By Yasmine Titouni / GICJ
The detrimental effect of misinformation puts the right to information under constant risk. As a result, it alters the trust and transparency of good democracies. Member states endorsed this viewpoint at the Annual Panel Discussion on the Impact of Disinformation on the Implementation of Human Rights, during the 50th session of the UN Human Rights Council on 28 June 2022.
The High Commissioner of Human Rights grounded the debate on the assessment of the ways in which media flows be contained without undermining freedom of expression and how solid trust can be achieved within an increasingly digitized environment.
To that, all panellists agreed on effective tools we possess to do so; the guaranteed rights to privacy, boundless access to information, and freedom of expression.
Misleading advertising practices recently triggered controversial debates on the extent to which biased access to information can undermine the trust civil society puts into its leaders. As mentioned during the discussion, it is important to reaffirm that 'shutting up' journalists and restricting access to the internet are short-sighted and counterproductive actions in the fight against misinformation and ‘fake news.
As suggested by the panellists, the highest collective achievement against the erosion of public trust would be the creation of a universal environment promoting access to information, a genuine interest in understanding government's agendas and multiple fact-based alternatives to controversial matters.
Geneva International Center For Justice (GICJ) supports the effort of the Human Rights Council to increase clarity on such challenging topics. We believe that campaigns promoting universal digital media and literacy access from the elderly to the most marginalized communities of society are viable ways of preventing the harms of misinformation.
HRC50, Special rapporteur, Interactive Dialogue, HRC50th, HumanRights, Human Rights Council, Justice, Geneva,
GICJ, Geneva International Centre for Justice, Geneva4Justice, misinformation
