Summary

The present document contains the report of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent on its thirty-third session held in Addis Ababa and thirty-fourth session held in Geneva, both private, and focuses on the theme “Fulfilling the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of People of African Descent in the Age of Digitalization, Artificial Intelligence, and New and Emerging Technologies”, prepared pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions 9/14, 18/28, 27/25, 36/23, 45/24 and 54/26.

In the present report, the Working Group examines the implications of digitalization, artificial intelligence (AI), and new and emerging technologies for people of African descent. It analyzes embedded racial and other forms of bias, documented misuse and the actual and potential discriminatory impact, as well as the positive potential, on the human rights of people of African descent, especially with regard to economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs). The Working Group found an alarming gap between the proliferation and widening application of AI systems and their governance mechanisms, which, based on the evidence of biases and lack of transparency in the data and algorithms in their design, can result in disproportionate adverse effects on African descent populations, in particular in the protection and realization of their ESCRs. This is systematically overlooked by both public and private regulators, thereby contributing to the non-respect of obligations under international human rights law, and threatening to compound and normalize the inherent racism, and exacerbate racial discrimination and existing inequalities. The Working Group concludes by recommending several positive measures at the international, national and institutional levels for positive and non-discriminatory use of digitalization and AI in the context of the ESCRs of people of African descent.