Someone Has to Be Watching: The Case for a UN Special Rapporteur on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights
Someone Has to Be Watching: The Case for a UN Special Rapporteur on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights On 6 November 2026, I sent this open letter to Canada's Permanent Mission in Geneva, the OHCHR information desk, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, and the Office of the UN Tech Envoy, ahead of the Human Rights Council's 64th session (22 February to 2 April 2027). At its 41st meeting on 6 October 2026, the UN Human Rights Council considered draft resolution A/HRC/63/L.25 on the implications of artificial intelligence for human rights and adopted it without a vote as resolution A/HRC/RES/63/15 — https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/RES/63/15. This is distinct from A/HRC/RES/63/12 (draft L.10) and A/HRC/RES/63/13 (draft L.17). In its second operative paragraph, the Council affirmed that "the design, development, deployment and use of artificial intelligence must be consistent with international law," including international human rights law. That matters...