Parliamentary Assembly

Draft recommendation

1The convergence between nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive sciences and the speed at which the applications of new technologies are put on the market have consequences not only for human rights and the way they can be exercised, but also for the fundamental concept of what characterises a human being.

2The pervasiveness of new technologies and their applications is blurring the boundaries between human and machine, between online and offline activities, between the physical and the virtual world, between the natural and the artificial, and between reality and virtuality. Humankind is increasing its abilities by boosting them with the help of machines, robots and software. Today it is possible to create functional brain-computer interfaces. A shift has been made from the “treated” human being to the “repaired” human being, and what is now looming on the horizon is the “augmented” human being.

3The Parliamentary Assembly notes with concern that it is increasingly difficult for lawmakers to adapt to the speed at which science and technologies evolve and to draw up the required regulations and standards; it strongly believes that safeguarding human dignity in the 21st century implies developing new forms of governance, new forms of open, informed and adversarial public debate, new legislative mechanisms and above all the establishment of international co-operation making it possible to address these new challenges most effectively.

4In this regard, the Assembly welcomes the initiative of the Council of Europe Committee on Bioethics to organise, in October 2017 on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Council of Europe Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (ETS No. 164, “Oviedo Convention”), an international conference to discuss the prospect of the emergence of these new technologies and their consequences for human rights, with a view to developing a strategic action plan during the next biennium 2018-19.

5In addition, the Assembly considers that it is necessary to implement genuine world internet governance that is not dependent on private interest groups or just a handful of States.

6The Assembly calls on the Committee of Ministers to:

6.1finalise the modernisation of the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (ETS No. 108) in order to have new provisions making it possible to put rapidly in place more appropriate protection;

6.2define the framework for the use of care robots and assistive technologies in the Council of Europe Disability Strategy 2017-2023 in the framework of its objective to achieve equality, dignity and equal opportunities for people with disabilities.

7In the light of the above, the Assembly urges the Committee of Ministers to instruct the relevant bodies of the Council of Europe to consider how intelligent artefacts and/or connected devices and, more generally, technological convergence and its social and ethical consequences related to the field of genetics and genomics, neurosciences and big data, challenge the different dimensions of human rights.

8Moreover, the Assembly proposes that guidelines be drawn up on the following issues:

8.1strengthening transparency, regulation by public authorities and operators’ accountability concerning:

8.1.1automatic processing operations aimed at collecting, handling and using personal data;

8.1.2informing the public about the value of the data they generate, consent to the use of those data and the length of time they are to be stored;

8.1.3informing everyone about the processing of personal data which have originated from them and about the mathematical and statistical methods making profiling possible;

8.1.4the design and use of persuasion software and of information and communication technology (ICT) or artificial intelligence algorithms, that must fully respect the dignity and rights of all users and especially the most vulnerable, such as elderly people and people with disabilities;

8.2a common framework of standards to be complied with when a court uses artificial intelligence;

8.3the need for any machine, any robot or any artificial intelligence artefact to remain under human control; insofar as the machine in question is intelligent solely through its software, any power it is given must be able to be withdrawn from it;

8.4the recognition of new rights in terms of respect for private and family life, the ability to refuse to be subjected to profiling, to have one’s location tracked, to be manipulated or influenced by a “coach” and the right to have the opportunity, in the context of care and assistance provided to elderly people and people with disabilities, to choose to have human contact rather than a robot.

9The Assembly calls for close co-operation with the institutions of the European Union and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to ensure a consistent legal framework and effective supervisory mechanisms at international level.