- A domestic expert meeting takes place with the participation of the government, industry, academia, and civil society

1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a domestic expert meeting on Thursday, January 27, which was chaired by Deputy Director-General for International Organizations Park Jang ho.

° Experts representing relevant government ministries, industries, academia and civil society attended the meeting. The meeting took place to collect opinions of a wide range of stakeholders, ahead of an upcoming expert consultation to be held in March by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

※ △(government) Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of Justice, Korea Communications Commission, National Human Rights Commission of Korea, △(industry) Korea Internet & Security Agency, Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement, Korea Artificial Intelligence Association, Naver, Kakao, Samsung Electronics, △(academia) scholars from relevant field, Human Asia, △(civil society) Korean House for International Solidarity, Jinbonet, △(international organization) OHCHR

° Korea led the introduction and adoption of the resolution on “New and emerging digital technologies and human rights” in the 41^st session in July 2019 and the 47^th session in July 2021 of the Human Rights Council (HRC), and the OHCHR’s upcoming expert consultation in March is held according to the 47^th HRC session’s resolution.

※ Highlights of the resolutions on “New and emerging digital technologies and human rights” adopted by the UN HRC

- A/HRC/RES/41/11: highlighting the importance of a holistic, inclusive and comprehensive manner and multi-stakeholder cooperation in analyzing and addressing the impact, opportunities and challenges of rapid technological change with regard to the protection and promotion of human rights

- A/HRC/RES/47/23: building on the basic purpose of the above resolution, highlighting the importance of a human rights-based approach to new and emerging digital technologies in addressing and recovering from COVID-19, requesting the OHCHR to convene two expert consultations, etc.

2. The experts participating in the meeting shared domestic and foreign examples and advised on the role of States in promoting respect for human rights among technology companies and in providing for accountability and remedy in case of human rights abuses involving technology companies.

° Participants said that Korea, as a nation with advanced IT industries and a responsible middle-power country of the international community, has potential to perform a pioneering role in embracing an extensive scope of technologies and human rights as well as differing situations of all States in a holistic, inclusive and comprehensive manner.

3. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will submit inputs to the OHCHR prior to the March expert consultation, based on the results of this domestic expert meeting.

4. With growing attention of the international community on discussion on new and emerging digital technologies and human rights due to development of technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to expand the base for private-public cooperation and communication so that Korea can play a pioneering role in international discussions on ‘New and emerging digital technologies and human rights’ beyond leading relevant resolutions.