Mister President,

I would like to thank you for the opportunity to deliver this statement on behalf of “The role of good governance in the promotion and protection of human rights” resolution core group, comprising of Australia, Chile, Republic of Korea, South Africa and my own country Poland.

The COVID-19 pandemic, among many effects, caused an unprecedented surge in technology use in new, creative ways. Online public services, including healthcare or educational ones, remote work or even televised religious services – all of this became a new reality for a lot of us. Unfortunately for many switching to the online sphere meant exclusion from participating in public life and thus not full realization of human rights, including the right to health. Even more, for others COVID-19 digital reality entailed increased surveillance, misinformation or human rights abuses.

For these reasons the resolution on good governance in 2020 focused on ensuring that the pandemic did not deprive individuals from accessing public services, did not leave them behind and did not jeopardize their rights. New technologies indeed improved the realization of human rights and Sustainable Development Goals, in this context especially Goal no. 16. We firmly believe that new technologies, if used responsibly, can strengthen public institutions and increase their transparency or responsiveness so that they ultimately better serve their citizens. We also believe that we should further explore this topic.

Distinguished panelists,

We all can think of examples of digital measures introduced nationally during the pandemic. In what ways can states and international organizations further increase their synergy in utilizing new technologies in order to enhance good governance with a view of full realization of human rights?

I thank you.