Skip to main content

UN staff, including eight OHCHR colleagues, detained in Yemen

OHCHR calls for their immediate release.

Learn more
Close

The right to privacy is central to the enjoyment and exercise of human rights online and offline. It serves as one of the foundations of a democratic society and plays a key role for the realization of a broad spectrum of human rights, including in the digital sphere, ranging from freedom of expression, freedom of association and assembly, access and enjoyment of economic and social rights. Interference with the right to privacy can also have a disproportionate impact on certain individuals and/or groups, thus exacerbating inequality and discrimination.

International legal framework

Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provide that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honor and reputation.

They further state that “everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.” While the right to privacy under international human rights law is not absolute, any instance of interference must be provided by law and subject to a careful and critical assessment of its necessity and proportionality.

Resolutions

Since 2013, the United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Council have adopted numerous resolutions on the right to privacy in the digital age.

The most recent resolution on the right to privacy in the digital age was adopted by the Human Rights Council in September 2019: A/HRC/RES/42/15.

Among the key aspects, the resolution recalls that States should ensure that any interference with the right to privacy is consistent with the principles of legality, necessity and proportionality. It affirms that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, including the right to privacy; and it acknowledges that the use, deployment and further development of new and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, can impact the enjoyment of the right to privacy and other human rights.

The resolution contains a range of recommendations to Member States and business enterprises aimed at ensuring respect and protection of the right to privacy in the digital age.

All resolutions on the right to privacy in the digital age

 

Resolution

Date

GA Resolution 75/176

December 2020

HRC Resolution 42/15

September 2019

GA Resolution 73/179

December 2018

HRC Resolution 37/2

March 2018

HRC Resolution 34/7

March 2017

GA Resolution 71/199

December 2016

HRC Resolution 28/16

March 2015

GA Resolution 69/166

December 2014

GA Resolution 68/167

December 2013