The 2023 edition of RightsCon will be hybrid, taking place online and in Costa Rica from 5 - 8 June 2023. RightsCon is an annual event, led by civil society, that brings together different stakeholders working at the intersection of human rights and technology - from tech companies to government representatives to human rights defenders. The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre sees RightsCon as an important space for civil society to dialogue with businesses and investors, as well as better coordinate with other human rights organisations, to help build a rights-respecting digital future.

WHERE TO REGISTER

This year in-person meetings will be held in San Jose, Costa Rica, at the Costa Rica National Convention Center, and the hybrid and online sessions will be accessible through the RightsCon platform. We invite you to register for this event here.

The deadline to obtain tickets for online participation is 2 June.

The deadline to obtain tickets for in-person participation is 29 May.

OUR PARTICIPATION

We are co-organising the following sessions at RightsCon 2023:

Tuesday, June 6

10:15 - 11:15 CST: Mind the Gap: Private capital challenges concerning rights-respecting investments

Hosts: Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) | Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) | Amnesty International USA

Private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) firms play a crucial gatekeeper role in deciding which companies make it to market, and ultimately, this has far-reaching effects on the design, development and deployment of accountable digital technologies. For example, human rights abuses by surveillance technology and spyware companies have rightly received global attention, highlighting the dangers of unchecked downstream use and the disproportionate impacts it can have on marginalized and at-risk communities. The recent influx of investment in generative AI has also concerned rights groups, since there is little evidence that companies are proactively addressing the risks associated with privacy breaches, the rapid spread of misinformation, and potential impacts on government processes.

Investors increasingly recognize that the human rights risks related to the abuse of technology represent a material risk to their portfolios, and many have made noteworthy strides in fulfilling their responsibilities according to the UN Guiding Principles. However, there are still gaps in implementing human rights due diligence processes across various stages in the investment cycle, which carries risks for rights-holders.

Through a multi-stakeholder, private meeting between government, civil society and private capital investors, we will explore the human rights risks connected to private investment in tech, as well as discuss and identify practical and concrete ways to overcome the challenges that private capital investors have when applying human rights due diligence in the pursuit of rights-respecting investments.

16:30 - 17:30 CST: Human rights and environmental due diligence: regulation and realities

Hosts: Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) and Verizon

Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD) enables companies to identify, address and mitigate potential and adverse impacts on human rights. As this practice is growing in the ICT sector, regulation and policies guiding the design and implementation of HREDD is evolving across regions. The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive from the EU is one such example. The Directive is perceived as a critical development for corporate accountability and addressing the human rights and environmental impacts of companies. Civil society and other expert stakeholder groups have also developed several analyses on this Directive, pointing to areas that require further strengthening to align the directive with the core requirements of the UN Guiding Principles on Business. With the right provisions, HREDD regulations could help protect the rights of workers and communities along the far-reaching value chains of companies.

This session will bring together representatives of civil society, inter-governmental organisations, private sector and government to discuss the current state of HREDD and its future with the aim of raising more awareness and garnering greater coordination among these actors to strengthen HREDD.

Wednesday, June 7

Tackling the hard questions: A dialogue between human rights defenders and companies to strengthen stakeholder engagement in the context of human rights in the digital age

Hosts: Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) and The B Team

This private roundtable will bring together human rights defenders, civil society representatives, and company staff to explore ways to strengthen stakeholder engagement processes in the technology sector.

MEET OUR TEAM IN PERSON

During the event you can meet our team in person, they will be participating in different sessions hosted by partner organizations. However, if you would like to connect with them to arrange a meeting during the event please don´t hesitate to write to them:

Christen Dobson, Senior Program Manager, Civic Freedoms and Human Rights Defenders

Gayatri Khandhadai, Head of Technology and Human Rights

Meredith Veit, Technology and Human Rights Researcher

Danny Rayman, Technology and Human Rights Researcher (@dannyrayman)

Email to contact them: techaccountability [ at ] business-humanrights.org