Equal Rights Trust’s Post

NEW: Our Director, Jim Fitzgerald has written for the Alliance for Universal Digital Rights (AUDRi) about our work on #AlgorithmicDiscrimination - our report #DiscriminatorybyDefault and the Principles on #EqualitybyDesign which we published last year. Check it out: https://lnkd.in/di4v5hZK Together with our partners in this work, Mary Kay Global, we're now launching a new collaborative effort to work with businesses to develop practical guidance on equality by design for those commissioning or using algorithmic systems. Thanks to Mary Kay for their partnership. And we'll soon be announcing a series of briefings for equality activists on what equality by design is, and how to engage national and international institutions on integrating this approach into regulatory frameworks. Please contact algorithmicdiscrimination@equalrightstrust.org for more info. ... and to read our report "Discriminatory by Default: Case studies on the discriminatory impacts of algorithmic decision making systems" or the Principles on Equality by Design in Algorithmic Systems, click here: https://lnkd.in/d9hHSxgy  

To mark the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Equal Rights Trust brought together a group of national equality organisations and coalitions from across the globe to issue a call for a "decade of action on equality and non-discrimination". The Trust and ten national equality organisations called on states to prioritise the enactment of comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation. The call to action was developed in response to the “push for pledges” launched by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, seeking pledges from states, civil society and other stakeholders making concrete commitments to advancing human rights to mark the 75th anniversary of the Declaration. It is signed by equality organisations and coalitions in 10 countries which are actively working to promote the adoption of comprehensive anti-discrimination laws in their respective countries - Federación Argentina LGBT+, Argentina; Non-Discrimination and Equality Coalition, Armenia; Nagorik Uddyog, Bangladesh; Defensoria Pública da União, Brazil; Alliance of Iraqi Minorities Network, Iraq; International Movement Against all forms of Discrimination and Racism, Japan; Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, Kazakhstan; South Korean Coalition for Anti-discrimination Legislation, Republic of Korea; Coalition for Equality, Kyrgyzstan and Stop the Discrimination Coalition, the Philippines. The pledge notes that 75 years on from the adoption of the Universal Declaration “more than half of the countries in the world do not have laws which provide effective and comprehensive protection from all forms of discrimination, on all grounds and in all areas of life”. It goes on to call on “all states which have yet to develop comprehensive anti-discrimination laws to do so”. In addition to calling on states to prioritise anti-discrimination law reform, the signatories pledge to work for the adoption of new laws in their own states. The pledge notes that the United Nations Practical Guide to Developing Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Legislation, developed in partnership with the Equal Rights Trust, states, unequivocally, that countries must enact and implement comprehensive anti-discrimination laws, and sets out the necessary elements of such laws. On Human Rights Day 2022, the High Commissioner for Human Rights called on states to use this Guide to “renew and reinforce their commitments to the equal enjoyment of human rights through enacting, enforcing and implementing comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation”.

Today, the Equal Rights Trust, together with a group of leading global equality organisations, publishes the Principles on Equality by Design in Algorithmic Decision-Making Systems. As the use of artificial intelligence and other algorithmic decision-making systems has spread, it has become clear that they are creating, replicating, and exacerbating patterns of discrimination on a wide range of grounds, in a variety of sectors and in many different areas of life. These impacts can be unintended, unforeseen, or challenging to identify or understand. If States and businesses are to identify and eliminate these impacts – and ensure compliance with their legal obligations – a new proactive, pre-emptive, precautionary and participatory approach is needed. Equality by Design is an approach to system design which requires and enables the discriminatory impacts – and any potential positive equality impacts – of algorithmic systems to be identified, assessed and addressed as an integral part of the development process. The Principles elaborate why States and businesses must adopt such an approach and provide detailed guidance on how to implement equality by design, as an integral element of wider human rights impact assessment procedures and processes. The Principles were developed by the Equal Rights Trust in consultation and collaboration with experts and activists from across the globe. They are endorsed by a group of international equality organisations who work with groups exposed to discrimination on a wide range of grounds – Alliance for Universal Digital Rights (AUDRi), Equality Now, HelpAge International, ILGA World, Minority Rights Group International, and Women Leading In AI. Alongside the Principles, the Equal Rights Trust publishes a new report – Discriminatory by Default? (available here: https://lnkd.in/e9Zh5hAB) – which presents fifteen case studies that exemplify some of the many different ways in which the use of these algorithmic systems can cause discrimination. It includes examples of discriminatory impacts arising on the basis of a wide range of protected grounds – including disability, nationality, sex, race and religion – in various areas of life and at every stage in the development and use of these systems. It includes case studies from across the globe, ranging from Paraguay to the Republic of Korea. The evidence presented in the Discriminatory by Default? Report underlines the fact that States and businesses must adopt an Equality by Design approach – as an integral element of wider human rights impact assessment procedures – if they are to address the discriminatory risks of these technologies and ensure compliance with their legal obligations.

On 15 June, we and our partners at United Nations Human Rights are holding our latest briefing on the UN Practical Guide to Developing Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Legislation. This briefing is targeted at activists, advocates + other stakeholders in the Caribbean. Register: https://lnkd.in/e82sUQ_M