The Carr Center for Human Rights Policy serves as the hub of the Harvard Kennedy School’s research, teaching, and training in the human rights domain. The center embraces a dual mission: to educate students and the next generation of leaders from around the world in human rights policy and practice; and to convene and provide policy-relevant knowledge to international organizations, governments, policymakers, and businesses.

 

News and Announcements

Yanilda Maria Gonzalez Making a Movement

Making a Movement: Yanilda María González on Police Violence Against Racialized Communities

March 18, 2024

In her essay for the Carr Center's latest publication, Making a Movement: The History and Future of Human Rights, Yanilda María González discusses one of the most pervasive racial justice challenges: continued police violence against racialized and impoverished communities. 

... Read more about Making a Movement: Yanilda María González on Police Violence Against Racialized Communities
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Latest Publications

Rights, Systematicity, and Misinformation

Rights, Systematicity, and Misinformation

Abstract:

"The ethical impacts of technology can be understood, in part, by examining how it bears on human rights."

In this discussion paper by Matthew MacDonald, Technology & Human Rights Fellow ('22-'23), he discusses the dangers of new technology, misinformation, and how they intersect with human rights. "...It is possible for rights to evolve over time, and for new rights to emerge, in response to changes in the “systematicity” of significant hazards. Hateful misinformation is one hazard which is growing increasingly systematic as a result of technologically-driven changes to the infosystem. This motivates carefully re-examining the limits of an established right (the right to free speech), and seriously evaluating the case for a new right (a distinctive right against misinformation)," he writes.

Read the full paper here.

author/date: Matthew MacDonald | February 27, 2024
teaser text: The ethical impacts of technology can change how human rights evolve over time, with new rights emerging in response to changes in the “systematicity” of significant hazards, such as the rise in hateful misinformation.
Last updated on 02/27/2024

Game Over: The Unintended Consequences of Video Game Moderation

24_foxcahn_enzer.pdf5.6 MB
Game Over: The Unintended Consequences of Video Game Moderation

Abstract:

Online video games are social networks, afflicted with the same speech moderation questions as other social media platforms, like Meta and Twitter, including rampant abuse, harassment, and misinformation. Without effective self-regulation, the United States and other countries have sought to regulate gaming’s messages, content, and user experience. However, video games are not passive media players consume. They are an interactive medium steered by users’ participation and speech. Video games are much more like interactive worlds, like virtual reality platforms, seeking to bring work, parties, dating, play, and everyday life online. If governments choose to regulate video games, they must balance legitimate content moderation needs with the rights of Free Speech, Free Expression, and Free Association. Governments should enact legislation that empowers users’ freedom, like strong privacy and anti-government surveillance laws, instead of restrictive laws to prohibit categories of speech in video games. 

Read the full paper here.

author/date: Albert Fox Cahn & Evan Enzer | Feb. 16, 2024
teaser text: Online video games are social networks – and in addressing the same speech moderation questions as other social media platforms, governments should enact legislation to better empowers users’ freedom, rather than restrictive laws prohibiting speech.
Last updated on 02/16/2024

Does AI Understand Arabic? Evaluating the Politics Behind the Algorithmic Arabic Content Moderation

24_elswah.pdf4.26 MB
Does AI Understand Arabic? Evaluating the Politics Behind the Algorithmic Arabic Content Moderation

Abstract:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to be integrated into various domains and industries. Over the years, social media companies have utilized AI technologies to moderate users’ content, personalize recommendations, and optimize overall user experience. While machine learning models have been found effective in identifying and addressing harmful and violent content, a mounting number of concerns were raised regarding the bias and discriminatory decisions made by these models when applied to non-English content.

In this paper, Mona Elswah (Technology & Human Rights Fellow '22-'23) zooms in on the AI-powered content moderation by Meta’s Facebook in relation to managing Arabic content. She argues that the Arabic content is subject to “inconsistent moderation,” meaning that some content will be over-moderated, while other content will be left untouched despite violating the platforms’ standards. These inconsistencies have limited users’ ability to engage in meaningful political debates in the region. Put simply, Arabic-speaking users are now uncertain whether their content will be deleted or kept by the algorithm. This type of unclear and inconsistent moderation has led to a social distrust towards AI tools and applications among Arab Internet users. 

Read the paper here.

author/date: Mona Elswah | January 30, 2024
teaser text: Inconsistencies in AI content moderation for Arabic-speaking users on social media is limiting meaningful political debates in the region.
Last updated on 01/31/2024
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Upcoming Events

2024 Mar 27

Authoritarian Playbooks: Lessons from the New India (A Study Group with Nitika Khaitan)

Wed - Wed, Mar 27 to Apr 10, 2:00pm - 3:15pm

Location: 

Belfer B-L-4 Conference Room
Event DescriptionAs India’s elections approach, there is renewed focus on the country’s swift turn towards authoritarianism in the last decade. The study group examines this through the watershed moment of 2019-2020, beginning with large nationwide protests against the government in 2019 and ending with anti-Muslim violence in the nation’s capital in 2020. How does the “world’s largest democracy” respond to dissent? How do authoritarian regimes use the law to implement repression? Can the same law offer possibilities for resistance?... Read more about Authoritarian Playbooks: Lessons from the New India (A Study Group with Nitika Khaitan)
2024 Mar 28

The Role of International Courts in the Gaza Conflict

12:00pm to 1:15pm

Location: 

Allison Dining Room

Event Description: Join us for a lunchtime discussion with Kenneth Roth, Kathryn Sikkink, and Salma Waheedi as they analyze the current cases on Israel and Palestine that have been brought before both the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. A light lunch will be served.

Speakers:

Kenneth Roth is the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, one of the world's leading international human rights organizations, which operates in more than 90 countries. Prior...

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2024 Mar 28

The Digital Republic: Can Freedom and Democracy Survive in An Age of Powerful Technologies?

4:00pm to 5:00pm

Location: 

Zoom

Event Description: In this talk, leading lawyer and theorist Jamie Susskind will explore the challenges posed to freedom and democracy by powerful technologies. Bringing a global perspective, Susskind will argue that the West is not yet ready - intellectually or politically - for the world that is about to unfold, and he will set out what needs to change.

This webinar is part of the Carr Center's Towards Life 3.0 series. Towards Life 3.0: Ethics and Technology in the 21st Century is a talk series organized and facilitated by Dr. Mathias Risse, Director of...

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“The Carr Center is building a bridge between ideas on human rights and the practice on the ground. Right now we are at a critical juncture. The pace of technological change and the rise of authoritarian governments are both examples of serious challenges to the flourishing of individual rights. It’s crucial that Harvard and the Kennedy School continue to be a major influence in keeping human rights ideals alive. The Carr Center is a focal point for this important task.”

 

- Mathias Risse