ELPIS Law Review- Patrícia Domingues

Written by: Patrícia Alexandra da Silva Domingues

Second-year student from the University of Lisbon Faculty of Law

Student Number: 64671

Class: 2B, 17

The Internet as a Human Right

Exploring the world has never been easier since technology starting penetrating our lives in a way most people find it abusive.

For this article I picked the subject brought to us by Professor Rui Guerra Fonseca from University of Lisbon Faculty of law. I chose this topic in specific mostly because the internet is something most people have access to it nowadays and it is something that has made such a huge impact in our life that I believe it is imperative we talk and the benefits and consequences of living in a world controlled by the power of technology.

The web plays an imperative part in people’s way of life and in all viewpoints of human society- It is ceaselessly advancing and giving citizen with conceivable outcomes to get data and administrations, to associate and to communicate, as well as to share ideas and information universally. The effect of the web on social, financial and social exercises is additionally developing and I intend on referring every detail I consider believe it is crucial to give our readers a better perspective of the subject on the table.

To give our readers some guidance throughout this article I look forward to answer some questions that, at first look they seem to be very simple to answer but if we do a good research we soon realize that is not case.

Firstly, I would like to ask what is the internet?

Before we discuss if the internet is a human right, we must understand what is the internet. According to the internet society organization, «The Internet is not like a telephone network. The global Internet consists of tens of thousands of interconnected networks run by service providers, individual companies, universities and governments.».

In another words we can say the internet is the wider network that allows computers systems to work around the world. Those informatics systems we just mentioned permits companies to have multiple offices around the world and exchange information in just a matter of seconds, I must even say, almost instantly.

Sometimes referred to as a «network of networks», the Internet emerged in the United States in the 1970’s but did not became available to the general public until the early 1990’s.

But not only is the internet used for professional reasons. Quoting Professor Rui Guerra Fonseca, «the Internet has become a constant in our lives not a single day goes by that we don't use it for the most varied purposes». In fact, according to a study run by the world known statistics website Statista the average internet users spent 2 hours and 24 minutes daily on social media in 2020 against the 2 hours and 22 minutes in 2019 according to the same study.

Even though the internet used to be mostly used for professional reasons, we can now tell people started using it for all different purposes but specially for entertaining reasons. In 10 years the world has changed quite a lot because of the new technology the population is introduced to almost daily.

If the time spent online has been increasing every year, so is the number of users. Everyday a new user logs into the internet. By 2020, approximately 4.5 billion people, in another words, more than half of the world’s population has joined the internet.

But to join the internet that means people need to have access to it, something that is not equally for everybody. Based on an article by the World Economic Forum we soon realized the situation is much worse than we think. As stated by Emma Luxton, Formativa Content of the World Economic Forum, 4 billion people still do not have internet access. These people are mostly from developing countries and, instead of some people that choose not to join the network, unfortunately these part of the population do not have the power to make that choice.

There are four main reasons that so many people are still offline as claimed by Forum’s Internet For All Report:

· -Infrastructure: 15% around the globe still do not have access to electricity and 31% live outside of 3G coverage. In my point of view, I believe the situation of these 15% of people that do not have regular electricity is much more shocking than being out of the 3G area, mainly because that means these humans being have to adapt their life to some conditions some people may find even outrageous. In my opinion it is even revolting and unrighteous to let people live under these conditions.

· -Affordability: The cost of devices and connectivity is another reason why many people are not accessing the Internet. 13% of people live below the international poverty line. And now we may ask if the internet should be free? Well, if we consider it to be a human right I would respond affirmative. However, there is something I would like to discuss under a different topic.

· -Skills, awareness and cultural acceptance: Another barrier to have fully access to the internet is education. Globally, we have 15% of adults considered illiterate. Then there are also cultural issues, such has the so considered superiority of the men and the power of control they have under the infortune women from those cultures. On the report we found out almost 50% of the women do not join the Internet because their culture tells them it is something forbidden for women. A number shocking given we live in the twenty-first century.

· -Local adoption and use: The vast majority(80%) of online content is only available in 10 languages, which only about 3 billion people speak as their first language. I believe this is a number that will get lower by time since children nowadays learn more than one idiom which in future will allow the world to get even closer since connecting and communicating will only get easier.

Now we may ask ourselves, how can the Internet a human right if not everyone has access to it? Without giving any kind of information about the concept of Human Right, it is imperative that we get to learn what we must do to change these terrible statistics.

I believe the governments should introduce policies that aim to improve infrastructure coverage and quality, provide financial assistance to those who cannot afford to get online, and set up public Wi-Fi, which I must add, some developed countries have already taken action respectively to be qualified to provide equal access to the internet to their citizens.

I also would like to highlight how a lack of skills and awareness of the internet’s esteem are obstructions. It prescribes getting ICT onto the education modules in school and providing training to communities and contends that handling the worldwide advanced will require public-private collaboration.

May I mention that Alex Wong, Head of Global Challend Partnerships and Member of the Executive committee at the World Economic Forum said «The internet has become a pervasive, fundamental part of daily life. But low penetration significantly impacts a country’s ability to participate in the digital economy, which is becoming an increasingly important priority for development as Africa, like the rest of the world, enters the Fourth Industrial Revolution».

But is the Internet good for us?

The bottomless pit of information we call the internet is a mixed blessing. As much as the internet spreads information and understanding it also fives opportunities to squander time and develop unhealthy habits, such as obsessively checking social media. Since the number of the users increases so does the number of suicides, which may make us wonder if these two situations could be related. Such a soft topic but reported by multiple studies, over the last few years there has been as increasing evidence that the internet and social media can influence suicide-related behavior.

The ills of online life have forced some to turn their back on the internet, or at slightest the foremost time-draining, damaging, and addictive administrations.

Perhaps it may not the best way to spend our time, but our governments do not have the right to make that call for the citizens. I am well convinced individuals ought to have the choose whether or not they access the network.

Quoting Bruce Sterling «The internet belongs to everyone and no one». All these sources that have access to the internet have different interests, which may generate conflict. For example, Business people want the internet put on a sounder financial footing. Contrarily we the government people that want the inter more fully regulated, academics want it dedicated exclusively to scholarly research, military people want it spy-proof and secure. And so on and so on.

Since we have already learned what the internet is and how it works globally, and before we discuss if the Internet is a Human Right or not, I would now like to address another question to this asset. What is a Human Right?

According to Cerf, for something to be considered a human right, it “must be among the things we as humans need in order to lead healthy, meaningful lives,” In that end, he argues that access to the Internet should be an enabler of rights, but not a right itself.

Primarily the Humans Rights exist because there are human beings in the world. However, they are not granted by every state. The universal rights are inherent to us all, regardless of nationality, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, region, language, sexual orientation, or any other status. Despite the much effort or activists put into the divulgation of the importance of the Human Rights and how everyone is worth of owing them.

The first legal document to set and universal protection for the human rights was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. The UDH, together with 2 covenants- The International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights- make up the International Bill of Rights.

These Rights were set by multiple principles, such as, Invisibility and Independence and, Equality and non-discrimination.

According to an article published by the United Nations the states have multiple obligations, including:

· -Obligation to respect: The states must not interfere with the enjoyment of human rights

· -Obligation to protect: The states need to protect individuals and groups against human rights abuses

· -Obligation to fulfill: The states must take positive action to facilitate the enjoyment of basic human rights.

As individuals, we are entitled to our human right, but have the obligation to respect and protect everyone’s human rights. However, this task may be harder to accomplish when the state we live in does not protect our human rights. Unfortunately, of the 197 countries of the world, there still 20, including three territories, considered to be the most societally repressive. Besides being extremely abusive to their citizens, the government is also an ultimate abuser of the human rights.

Before adding more human rights to the list I believe it is imperative that actions are taken to convert the context these people live under. Reciting Erika Wright «The way the governments of global powers have responded to the atrocities is disappointing, illuminated by a lack of transparency and accountability and acceptance of both blatant malevolence and disregard for human life. Many countries have been criticized for failing to refer these matters to the International Criminal Courts to rectify human rights violation. The UN has deployed peacekeeping troops in such countries to bolster its efforts to protect civilians. Despite such efforts, UN compounds have been targeted and raided as recently as this year- an indication of the prolonged continuation of human rights violations».

Not only do I share the same opinion, but I also believe it requires more than a government to chance the environment that the Human Rights are forced to exist and try to survive in. In fact, I am sure that this is something that should take more of a personal action and should start by the power of unlearning. «The Power of Unlearning» was a project started by Dr. Benice A. King that soon become a global movement to try to make a change in the world and accept every people not matter their color or religion. According to this Dr.’s statement, the inequality started when people learned that they were in fact different. They were not wrong but the way they used that difference to create an elite that controls the world was not correct at all. If we transfer the way of thinking to the human rights we would achieve a similar solution. Some states do not respect the human rights because they learned how different their population is from the government which mean they do not deserve to be entitled to these rights. However, if they unlearn it and promote a nonviolent social change, I truly believe we would get more understanding minds around the world and, consequently, States would finally respect and protect their people’s human rights.

After discussing what is the internet and what it a Human Right, is now time to discuss if the Internet is in fact a Human Right.

Like we mention, and so did Professor Rui Guerra Fonseca, the internet plays an important role in people’s daily life and in all aspects of human society. The number of cases related to the internet has increased. The European Court of Human Rights affirmed that «the Internet has now become one of the principal means by which individuals exercise their right to freedom of expression and information, providing as it does essential tools for participation in activities and discussions concerning political issues and issues of general interest»’.

As referred early on, people are getting more and more dependent to the Internet, mostly because it is the easiest way to connect to people from different parts of the globe. Nowadays, most companies work worldwide, which means they may be assembled in a specific country, but they will most likely have employees in different parts of the world working for them, which evidences even the more the importance of the internet.

Firstly, I would like to ask our readers… Is the Internet a Right or a Privilege?

The main issue about the right to Internet is the fact that it is a technology and, to most of us, a service, which has led some people to believe that it cannot be a human right. Vinton Cerf stated that while technology can serve as the enabler of rights, it cannot be considered a right itself. For these people’s view, the Internet is merely a luxury for the privileged which, honestly, may be to same people. However, in many places around the world, especially in developing countries, Internet access is crucial for safeguarding human rights in other domains, including:

· - Health

· - Education

· - Equality

· - Employment

· -Safety

While some people consider it a privilege, some other believe the Internet itself is not a right, but it does allow people to have access to other rights. But should make the Internet a Human Right as well, right?

The toping is quite difficult to get an equal answer. However, I will mention the ones I consider to be more relevant to the topic under discussion.

In 2011, a repost was submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council that focused on the protection of freedom of expression. It was mention that the internet enables access to information, States that restrict access to the Internet are violating civil rights so they must ensure Internet availability at all times, and police should also be developed to promote this availability.

In 2016 the UN General Assembly passed a non-binding Resolution that “declared internet access a human right.” This created inspirational headlines around the world. However, the Resolution did not address governmental responsibility to provide access to all.

Furthermore, the Resolution was derived from article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and it is considered soft law, which means that nation-states do not face significant penalties for no adhering to it.

Quoting, once again, Vinton Cerf, his opinion does not go the same direction as the Council of Europe’s Governance Strategy of the years 2012-2015. According to this entrepreneur, «It is a mistake to place any particular technology in this exalted category (of human rights), since over time we will end up valuing the wrong things. »

Despite this infortune opinion, the Coronavirus pandemic has exposed to us why access to the internet is a human right, mostly because it has revealed that not everyone has internet at home (like we mentioned before). During the pandemic, the Internet has championed as the remedy for those forced to star at home. For the last almost 2 years’ people have spent their life, mostly, at home, working, studying, or just enjoying themselves at the comfort of their own house. Nevertheless, and as referred by Professor Rui Guerra Fonseca, this situation showed that the internet should be a Human Right provided by the government as without it, other human rights- including the right to work and the right to basic education- cannot be adequately realized.

Overwhelming, studies around the world shows the important of the Internet to access some kind of jobs, not to mention the ones who are dependents of the internet, such as, for example, the well-known Social Media Influencer.

As we can conclude, this is a topic that tangles lots of semantics, bureaucratic definition, and politics. On top of that, the answer will depend on who you ask.

In the end, regardless of how we frame it, the internet has become indispensable. A great quality-of-life improvement for some, in most developed countries it is still the sole platform for communication, education, and expression. In this light, no matter which definition we adopt in this asset, the right to Internet access should be upheld, and the UN’s growing interest in the subject is moving in the right direct.

And to finish this review, I would like to leave a quote by someone that has influenced the world to become, I believe, a better place. As professor Rui Fonseca mentioned at the beginning of the video, celebrities are the influencers of the world and multiple times they bring the topping of the Internet up to discussing. So, with no further delay, I would like to leave this quote by the singer, actress and entrepreneur Lady Gaga that dates back to 2019: «social media is the toilet of the internet». I realize how shocking this affirmation can be, but it only confirms that, from the Internet, we can get both good and bad information, we just need to know how to process it all. In fact, despite all the benefits the internet has brought to the world, it has also brought deadly consequences…However, this is not an excuse to reject the Internet as a Human Right.

Writing and research by Patrícia Domingues, Student of University of Lisbon Faculty of Law

Bibliography:

· https://nectmodem.com/should-the-right-to-internet-access-be-a-basic-human-right/

· https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2016/11/07/the-internet-as-a-human-right/

· https://www.coe.int/en/web/freedom-expression/history

· https://www.openglobalrights.org/covid-19-exposes-why-access-to-internet-is-human-right/

· https://sites.uab.edu/humanrights/2020/10/12/is-internet-access-a-human-right/

· https://spie.org/news/photonics-focus/janfeb-2020/how-to-write-a-scientific-paper?SSO=1

· https://metro.co.uk/video/lady-gaga-social-media-quite-frankly-toilet-internet-1872734/

· https://datareportal.com/reports/6-in-10-people-around-the-world-now-use-the-internet

· https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/05/4-billion-people-still-don-t-have-internet-access-here-s-how-to-connect-them/

· https://www.statista.com/statistics/433871/daily-social-media-usage-worldwide/