The UN Human Rights Office has released a report providing an assessment of the impact of digital border technologies on human rights. The report acknowledges that while digital technologies help states achieve security objectives, they also lead to the actualization and amplification of human rights issues. The deployment of digital technologies like surveillance towers and video systems at sea and land borders by states could pose a risk to human rights as they are utilized to deter border crossings instead of assisting potential asylum seekers and migrants.
For instance, digital technologies might expose migrants to amplified human rights risks as they may seek to avoid surveillance systems for fear of detection. Furthermore, the report asserts that using algorithmic risk assessments to decide whether migrants should be detained could lead to discrimination based on gender, race, or ethnicity. The data processed by these algorithms could potentially result in biases if relied upon by human officers.
Also of notice, the UN Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families noted that these surveillance technologies may stigmatize migrants and limit the freedom of their movements. In light of these findings, the report suggests that states adopt a human rights-based approach to migration. As part of this approach, states are expected to conduct and publish human rights impact evaluations of their proposed digital border technologies and how they align with human rights obligations. States are also urged to forego the use of digital border technologies that are deemed detrimental to the protection of human rights.
This is not the first time the UN has conveyed concerns about the use of digital technologies. Earlier this year, Fionnuala Aoláin, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in Counter-Terrorism, wrote about how digital technologies employed in counter-terrorism operations perpetuate human rights violations globally. Similarly, the UN Human Rights Office noted that the use of surveillance technologies in Southeast Asia posed a threat to civil space due to increasing online abuse.