Digital Human Rights and the International Protection Mechanisms Established in International Instruments

Abstract

The paper discusses the notion of digital human rights, as well as the efficiency of the international protection systems, which are introduced into the system of international laws. The study deals with some of the most important questions that are associated with the definition of digital rights, the knowledge of their legality, and the extent to which the instruments of the international character especially those that are created by the United Nations guarantee their safety. Using a descriptive and analytical approach, the paper reviews systematically international legal documents, resolutions and academic points of view in order to evaluate the development and acknowledgement of digital rights. The results have shown that online human rights are a continuation of conventional human rights, which include such critical aspects as online privacy, freedom of speech, information accessibility, and online security. As noted in the analysis, significant international milestones, such as United Nations resolutions in 2013, 2014, and 2016, that state that the same rights accepted offline should also be established online, are also important. The paper also adheres to four key principles or accessibility, privacy, freedom of expression, and innovation in exercising digital rights in the modern digital environment. Despite these developments, the study indicates that enforcement continues to have unanswered questions including state surveillance, inconsistency of regulations, and the gap between the international and local provisions. The research concludes that although international legal tools offer a robust normative basis to the acknowledgment of digital human rights, more effective and binding legal tools are urgently needed to guarantee their effective enforcement in a more digitized world.