Background and objectives

In her annual report to the Human Rights Council in March 2023 the Independent Expert on debt, other international financial obligations and human rights, Ms. Attiya Waris, will address the links between international financial obligations, digital systems and human rights.

The backbone of the digital economy is hyper connectivity which means growing interconnectedness of people, organisations, and machines that results from the Internet, mobile technology and the internet of things. The fast-growing digital economy has implications on human rights, the international financial architecture and how it is regulated in the context of prevailing multidimensional inequalities.

The use, speed, manner of operation, capacity and pace of operation of the digital system affects every single person, entity and state globally. The regulation of this space is continuing to evolve and as a result, laws, regulations, guidelines, and norms are in constant flux.

Within the context of foreign debt and international financial obligations and its impact on human rights, this brings in a host of specific dimensions and concerns. Remittances, for example, which are the largest and most stable source of foreign exchange, with digital advances, have been a growing source of revenue in many countries around the world.  Mobile money providers through their everyday transactions are leveraging the system, as are all others operating within economies engaging in cross order transactions which before was close to impossible.

In more technologically advanced spaces, the use of data and its analysis through artificial intelligence in the digital economy is transforming business models, facilitating new products and services, creating new processes, generating greater utility, and ushering in a new culture of management. However state processes are not keeping up with these developments.

Too often, public access to public finance contracts is minimal and bilateral agreements remain inaccessible on the one hand, while on the other hand state access to financial transactions in order to assess financial flows for purposes of regulation are also not accessible on the other hand. Unequal access to information and general opacity is a peculiarly difficult problem when digital systems are used.  Three elements of fiscal legitimacy – responsibility, transparency and accountability – will be the focus of the investigation of the Independent Expert into the limits of financial information data that countries and the public are able to access in order to generate revenue that can promote the realization of human rights.

In her report the Independent Expert will set out what areas States could choose to engage with and what they may want to regulate better in order to improve protections for their populations and to lift living standards. This discussion will include but not be limited to cryptocurrencies, virtual assets, digital currencies, the metaverse and stakeholders active in the digital provision of financial services, often across borders.

Questionnaire

The Independent Expert invites and welcomes all contributions from States, international financial institutions, civil society organizations and networks, trade unions, United Nations agencies and entities, private actors, academia, think tanks, and any other relevant stakeholders.

She invites all to share information, documents, statements or analysis to address generally, the links between international financial obligations, digital systems and human rights. The Independent Expert welcomes, in particular, answers to the following questions:

1. What are the challenges facing the regulation of financial transactions within the digital economy in the national, regional, continental and international levels?
2. What is the nature, scope and purpose of an international consensus on taxation of the digital economy that supports human rights?
3. What are the advantages/disadvantages of regulating the financial elements of the digital economy and of regulating digital systems that support transactions for least developing countries?
4. What measures and mechanisms should be put in place to ensure that a global digital tax incorporates human rights principles both in the way it is levied and how tax revenue generated is used?
5. Are there practices, legislation or policies at national or regional levels that could serve as good examples? Are there case studies that could be considered for this report, with specific reference where possible to remittances, cryptocurrencies and e-commerce marketplaces as well as taxation of businesses involved in digital systems?
6. How should States deal with the interactions between fiscal transactions and the metaverse - from a human rights perspective?
7. What other issues ought to be addressed by the Independent Expert in this domain, both for her report to the Human Rights Councils, 52nd Session, and for other activities and initiatives that she may undertake in line with her mandate?

Full background and Questionnaire
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Submission of information

Due to limited capacity for translation, we kindly request that responses be submitted preferably in English no later than 30 September 2022. All responses will be posted on the official webpage of the Independent Expert, below unless it is indicated that the submission and/or the supporting documentation should be kept confidential.