By Natalie Ang, Advocate and Solicitor, Y. H. Teh & Quek
The 37th LAWASIA Conference 2024 is taking place from 13 to 15 Oct 2024 at Hilton Kuala Lumpur.
The session titled “Human Rights and Rule of Law — Tech and Activism: Opportunities and Challenges” was commenced by moderator, Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima David Wong Dak Wah, Former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak, who welcomed the five speakers for this session from different jurisdictions, as well as the audience attending the session. Tan Sri David next emphasised the growing significance of technology in social activism, highlighting the benefits of social media in reaching a broader audience and improving the efficiency of advocacy efforts.
The first speaker, Pradeepa Ganehiarachchillage from Sri Lanka, spoke on the topic: “The Rise of AI Activism: Challenges and Risks”. She discussed the impact of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) on various sectors, while highlighting potential risks and drawbacks, which related, amongst others, to matters of child protection. She raised concerns about the proliferation of material on child sexual abuse on social media, which posed serious threats to child protection. While some countries have AI regulations, mostly in Europe, she noted that nations like Sri Lanka and Malaysia are still in the process of drafting regulations, but have yet to fully establish them. She also stressed the importance of a mindful approach in using AI technologies, ensuring that the benefits are maximised while the risks and negative impacts are effectively mitigated through regulations.
The session followed with Shabina Begum from the United Kingdom, who focused on the issue of women experiencing cyber abuse. She engaged the audience by asking whether anyone had encountered social media abuse, prompting several participants to respond in the affirmative. Shabina Begum credited Professor Harin Sellahewa and Sara Hossain for their contributions to a paper on AI on protecting women, which served as the foundation for her session. She also emphasised that women are significantly affected by both physical and cyber abuse, with a notable increase in cyber abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also cited a case in England to illustrate honour-based abuse. She suggested that while chatbots can be trained to identify threats and potential risks, they currently lack the ability to understand human emotions, thus underlining the need to combine human and AI efforts to address these issues effectively.
The third speaker, Shanmuga Kanesalingam from Malaysia, discussed the role of technology — specifically satellite imagery and mapping — in investigating human rights abuses. He acknowledged the advantages of satellite imagery in identifying and verifying incidents. However, he also highlighted its limitation, noting that satellite imagery alone has drawbacks in determining the causes of incidents, and that relying solely on such technological evidence can pose challenges in a court setting. Focusing on indigenous groups, he explained how technology has been used to assist these groups in mapping their lands, citing the Indigenous Mapping Collective in Canada as an example. In concluding his session, he expressed his belief in the tremendous opportunities that technology offers to human rights activists and lawyers, suggesting that it can make certain tasks less challenging. Tan Sri David Wong concurred with Shanmuga Kanesalingam’s points about the benefits of satellite imagery and mapping technology, recalling his own experience as a judge, where he relied on physical map to determine areas occupied by indigenous peoples.
The next speaker, Yu-Shiou Chou (also known as Clarence Chou) from Taiwan, shared his insights in his paper titled “Technology as Human Rights: Taiwan’s Experience”. He discussed the evolution of media in Taiwan and explored the impact of the internet and web media on freedom of speech, as well as the challenges of regulating disinformation and fake news. Additionally, he addressed the role of independent media foundations in reporting and supporting human rights issues. He provided examples of Taiwanese media foundations that cover various topics and deliver content in multiple languages to reach diverse audiences.
The final speaker, Dr Uday Prakash Warunjikar from India, addressed the topic entitled “Civil Society Activism in Digital Age”. He began his session by discussing the concept of activism and noting a shift from traditional methods of generating public opinion, to using technology to express public opinion. However, he drew attention to the decrease in regulation of technological expression. He also highlighted the escalation of cases of lawyers working for civil society organisations being targeted, including being placed under surveillance and their transactions being monitored. Dr Uday also pointed out the issue of inaccessibility to technology, which hampers the ability of citizens to participate in digital activism. Dr Uday concluded his session by reviewing the legal frameworks in relation to digital activism, both internationally and within India.
In response to concerns about online abuse, racism and the role of AI in addressing these issues, Shabina Begum highlighted the need for an expansion of data and pattern recognition to develop effective solutions to “teach” AI the concept of abuse; while Pradeepa Ganehiarachchillage underscored the importance of AI technology, suggesting that we should focus on leveraging its advantages while also finding solutions to mitigate the challenges.
In concluding the session, Tan Sri David Wong referenced Geoffrey Hinton (“godfather of AI”)’s warning about the potential of AI to wipe out humanity, leaving the audience with a thought-provoking note.