (2008).
61 D. Cingranelli & D. Richards, The Cingranelli and Richards (CIRI) human rights data project, 32 Hum. Rts. Q.
401-24 (2010).
62 I. Thuesen, What They Also Discovered 8 (2016).
63 P. Carstens et al., Eyes on Syria 6-8 (2016).
64 UNESCO, From Green Economies to Green Societies: UNESCO’s Commitment to Sustainable Development,
available at https://www.slideshare.net/undesa/from-green-economies-to-green-societies-by-unesco (last visited Apr.
24, 2018).
65 I. Gagnidze, The Role of International Educational Programs for Sustainable Development, Systems Thinking for a
Sustainable Economy, Business Systems Laboratory-2nd International Symposium (2014), available at http://bslab-
symposium.net/Roma%202014/2nd.International.Symposium.Rome.2014.htm (last visited on Apr. 24, 2018).
XI JEAIL 1 (2018) Human Rights based Approach to Science 177

B. Challenges
According to Feenberg and McCarthy, technologies are “biased but ambivalent,”66
regardless of what effects these technologies have or how they are applied. If human
rights are to be entirely preserved using technology, the outcomes will biases on
human life, and their association with social, economic, and political means have to
be explained.67
In many cases, new technologies would have further revealed people to new kind
of human rights violations.68 Since today’s freedom of expression are often limited
by the censoring of online content by governments, the transformation of such rights
as freedom of expression and right to privacy to the digital world is pretty much
evident. Science and technology can bring about severe damage to the ecological and
social systems upon which life depends.69 For example, in order to undermine justice
and liberty military technologies can be utilized. Moreover, current technologies,
such as geo-engineering or nanotechnology, may even raise doubt what it purports to
be human.70
However, freedom of expression may also have conflict with subjective decisions
made by companies and institutions who design computer algorithms to process the
information. One of many challenges in the foreseeable future will be securing those
mentioned algorithms that are conforming to human rights criteria.71
As evidenced, private data can be easily obtained ever by third parties, including
companies, governments, or criminals, so that the right to privacy in the digital
world would have got into the spotlight in a great deal recently. Disclosures on the
government collection and monitoring of the personal data via large corporations
have boosted the awareness level amidst the general public and spurred many
players to work for transmuting the right to privacy in the online sphere.72
Recent technologies have ascertained new challenges in the society, conflicting

66 D. McCarthy, Technology and ‘the international’ or: How I learned to stop worrying and love determinism,
41 Millennium: J. Int’l Stud. 470-90 (2013), available at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/030582981348
4636?journalCode=mila (last visited on Apr. 24, 2018).
67 D. McCarthy, Power, Information Technology, and International Relations Theory: The Power and Politics of
US Foreign Policy and Internet 110 (2015).
68 J. Lipschultz, Free Expression in the Age of the Internet Social and Legal Boundaries 291 (2018).
69 O. Green et al., Barriers and Bridges to the Integration of Social–ecological Resilience and Law, 13 Frontiers in
Ecology & Envtr. 332-37 (2015).
70 K. Bracmort, Geoengineering: Governance and Technology Policy 5 (2013).
71 N. Nuno & G. de. Andrade et al., New Technologies and Human Rights Challenges to Regulation 244 (2016).
72 K. Martin, Understanding Privacy Online: Development of a Social Contract Approach to Privacy, 137 J. Bus. Ethics
551-69 (2015).
178 R. Karim et al.

with both transactional traffic and content data. Personal data is moving continuously
and its specificity will be jeopardized. Personal data protection has been formally
identified as a human right and such a move has been implemented by the Charter
of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.73 As a matter of fact, it says that
everyone has the right to protect his/her personal data.74 These data need to be
treated justly for particular purposes and under the permission of the concerned
person or some other authority by law. Everyone possesses the right of having the
data which has been collected as regard him or her, as well as the right to have it
rectified. Compliance with these rules shall be subject to control by an independent
authority.75
In addition to the personal data protection, the right to science and its benefits
are not yet central to the development ethics.76 This is partly because development
ethicists prefer a language of principles, considered appropriate for capacity
building.77 But a bigger issue is whether and how a human rights-based approach
should realize development ethics. Whose rights then does the term refer to? Can
the focus on individuals be adapted to the realities of development work at the
community level? To answer these questions, legal analysis should also enlighten
the term “right to science” or “right to scientific advancement” to ensure the
establishment of core human right instruments.
While expressing the concerns about threats to human rights resulting from
developments in science and technology, the UN recognized the ambitious human
right plan for everyone to benefit from scientific and technological advances. Even
though covered by both ICESC78 and UDHR, such human right rarely acquired much
of consideration from the UN bodies, States, and scholars.79
As a matter of fact, the function of science in human society-its advantages and

73 A. Menéndez, Chartering Europe: Legal Status and Policy Implications of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of
the European Union, 40 J. Common Mkt. Stud. 471-90 (2002).
74 EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, art. 8.
75 C. Geiger, Intellectual property shall be protected!? Article 17 (2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the
European Union: a mysterious provision with an unclear scope, 31 Eur. Intell. Prop. Rev. 113-7 (2009), available at
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/43234343_Intellectual_Property_shall_be_protected_Article_17_2_of_the_
Charter_of_Fundamental_Rights_of_the_European_Union_a_Mysterious_Provision_with_an_Unclear_Scope (last
visited on Apr. 24, 2018).
76 D. Gasper, The Ethics of Development: From Economism to Human Development 176 (2007).
77 D. Gasper, Development Ethics 12 (2010).
78 M. Craven, The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Perspective on its
Development 274 (1995).
79 E. Waltz, Universalizing human rights: The role of small states in the construction of the universal declaration of
human rights, 23 Hum. Rts. Q. 44-72 (2001).
XI JEAIL 1 (2018) Human Rights based Approach to Science 179

invisible threats - has been argued in numerous international meetings. However,

they are rarely given any opportunities for a place in human rights forum. Recently,
science and technology have been often invoked for solving socio-economic question.
In this course, however, there are not a few human rights violations. Therefore, the
human right based on the scientific advancement would be a good solution to bolster
the nexus between human rights and science.80
Furthermore, since each “Sustainable Development Goal”81 is set to guard human
rights, global interconnectedness and technological innovations should be applied to
realize Agenda 2030,82 the question may arise on how the current technologies and
their development can contribute to guarantee and protect human rights within the
framework of Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.
The issues discussed above are the major challenges that must be faced by today’s
world in case of defining human rights based on scientific and technological aspects.
For ensuring individual’s human rights, new legal instruments are required, which
can deliberately deal with the complex issues of technology and human rights.

IV. Recommendations

The following recommendations can be useful to ensure the issues where human
rights intersect with science and technology. These recommendations are not simple
to achieve, but they recognize individual human rights are not inconsistent with
ongoing scientific innovations. Recommendations are as follows:

a. The main challenge for the world is to refine the definitions of all human rights in
the science and technological context. New technologies have drilled deep inside
the current legal environment so that they not only preceded new channels of
approaching to conventional human rights, but also composed new rights and
freedoms.83 They are obviously expected to emerge in a constitutional direction and
demand additional regulations by governments.

80 C. Timmermann, Sharing in or Benefiting from Scientific Advancement?, 20 Sci. & Engineering Ethics 111-33
(2013).
81 R. Kates et al., What is Sustainable Development? Goals, Indicators, Values, and Practice, 47 Envir. 8-21 (2005).
82 See United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda, available at http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/
development-agenda (last visited Apr. 24, 2018).
83 M. Land & J. Aronson, New Technologies for Human Rights Law and Practice 26 (2018).
180 R. Karim et al.

b. Furthermore, the concurrent human rights structure has to be reexamined to resolve

potential negative consequences of technological advancements. As a major global
actor, and based on its long engagement to human rights,84 the global organizations
like the UN can play an active role in this way to accustom with current human
rights principles to progress in technology.

c. For better human rights, both the internal and external policies should be adjusted to
the digital domain. Since the power exercised across the digital domain is ahead of
the territorial jurisdiction of sovereign states, the authority of the countries and world
human organizations are not sufficient.85 Hence, network-oriented and cooperation
approach amid the nations are crucial to guarantee enough protection and transition
of human rights to the digital domain.

d. As the right to profit from progress in science and technology may neither be a
familiar human right, nor possibly be acknowledged as the most effective in ensuring
human dignity, it would be better to remark that its significance is surely rising.
Therefore, countries are demanded to accept and follow this right as a component
within the set of international human rights norms.86 Further inspection of the
State obligations and normative content of the right with regard to the progress of
science and technology may stand as a crux with a view to having this right executed
properly and subsequently acquire a universal consent in terms of its usage.87

e. Conceivably for the scientific community, the biggest hurdle is to become a

constituency for human rights.88 A lot of scientists shun such engagement as
too ‘political,’89 and are consequently in disagreement with scientific beliefs of
independent inquiry and impartiality. But such traditions as peer review and precise
analysis should be essentially in harmony with the human rights. Certainly, their
contributions to human rights are limitless so long as they are applied with scientific
integrity. As evidenced through history, human rights cannot be taken as granted;
doing that will summon transgressions.90 Therefore, the scientific community
should unite its knowledge and voice to ensure all governments to protect, respect,

84 D. Forsythe, Human Rights in International Relations 277 (2018).

85 D. Wall & M. Williams, Policing diversity in the digital age, 7 Criminology & Crim. Justice 391-415 (2007).
86 Supra note 67.
87 G. Brown, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the 21st Century: A Living Document in A Changing
World 65 (2016).
88 M. Shapo, Understanding the Law for Physicians, Healthcare Professionals, and Scientists: A Primer on the
Operations of the Law and the Legal System 54 (2018).
89 L. Rubenstein & M. Younis, Scientists and Human Rights, 322 Sci. 1303 (2008).
90 J. Donnelly, Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice 77 (2013).
XI JEAIL 1 (2018) Human Rights based Approach to Science 181

and fulfill human rights.

V. Conclusion

Recently, it is imperative to clarify the interdependence and indivisibility of human

rights and scientific development through digital innovations. In fact, categorizing
new technologies into permanent traits would be inappropriate. It happens either
when the technology is associated with unsupported democratic virtues or, on
the contrary, when digital technologies are perceived as totalitarian tools that put
the democracy at risk through control, surveillance and manipulation practices.
Nevertheless, as technology cannot be deemed totally neutral, its social, political and
economic setting should be also investigated. Since technologies have frequently
evolved over the last decades, they have a strong influence on people and society.
In order for human rights approach to be grounded more strongly, human rights
should be sensitively responding to the developments of a society. The initial step
is to promote regulatory processes with the introduction of digital tools as fast as
possible. It will prevent the conflicts and hit the balance between human rights and
scientific advancement. Human rights in the digital world will be able to realize
people’s dignity. Only in this way, the relationship between new technologies and
human rights can build a constructive partnership.