Remarks by Minister Ernesto Araújo during the 46th Session of the UN Human Rights Council - February 22nd 2021

Madam President, Ambassador Nazhat Shameem,

Madam High Commissioner,

Members of the Human Rights Council,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to address you all at this forty-sixth session of the UN Human Rights Council alongside my dear colleague, Minister Damares Alves, Minister for Women, Family and Human Rights.

Brazil values this Council as an indispensable forum where sovereign nations can debate the most urgent issues affecting human rights in the world.

We believe that the Council currently faces some of the most serious challenges since its creation. The foundations of international human rights law were laid by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which clearly defined fundamental freedoms as a determining element of the dignity of all people.

However, fundamental freedoms are threatened today by growing challenges and the COVID crisis has only contributed to exacerbating these trends. Whole societies are getting used to the idea that freedom must be sacrificed in the name of health. I do not criticize the lockdowns or similar measures that so many countries put in place, but we cannot accept a lockdown of the human spirit, which fundamentally depends on freedom and human rights to exercise its fullness.

Thus, we reaffirm our resolve, together with all nations, to work towards an international order that honors the standards established in the Universal Declaration and other international human rights treaties, in the face of the challenges of the present.

And the big challenge today is what I call technototalitarianism: from blocking platforms and websites to controlling content and information, from judicial measures and laws that criminalize online activities to the abusive or mistaken use of algorithms, the rising tide of control of the internet by different actors, driven by economic or ideological goals, has to be stopped.

Information and Communication Technologies have brought us the promise of new platforms for freedom of expression, with easier and wider access to information. But these technologies have been increasingly subjected to censorship, surveillance, and the creation of mechanisms for social control.

Any technology brings a potential for liberation, creativity, and well-being, and, at the same time, it also has destructive potential. Throughout the entire human adventure, from the discovery of fire to nuclear energy, the challenge of each era has always been to incorporate new technologies in favor of the good of humanity.

The 21st century is the century of information technology and artificial intelligence, and our task is to ensure that these technologies help liberate and magnify human beings from their intrinsic dignity, instead of subjecting or diminishing them by transforming each man and each woman into a simple collection of data to be explored.

It is in our hands to ensure that technology works for and not against human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. With a spirit of openness and dialogue, Brazil urges everyone to discuss, with urgency and depth, the topic of freedom of expression in the face of new technologies — a discussion that might be remembered by future generations as the great debate of our time — and invites everyone to establish instruments ensuring that, once again, humanity can make a technological leap without falling into the abyss of self-destruction.

I am pleased to turn the floor over to Minister Damares Alves.