Action Coalition on Responsible Technology

About the Action Coalition

The Action Coalition on Responsible Technology is working to improve human rights due diligence efforts and activities in relation to development and use of digital technologies. The UN Guiding Principles clarifies that businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights and outlines varying approaches that reflect a business’ involvement in negative impacts.  A critical first step for businesses is to understand their impacts, before then attempting to address or mitigate them. However, in the digital ecosystem it is challenging for any one business to do that without understanding the bigger picture context in which that company operates. By developing a common understanding of the digital technology ecosystem, the Action Coalition aims to provide a framework to improve understandings of digital ecosystem actors’ responsibilities and highlight possible actions, including collaborative and proactive measures, to address negative impacts.

Targeted Outcome

Supporting the improvement of human rights due diligence efforts and activities in relation to development and use of digital technologies.

Output during Year of Action

1. Strategy workshop: The Action Coalition members will conduct an initial Strategy workshop on 16 February 2022 to discuss guidance and knowledge resources and gaps related to ‘responsible technology, planned activities related to those gaps and necessary collective efforts and activities.

2. Thematic workshops: Throughout the year of action, the Coalition will host a series of thematic workshops related to the guidance and knowledge gaps identified, focusing on the lessons learned from the individual Action Coalition members, e.g. in connection with RightsCon in June 2022. The workshops will bring together stakeholders with an interest in the theme in question.

3. Thematic briefs: For each theme, and as a follow-up to the workshops, members of the Action Coalition will produce thematic briefs. This may include e.g. a mapping of the value-chain actors in relation to a variety of technologies (e.g. 5G networks, surveillance, social platforms, automated decision making in public service delivery), stakeholder engagement guidance, policy-coherence analysis of regulatory developments on digital technologies that include human rights related requirements.

4. Overview report: At the end of the year of action, the Action Coalition will develop a brief public output (e.g. 8-12 pages), summarising the activities of the action coalition and its members. The Action Coalition may seek to present the public output to the Biden Democracy Summit.

Progress

The AC has a following of 30 organisations and mailing list with +100 recipients.

In 2022 the AC is organising a number of activities under 3 work streams:

1) An ecosystem mapping report – Consultation of GNI members and through RightsCon event (completed).

2) Stakeholder engagement – identifying priority areas to strengthening the role of stakeholders (completed).

3) Policy coherence – identifying synergies and conflicts of regulatory developments (in progress).

Next steps

• Work stream 2) final publication with recommendations to be published by B-tech.
• Work stream 3) the publication of a tech supplement to a publication on various policy developments related to human rights due diligence.