Date and time: 14 April 2026, 10:00-17:30 CET.
Event type: Hybrid (onsite and online).
Event venue: Rue de la Loi 51, 1040, Brussels (room 1/45).
Organised by the European Commission, in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Supported by the EU-funded projects StandICT.eu and INSTAR.
The seminar follows the workshop organised at WTSA-24 on “How can ICT standards ensure that human rights are upheld in the era of new and emerging technologies, and it is one of the actions proposed in the contribution from the EU Member States and the European Commission to TSAG 2025.
In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, emerging technologies are revolutionizing our world, creating significant opportunities for innovation and societal progress, but also raising complex challenges that impact human rights. As these technologies - including artificial intelligence, metaverse, and 5G/6G - become more embedded in everyday life, it is critical to ensure that human integrity, dignity, and rights are upheld.
Human Rights are defined by regulators, and compiled in Conventions, Declarations and different legal texts. This workshop seeks to explore the role that ICT standards, which are crucial on the implementation of products, services and applications relying on the rise of new technologies, can play to preserve human rights in a connected digital world.
The discussions will focus on the role of technical standards in ensuring that these technologies are developed and deployed in ways that are consistent with human rights, including privacy, data protection, non-discrimination, access to impartial information or even right to work.
This event highlights the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach, bringing together diverse perspectives from governments, international organizations, the private sector, civil society and standards development organizations. Collaboration among these groups is vital to ensure the understanding of what is practically needed and meant to develop safe and trustworthy standard-setting processes.
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