UN report says India's new IT rules don't conform to international human rights norms

New Delhi: A report on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression by United Nations Office of the Human Rights Commissioner shows concerns on India's Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021

The report said that the IT rules in their current form, do not conform to international human rights norms.

The observations were made in Mandates of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy.

The report authored by Irene Khan, Clement Nyaletsossi Voule, and Joseph Cannataci said that "we are concerned that these new rules come at a time of a global pandemic and of large-scale farmer protests in the country, where the enjoyment of the freedom of opinion and expression, including the right to receive information, and the right to privacy, is particularly important for the realisation of several other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights,"

"We would like to recall that restrictions to freedom of expression must never be invoked as a justification for the muzzling of any advocacy of multiparty democracy, democratic tenets and human rights," the report added

The report said as a global leader in technology innovation, India has the potential to develop a legislation that can place it at the forefront of efforts to protect digital rights. However, the substantially broadened scope of the Rules is likely to do just the opposite.

"We would therefore encourage the Government to take all necessary steps to carry out a detailed review of the Rules and to consult with all relevant stakeholders, including civil society dealing with human rights, freedom of expression, privacy rights and digital rights", the report said.

"We understand the new Rules were issued under the Information Technology Act of 2000 and therefore, were not subject to parliamentary review or opened for consultation with stakeholders. We believe such consultations with relevant stakeholders are essential in order to ensure the final text is compatible with India's international legal obligations, in particular with Articles 17 and 19 of the ICCPR," it added.

This observation along with India's comment will also be made available subsequently in the usual report to be presented to the Human Rights Council, it added.