Thank you, Mr Chair. Thank you for organising, with your co-sponsors, this Arria meeting. Many thanks also to today’s distinguished briefers for their insightful presentations.
It is said that every technology has a good potential and a bad potential. Estonia is a firm believer in the potential and real ability of new innovative technologies to benefit our societies. These technologies hold great promise for human and social development and welfare. They can allow us to live better, and also to govern better – enabling better access to information, transparent and efficient government, healthier democracy and greater protection of the rule of law.
Within the areas of specific concern to the Security Council and its mandated activities, the use of emerging technologies can strengthen, for instance, peacekeeping and counterterrorism activities, by providing, among other, better surveillance and data-analysis technologies. The recently released OCHA report on new and emerging technologies in humanitarian action shows well how the use of AI, blockchain, biometrics, unmanned aerial vehicles and other digital tools can enable more efficient humanitarian assistance.
However, the same tools and technologies that can be used to benefit societies can also be used to cause deliberate harm. There are clear risks involved to human rights, democratic processes and to the rule of law, with potential implications for international peace and security.
Using emerging technologies in military operations can involve destabilising activities that fall below traditional thresholds for an armed attack. This can lead to different understandings of what are permissible actions and reactions, thereby creating the risk for escalation. The increasing use of digital platforms to spread disinformation and propaganda, manipulate facts and ideas can also trigger or amplify tensions and conflicts. These actions can cause major disruptions to electoral processes and enflame grievances which may lead to violence. The emerging technologies have also become convenient tools for political repression. The new technologies have introduced novel ways for unlawful or arbitrary surveillance, including through the use of facial recognition or other biometric technologies to manipulate and disrupt real or perceived internal threats. Estonia is deeply concerned about practices that seek to assert excessive control under the pretence of ensuring national security while disregarding international human rights law and the principles of an open, free, secure, interoperable and reliable Internet.
Mr Chair,
The global reach of many emerging technologies and their impact requires global solutions and cooperation. Estonia has been actively engaging in a range of international fora to try to help address the risks involved and promote the uptake and use of emerging technologies in a way that is responsible, trustworthy, transparent and ethical and in line with the provisions of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law. We believe that it is of great importance that these efforts entail a multi-stakeholder approach embracing industry, academia and civil society. In order to ensure that technologies are used responsibly, we need political will and concerted cooperation across actors and regions.
I thank you Mr Chair.
