Background

Twice a year, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities issues calls for inputs to inform his thematic studies to be presented at the Human Rights Council at its March session and at the General Assembly in October.

Pursuant to Human Rights Council Resolution 44/10, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of person with disabilities will focus his  next thematic report on Artificial Intelligence and the rights of persons with disabilities. The report will be presented to the Human Rights Council at its 49th session in March 2022.

Summary

The thematic report on Artificial intelligence and the rights of persons with disabilities addresses the rapid growth in the use of artificial intelligence, automated decision-making and machine-learning technologies from a disability rights perspective. These new technologies can be of enormous benefit to persons with disabilities and drive the search for inclusive equality across a broad range of fields such as employment, education and independent living. However, there are many well-known discriminatory impacts.

While there is a growing awareness of the broad human rights challenges that these new technologies can pose, a more focused debate on the specific challenges of such technology to the rights of persons with disabilities is needed. In this thematic study, the Special Rapporteur intends to initiate and inform such a debate. In it, he describes the risks that this technology constitutes to the enjoyment of the human rights of persons with disabilities, as provided by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. He maintains that the human rights of persons with disabilities should be placed at the centre of the debate about these technologies. Once these risks are addressed, then the practical benefits of artificial intelligence might be realized. To that end, he also proposes some practical recommendations as to how this could be achieved in the final section of the report.

Call for inputs

A call for inputs and a questionnaire were issued to inform the preparation of the report. Contributions were sought from States, National Human Rights Institutions, civil society organizations, United Nations agencies, academia, international and regional organizations, corporate entities, individuals, and other stakeholders.
Download the questionnaire (available in English only):

• Questionnaire A: States [Word | PDF]
• Questionnaire B: NGOs, NHRIs, OPDs, human rights defenders and civil society, [Word | PDF] and
• Questionnaire C: Commercial undertakings, trade bodies, academic institutions, and similar undertakings engaged in the development of AI, ML and ADM and similar technologies. [Word | PDF]