An international seminar to be held on 18 October on the theme of “Human Rights in the digital sphere” will bring together experts from different legal systems and jurisdictions, judges of the European Court of Human Rights and governmental representatives from Europe and beyond to examine the impact of digital transformation on human rights.

Key issues on the agenda include deciding where to draw the borderline between moderating harmful or illegal content online and censoring freedom of expression as well as who should decide if a specific content is harmful or illegal and be responsible for acting against it. The seminar will also examine the implications of the use of artificial intelligence for human rights, in particular the risk of discrimination, and the challenges of combatting cybercrime with appropriate rule of law safeguards.

The event is co-organised by the Council of Europe - with particular involvement of the European Court of Human Rights - the René Cassin Foundation and the Strasbourg general consulates of Japan and the USA to mark the 25th anniversary of the observer status of both states to the Council of Europe.

Opening speakers at the event include Robert Spano, President of the European Court of Human Rights, Bjørn Berge, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Ambassador Takeshi Akamatsu, Permanent Observer of Japan to the Council of Europe, Darragh Paradiso, Consul General and Deputy Permanent Observer of the USA to the Council of Europe, and Emmanuel Decaux, President of the René Cassin Foundation (International Institute of Human Rights). The hybrid-format event will be webcast live on the conference website.

 Programme

 Speech by Bjørn Berge, Deputy Secretary General