Tag Archives: human rights

75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “The common standard of achievement for all people and all nations”

This year on the 10 of December we commemorate the Human rights day that will also be accompanied by a High-Level hybrid event on the 11-12 of December. Please see below for more information on this event.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, a landmark document that established a common standard for human rights around the world. Following World War II, which was characterized by terrible atrocities and extreme suffering for humanity, the UDHR emerged. The urgent need to create a global framework for protecting human dignity and preventing future violations led to its formation.

Over these 75 years, the Declaration’s main goals have been to instill justice, equality, and fundamental freedoms in society. It is a cornerstone of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, serving as a worldwide model for regional, national, and local laws and regulations.

A variety of human rights allude to the work of libraries: Article 12 refers to the right to privacy; Article 26 marks the right to education; Article 27 states that everyone has the right to freely participate in the cultural life of the community; and of course, the heart’s mission of libraries is reflected in Article 19, which refers to the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

In addition to providing access to information, libraries and librarians play a vital role in promoting and protecting human rights worldwide by building awareness, empowering individuals and communities, developing diverse collections, programs, and services, promoting inclusion, and advocating for policy change.

IFLA has promoted human rights through a variety of means, placing the principles of freedom of access to information and freedom of expression at the heart of its values alongside wider human rights.

In 1997, IFLA’s decision to establish the Committee on Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE) strengthened the Federation’s commitment to actively promote and defend human rights in relation to information access. This decision encouraged the profession to engage pro-actively with human rights, which was a radical expansion of the profession’s self-concept.

As expressed in the Glasgow Declaration on Libraries, Information Services, and Intellectual Freedom, IFLA proclaims the fundamental right of human beings both to access and to express information without restriction.

As we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Human Rights Declaration, it is crucial to continually defend against ongoing challenges to freedom of expression and freedom of access to information. It is also a useful opportunity to remember their relevance in today’s post-pandemic world, with challenges such as armed conflicts, attacks on press freedom, disinformation, hate speech, censorship, and discrimination.

This decade has been called “The Decade of Action to deliver the Global Goals,” which calls for accelerating sustainable solutions to all the world’s biggest challenges through global action and building on the progress achieved in the last 75 years. This decade will be the most critical for our generation. This call for action involves all sectors; today, more than ever, the work, ethics, and professionalism of librarians are needed to tackle the global challenges. Upholding and promoting human rights requires ongoing work.

In 2023, the UN Human Rights Office will be organizing a High-level Event on 11 and 12 December to mark the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The event is the culmination of Human Rights 75 – a year-long initiative by the Office to reaffirm the values of the Universal Declaration and recommit to human rights as the pathway to address the challenges of today and the future.

The event allows for hybrid participation and it is a good opportunity for people in the library field to reaffirm the important role that libraries play in this process.

Click here to access the event and registration page.

This post was written by Jonathan Hernández, Chair of the Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression Advisory Committee for the 2023-2025 period.

Libraries and Human Rights in 2021: Evolving circumstances, constant commitment

Every year, international Human Rights Day on 10 December commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the UN General Assembly in 1948. This year’s theme – Reducing inequalities, advancing human rights – is a strong call to action to deliver on equality and fundamental rights for all, particularly in times of crisis. As libraries uphold their commitment to promoting and championing human rights, this day offers an opportunity to reflect on progress made, continuing efforts, and new developments.

Libraries’ relationship with human rights is multidimensional – in no small part shaped by their overarching commitment to free and equitable access to information, as well as their everyday work relating to the rights to culture, science, civic participation, education, and free expression. On the other hand, libraries’ work itself can depend on an enabling environment around them which respects fundamental rights.

Meanwhile, the broader human rights landscape continues to evolve – with both new initiatives to defend fundamental rights, as well as events and developments that challenge these in new ways.

Consider some of the ongoing human rights discussions taking place today: the ways that online algorithmic content delivery and curation systems can impact the rights to privacy and to freedom of expression; the implications of mis- and dis-information (and some responses to it!) on freedom of opinion and expression; the effects of digitisation (and the growing involvement of private sector actors which often accompanies it) on the right to education, or the ways the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the cultural sector and people’s enjoyment of cultural rights (and digital cultural opportunities that try to offset some of these setbacks), and others.

These are just a few of the recent human rights developments that can have an impact on library work – on the roles that library services play in delivering on fundamental rights, on day-to-day library practices, on new services they develop, and so on.

As both library processes and the communities around them change and evolve, new human rights considerations, implications and good practices emerge.

What can this look like in practice? The members of the FAIFE Human Rights Working Group – Buhle Mbambo-Thata, Fiona Bradley and Margaret Brown-Sica – have highlighted several examples of emerging human rights considerations which impact libraries, drawing on examples from three regions – Sub-Saharan Africa, Australia in Asia-Oceania, and Canada and the USA in North America. While some emerging human rights issues are experienced across the regions, others are more specific to one or more countries:

  • Oceania and Australia, among other regions, are already experiencing the effects of climate change – more extreme weather, rising waters, and intense bushfires. Access to environmental information as defined under UDHR Article 19 and the Aarhus Convention are essential. Yet, libraries face many technical, legal, and cost barriers to provide information, particularly in local languages.
  • Australia has adopted legislation outlawing modern slavery in supply chain and business practices. This means that libraries, and all other organisations, must evaluate their suppliers’ compliance with ensuring that no books, materials, furniture or other items have been produced with forced labour. Some library vendors are required to report their own practices annually (see, for example, a RELX Modern Slavery Act Statement).
  • The Asia-Oceania region has also spearheaded numerous laws and initiatives that seek to address online harms and content. These impact the types of content libraries, including public libraries, may offer, and the steps they may need to take to prevent access to such content. Some recent developments in this area include the Christchurch Call, a series of commitments by government and tech companies to combat extremist online content, and a collaboration between Australia and Fiji on eSafety and reducing online harms. In the meantime, both the Australian Library and Information Association and public libraries in Australia support a range of activities around eSafety, particularly for children – from cybersafety checklists for libraries to Safer Internet Day campaigns, and other ways to promote responsible and safe use of the internet and ICT.
  • Access to information remains a crucial and fundamental human right – and such access is increasingly mediated by the internet. Libraries rely on digital tools more and more often to deliver services, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when physical access has often been restricted. However, for political reasons, internet blackouts and shutdowns continue to occur, hindering access to library services – including recently in several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions.
  • There has been a positive development in the protection of personal information in South Africa through the implementation of the Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act, which prohibits use of personal information without the consultation of the owner. This falls into a broader trend of new-generation data privacy laws that aim to deliver on the fundamental rights to privacy in the evolved digital environment, which libraries also operate in.
  • The United States has recently seen a resurgence in efforts to ban books, particularly in school libraries. The focus has been on materials that document and discuss the lives of people who are gay/queer/transgender or Black, Indigenous or persons of color. The American Library Association has issued a statement addressing this issue: “We are committed to defending the constitutional rights of all individuals, of all ages, to use the resources and services of libraries. We champion and defend the freedom to speak, the freedom to publish, and the freedom to read, as promised by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.” 
  • Canada marked its first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation on September 30, 2021. The Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA-FCAB) published a report which urges action by libraries to deliver on Indigenous Rights, and highlights the many measures that can help achieve this. These focus in particular on decolonising libraries and spaces (which includes, for example, ensuring that space planning and design are culturally appropriate, territorial acknowledgements, library programming created in collaboration with local Indigenous stakeholders, and more), and decolonising access and classification (i.e. addressing biases and integrating Indigenous epistemologies into knowledge organisation and information retrieval systems) as part of this movement.

As the examples above show, there is a wide range of emerging, changing and evolving human rights considerations and good practices that shape library practices today. Maintaining dialogue and sharing experiences within the global library field remains a valuable tool to find effective ways to deliver on human rights commitments – so, on this Human Rights Day, we encourage and welcome you to share your own thoughts and perspectives on emerging human rights trends!

What key human rights considerations are prominent in your own local, national or regional library fields? What new developments have shaped your views on library human rights commitments? What good practices can help navigate this changing landscape?

You can join the discussion by using hashtags #Libraries4HumanRights and #StandUp4HumanRights – and we look forward to continuing these important conversations both today and throughout the year!

COVID-19, libraries and human rights: Notes from Italy

As most people know, Italy was the first European country to be affected by the pandemic with significant consequences (up to October 15, 2020, 382,602 recorded cases and 36,372 deaths). Already in February 2020, the first ‘red zones’ were set up to try to stop the spread of the contagion. At the governmental and regional levels, between 30 January and 11 March 2020, several government decree-laws were issued that severely restricted people’s daily lives, affecting individual and collective rights: the obligation to stay at home (except for carrying out essential needs such as shopping – only food), the interruption of cultural and social sports activities, closure of schools and universities and numerous production activities, suspension of a large part of health care services, the prohibition to visit the sick and the elderly.

For the public, from the perspective of human rights at large, the most striking limitation was related to mobility, with the prohibition on moving more than 200m away from one’s home to take a walk. Another severe limitation concerns participation in democratic life, with the impossibility of holding meetings, assemblies, public demonstrations, debates, and participating as citizens in the proceedings of town councils. As regards to the freedom of information, it is essential to point out that a reason considered to be valid for leaving one’s home was to go to the newsstand to buy the newspaper or magazine, a necessity considered on a par with buying food or going to the pharmacy.

Libraries were officially closed from 9 March 9 to 30 April, but several libraries already imposed substantial restrictions in services or closed from February 23, and many only reopened towards the end of May or later. At the time of writing (October 2020), some libraries are still closed.

In response, the National Public Libraries Committee of the Italian Library Association launched a participatory process in the spring, involving librarians from different regions of Italy, to start a public debate on the future of library services from the perspective of their current experiences [1].

Library online events: helping deliver on the rights to information, culture and education

Libraries’ responses to the pandemic varied. For example, university libraries operated according to rules set out by their host institutions (related to the interruption of lessons in attendance, teaching activities, and remotely held exams). Public libraries tried to restore lending services as soon as they could. In contrast, events, guided tours, reading groups, activities with schools were canceled. It has been calculated that in the Emilia-Romagna Region alone (about 1,500 libraries), more than 2,000 events in libraries and archives were canceled during the lockdown period [2].

However, many libraries worked to make up for the closures with home loans and by organising online events focused on “distance reading.” Many activities were dedicated to children and young people, to support and supplement school activities, or to support children staying at home. Libraries organised hundreds of events to help deliver on the rights enshrined in the “Rights of the Child” Convention – their right to information, special needs, education, rest, leisure, and play.

One example is the readings for children at the Municipal Library of Cisterna di Latina. Other activities were organised for adult target audiences – for example, a contemporary poetry reading at the Library “Il Mulino di Vione” in Basiglio (Milan)[3].

Digital content and resources: adapting to circumstances and responding to demand

For the society at large, the rapid shift to digital in education, work, and leisure saw some evidence of a forced “digital training” of the population in Italy. Evidence of increased readiness to use the internet for daily tasks can be seen, also, in the development of e-commerce during the lockdown. There, for example, it is estimated that by the end of 2020, there will have been a 26% increase in e-commerce revenue. In parallel, people shared music made from home in #iorestoacasa.

Libraries have worked to extend their digital offer to keep pace with these changes. A great deal of work has been done on digitizing the collections of museums and historical libraries, with numerous art exhibitions and museum collections turned into digital guided tours. As cultural institutions were closed and leisure travel was forbidden as well, these actions were particularly effective in order to guarantee the right to education, and participation in cultural life.

Libraries have also been engaged in promoting digital resources, particularly the MediaLibraryOnLine (MLOL) platform, which already existed but was underused until now. Of particular interest are the growth figures of this newsstand service platform.

USE (Jan. 1 – Sept.1) Growth in 2019 compared to 2018 Growth in 2020 compared to 2019
Reading sessions + 25,32 % + 97,45 %
Titles + 9,66 % + 0,11 %
Users + 18,91 % +82,32 %

 

Table 1 – MediaLibraryOnLine (MLOL) Increase of Sessions and users (courtesy Giulio Blasi – Horizon Unlimited)

 

Even with the “official” reopening of the libraries, it remains complicated to consult materials, and practically impossible to read newspapers in libraries. As a result, this push to use digital resources should be encouraged so as to avoid the reduction in the possibilities of access to information in a country like Italy.

This is important, given that the right to information is a relatively recent social right, as set out in Constitutional Court resolution no. 420 of December 7, 1994, which enshrines the necessity “to guarantee the utmost pluralism of information channels to satisfy, through multiple diverse voices, people’s right to information”.

 

Enrica Manenti (Italy) – IFLA FAIFE Network

October 28, 2020

 

 

 

[1] See <https://www.aib.it/struttura/commissioni-e-gruppi/cnbp/> (last checked October,28 2020)

[2] See Turricchia, R., L’impatto del Covid-19 sulle biblioteche dell’Emilia-Romagna, AIB Notizie, 6 agosto 2020 <http://aibnotizie.aib.it/limpatto-del-covid-19-sulle-biblioteche-dellemilia-romagna/> (last checked October, 18 2020)

[3] For evaluating first effects of lockdown on libraries see AIB Studi , vol. 60, Jan./Apr. , 2020, < https://aibstudi.aib.it/issue/view/1167/> (last checked October, 18 2020) and the on-line window on National Italian Libraries’ Day – BiblioPride < https://www.aib.it/attivita/bibliopride/bibliopride2020/>

World Press Freedom Day: Libraries Supporting Intellectual Freedom during the Pandemic and Beyond

May 3rd marks the annual World Press Freedom Day, and this year’s dedicated campaign launched by UNESCO focuses on the theme “journalism without fear or favour”. This day puts the spotlight on challenges to press freedom and independence, safety of journalists, and gender equality in media. For libraries, these issues are of course deeply connected to their core mission and values of access to information and intellectual freedom.

Where does news media stand in 2020?

On World Press Freedom Day 2020, journalism and news media are facing new and remerging challenges, even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. A recent statement by the Council of Europe, for example, highlights that some legislative initiatives against disinformation can have significant and disproportionate impacts on press freedom and people’s right to receive information. The International Press Institute points out the different challenges that have emerged or intensified: from increasing restrictions on ‘fake’ news, to limits on journalists’ access to information, financial or accreditation challenges, and more.

On a larger scale, the newly released 2020 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RWB) highlights the key pressures that impact the future of free, independent and diverse journalism. These include: geopolitical and economic crises, the evolution of digital informational ecosystems where journalism and advertising, political, economic and editorial materials coexist and compete, and hostility and mistrust towards journalists.

The good news is that the overall global indicator does register a small overall improvement of press freedom in the world since last year. That being said, the RWB report emphasises that the coming decade will have a profound impact on the future of freedom of information and media.

What is the role of libraries?

Naturally, there is a significant degree of affinity between journalistic and library values – as a 2019 Nieman Foundation Report points out, both fundamentally work to inform and empower communities. This can work as a powerful starting point for collaboration – so can libraries help address some of the key challenges the RWB report outlined?

The economic crisis: hybrid models and partnerships

One of the big impacts of the economic crisis in news media is arguably the financial sustainability challenges that local news faces. One possible solution to this challenge that is being discussed over the last few years is providing support to local newsrooms, for example by providing space in such public facilities as libraries or post offices – or even libraries delivering local news directly.

While this is still an emerging idea, libraries and local news organisations continue to explore ways to cooperate. Some collaborations are a continuous arrangement – like a grassroots local online news organisation NOWCastSA housed inside the San Antonio’s Central Library in the United States. As a Nieman report points out, this partnership also allowed them to team up and carry out joint events, and to highlight some of the library’s programming in NOWCastSA’s reporting.

Some initiatives have even evolved to adapt to the difficult COVID situation. For example, in New York, an independent news outlet THE CITY launched a joint project with the Brooklyn Public Library called “The Open Newsroom”. Already in 2019, they had started hosted public meetings in library branches to identify key neighbourhood concerns and see how the local news can be more collaborative and better serve the needs of the community. Now, in the face of the pandemic, the plans for a second round of meetings have been adjusted, and the public meetings will be organised filly online, allowing the project to continue!

Tackling the crisis of trust and technology

If a lack of trust and confidence in news and media – especially in the hyper-dense online environment – is one of the pressing challenges to journalism, media literacy can definitely be an important part of the solution.

A draft Council of Europe study on “Supporting Quality Journalism through Media and Information Literacy” identified five main models of MIL activities; and libraries and community media play a key role in the “training model”. Reports drawing on Swedish and Finnish approaches to MIL, for example, also show how libraries can be actively engaged in delivering MIL training to their communities.

Partnerships in the area are also common: for example, NewsGuard – a company developing “nutritional labels” for popular news sites to mark how correct the information is – has a partnership program for libraries in Europe and the US.

Advocacy: together for Intellectual Freedom

Naturally, libraries and library institutions are often actively engaged in promoting and standing up for Intellectual Freedom. The Canadian Federation of Library Association, the Canadian Urban Libraries Council, and several library associations, for example, recently celebrated the Freedom to Read week, a campaign focusing on promoting freedom of expression, freedom to read and report the news. Such library initiatives clearly show the significant overlap between libraries’ Intellectual Freedom values and the freedom of press.

Drawing on library expertise – news media digitisation and preservation

Even though perhaps less relevant for current day-to-day journalism but rather for historic records, libraries can also help preserve the news that has been published. News archiving and preservation in the digital age can be a challenge: a recent Columbia Journalism Review report, for instance, points out that many news agencies they had interviewed don’t see the value in preserving their output, or do not have established preservation policies and practices.

This is also a prospective area for collaboration. The University of Missouri Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute and University Libraries, for example, have received a grant for a joint project to explore ways to preserve today’s digital news. They plan to set up visits with US and European news agencies to see how their policies, equipment and operations impact their preservation processes.

Another example is a web archive launched by several Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation librarians, aimed at preserving some specific areas of at-risk online news web content. These are a few examples of how libraries can help make sure the valuable work of journalists is preserved.

Similarly, libraries have been clear in underlining that applications of the principle of the ‘Right to be Forgotten’ should respect press freedom. In a recent joint statement with the International Council on Archives, IFLA stressed also that broader privacy legislation should not lead to the deletion of news articles in collections, and so their non-availability for future generations.

All these and other areas show the connection between libraries and journalism – and their shared values. World Press Freedom Day is the opportunity for us to celebrate intellectual freedom, freedom of expression and access to information – and see what can be done to uphold these.

Facial Recognition, Libraries, and Intellectual Freedom

FAIFE is marking the 20th anniversary of the IFLA Statement on Intellectual Freedom. As part of this, Jonathan Hernandez-Perez, a FAIFE member from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) has shared the below blog on the subject of facial recognition technology, and what it means for libraries and their values. 

 

Facial recognition is one of the current obsessions of the tech industry, with regular high-profile product launches meaning that it is also high on the public agenda. It has developed rapidly over the last years, making it possible to undertake tasks that usually take hours in just the blink of an eye.

Yet as the number of public spaces that use this technology keeps rising, so too do the public’s concerns about privacy and surveillance, leading to many  more negative media headlines and an intense social media debate. This blog explores what facial recognition technology is, the questions it raises, and what this means for libraries.

 

What is Facial Recognition?

Facial recognition is a type of technology that allows the verification and identification of a person through analysis of his/her facial features. This technology has been with us since long before the coming of the internet.

With the intention of obtaining a definition of the “criminal face” during the 19th century, several facial patterns of ex-convicts and criminals were gathered. Fortunately, the idea that the measurements of someone’s head are associated with criminal tendencies has long been rejected.

However, some of the techniques involved have been enriched and improved, involving a greater number of actors and interests, leading to current technology that makes our daily lives more comfortable, from the basics of unlocking our cellphones or automatically “tag” a friend in a picture, to the more complicated issues, such as airport check-ins, tools to validate our identities at ATMs, or even means of gauging emotional responses. It turns our face, our emotions, and expressions into a bar code.

Furthermore, facial recognition has the potential to be combined with other technologies in order to combine and enhance the tracking that happens in the digital and physical sphere.

 

Enabling Surveillance, Hidden Bias

The convenience allowed for by facial recognition comes with a price, and in the digital era the cost is our privacy. This is because nowadays, our facial expressions – the very essence of human social and emotional interaction – have become an object of experimentation, propaganda, and database development. Arguably, we are only partially aware of the extent and consequences this technology could have in a very short time period, particularly because biometric technologies are still not widely understood.

A particular worry is the degree to which facial recognition technology enables mass surveillance. In 2013 the IFLA Trend Report stated that expanding data sets – for example of faces – held by governments and companies will support the advanced profiling of individuals, while sophisticated methods of monitoring and filtering communications data will make tracking those individuals cheaper and easier, warning that serious consequences for individual privacy and trust in the online world could be experienced. This now appears to be coming true.

In 2014, Insecam demonstrated the possibility of illicitly obtaining images from security and surveillance cameras that use weak passwords. This poses a particular threat to public privacy since they are placed in public spaces. Meanwhile, in 2016, a Russian photographer carried out an experiment to show how easy it was to identify strangers in the streets using only one picture to identify them. More recently, FaceApp, which takes your photo and gives an idea of how you’ll look decades from now, put back into focus the privacy vulnerabilities of mobile applications.

The consequences of the implementation of facial recognition technologies have come into the spotlight with the recent protests in Hong Kong, showing how our faces can become a weapon either for persecution or prosecution. Responding to public pressure, some cities have begun to ban the use of facial recognition software by state agencies; San Francisco, Somerville, and Oakland are the first cities in the United States with a regulatory law over this topic.

A further concern is around the risk of bias in facial recognition technologies. These systems are usually trained on a different number of faces from specific groups of people with similar facial characteristics (Mostly Caucasian) which could lead to the failure of people recognition in a more diverse environment, and in a legal way, this could lead possible mistaken identification entailing people to crimes they didn’t commit.

This matter involves race, gender identity, and sexual orientation issues which makes it more threatening and harmful, there are a number of examples of how this technology is developing an automated racism.

 

Impacts for Libraries

This year IFLA celebrates the 20th anniversary of the “IFLA Statement on Libraries and Intellectual Freedom”. It is as crucial as ever to underline one of its key principles:

Library users shall have the right to personal privacy and anonymity. Librarians and other library staff shall not disclose the identity of users or the materials they use to a third party.

This principle is relevant at the moment because today, privacy and mass surveillance are some of the most pervasive and threatening issues we face. Certainly, we risk seeing facial recognition turn from being a “fad” into a normal practice and would eventually be part of a new common sense and part of our mainstream culture. This would imply an important loss of privacy.

Libraries have always worked to keep up to speed with new technology and to make best use of the possibilities it offers. Therefore, facial recognition will also impact in their services.

Facilitating the registration, loan, and access to information resources could be a very attractive reason to implement this kind of technology in libraries. Companies are already selling biometric software for book loans and some libraries have been using these systems for a couple of years now.

In the near future, libraries may be able to offer material based on our facial expression, then, our face could become a personal card that does not belong to us, associated with all the data about books read, web pages consulted, and topics we are passionate about. If we are not aware of the extent of this information, it could become a big threat to our privacy.

As a result, the use of this technology in libraries is a matter that should be analyzed in the light of user freedoms and rights, and the potential damage it could do to privacy and intellectual freedom, values that libraries have defended for years.

Therefore, libraries must provide digital secure spaces where our movements are not tracked and develop privacy programs for librarians and their community. An interesting example is the Library Freedom Institute, which teaches librarians and patrons how to protect their privacy online and how to influence public policies on this matter.

 

Conclusion

Although we may share similarities with other people all over the world, every face has its own interesting and unique features. Thousands of databases are daily fed with biometric information and we are taking part into this dynamic through our daily digital behavior. But the problem shouldn´t be attached to the user. Knowing the value of our data or agreeing on the terms and conditions companies impose it’s not enough, neither is derision or banning some apps or software.

What is required is having strong legal frameworks and policies that protect individual rights for limiting such tracking. Libraries can both lead the way in their practice, and push for the right laws and regulations in their advocacy.

World Press Freedom Day 2019

By providing access to information, knowledge, ideas and opinions, libraries everywhere uphold the value of intellectual freedom as the basis of an informed, democratic society.

They do this both by acting as the guardians of manuscripts, documents and books, and as a place where anyone can access the information they contain.

Press publications already form a core part of many collections. But libraries are also increasingly realising their role not just as a place to access, but also to share and create information., including by supporting journalism and public debate.

Today, 3 May, we celebrate World Press Freedom Day to support, and raise awareness of the fundamental principles of press freedom and freedom of expression!

World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993 following a Recommendation adopted at the twenty-sixth session of UNESCO’s General Conference in 1991.

It serves as an occasion to inform citizens of violations of press freedom, as well as a reminder of the censorship still seen in many countries today. It also recalls the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) Article 19:

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

Librarians fighting for the right to speak up

Journalists, editors, publishers and librarians can often be targeted by those who wish to restrain press freedom and punished for bringing news and information to the public.

In a recent incident, a librarian in Kansas City, US was arrested simply for standing up for a library patron’s right to free speech during a public event featuring a former US diplomat at the library.

The library hosts between twelve and twenty speakers each month, and though some of the topics and speakers have been controversial, the events have always been peaceful.

None the less, both the librarian and the patron were faced with criminal charges. 6 months ago, the case went to trial and the librarian was found not guilty on the charges of obstruction, interfering with an arrest, and assaulting a police officer.

The Director of the library stated:

“The library, like the judge, has consistently expressed surprise that this ever went to trial, that a public event at a public library should result in the indictment of a librarian.”

Another recent incident is the cause of Natalia Sharina, former Director of the state-run Library of Ukrainian Literature in Moscow.

In June 2017, she was found guilty of ‘incitement of hatred’ toward Russian people and ‘embezzlement’ and handed-down a four year suspended sentence for holding ‘extremist literature’. Sharina has spent 19 months under house arrest, throughout the investigation and trial.

PEN International believes that the case against Sharina is politically motivated and calls for her sentence and conviction to be overturned. Not only is it far from certain that the books in question were part of the collection, but even if they had been, this should not be a cause for arrest and detention.

IFLA has been following the case and published a statement on the judgement calling for authorities in Russia, and around the world, to bring banning of books and the persecution of librarians to an end.

Unfortunately, these cases are not unique. Librarians worldwide are facing struggle in claiming the rights to freedom of opinion and expression.

Today, on World Press Freedom Day, we celebrate the right to freedom of expression and opinion, and we remind that the support is still needed, and there is still much more to be done.

Why Privacy Matters, For Everyone: Chose Privacy Week 2019

Choose Privacy Week was initiated by the American Library Association to draw attention to the importance of privacy, and what people can do about it. It is a great opportunity to learn about the important role librarians play in achieving this.

This year’s theme of Choose Privacy Week is “Inclusive Privacy: Closing the Gap”, and raises awareness of the privacy inequities imposed on vulnerable and historically underrepresented groups. It highlights how libraries can close the privacy gap for those who need it most.

Why Privacy Matters

Privacy is of course a right. As set out in Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, people should be able to live free of arbitrary interventions in their private life.

There is a good reason for this. The possibility to have a private life is central to much of what makes us human. In particular, it gives us the freedom to think, speak and access information freely.

IFLA’s submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Privacy stresses this point, underlining that without privacy, there can be a powerful chilling effect on creativity and innovation.

Privacy has traditionally been seen as a means of protecting the individual against efforts by states to import control. However, increasingly, it is privacy in the face of companies that is coming to the fore.

Data collection has never been easier, and the companies whose services we use are increasingly able to draw conclusions about us on the basis of what they see. Indeed, many of these conclusions may reveal traits and preferences of which we are not necessarily conscious ourselves.

Clearly advertising has done this for years, but the possibility to do so in such a targeted, individual manner is new.

If this was only about advertising, it would not necessarily be so important, although clearly still has a certain ‘creepiness’ factor. However, more is at stake. It can also shape the content we see on line – which stories, posts or search-results are promoted.

Ironically, perhaps, the effort to personalise services comes at the cost of individuality and privacy, as a coded version of your personality is constructed, held on a server somewhere, and then used.

This is not just an issue on social media, but also in the research space. With efforts to move from institutional to personal log-ins to academic articles, the possibility for publishers and platforms to monitor use, and make their own efforts to tailor results and experience also arise.

This is a problem, because it means that we cannot assume that the person next to us is seeing the same thing as we would. Moreover, given that the algorithmic version of your personality can only work on the basis of past data, it does not allow for you to change in the future, potentially locking you into a particular set of preferences and interests.

 

Privacy Can’t Be A Luxury

Yet privacy – and the need for privacy – may not be equally distributed or equally shared.

A first challenge is for people who belong to a vulnerable or marginalised group. In many cases, they may feel the need to hide what it is that makes them unique, given political, cultural or social pressures in the society around them.

The internet has been a major source of support for many in this position, given the possibility to connect to those in a similar situation elsewhere, without having to use what may be a hostile public space.

To have these characteristics and interest coded and used to shape advertising and online experience (and potentially even inform governments) takes these gains away.

There may also be challenges for people on lower incomes, who may, for example, be more reliant on smart phones to access the internet (which pose a number of privacy concerns).

They can also be obliged to share more personal information anyway online in order to apply for government services or other programmes. A 2017 study on privacy, poverty and big data by Data & Society reveals some key trends.

Add to this stories of internet subscribers being asked to pay more for a privacy-friendly connection, or the fact that more expensive phone brands are using privacy as a selling point, and the potential connection between income and the right to a private life becomes clear.

Finally, there is often not a connection between the risks faced, and the ability to do something about it.

Recent privacy legislation, such as the General Data Protection Regulation in the European Union, gives important new rights to individuals. The success of this depends on people being sufficiently skilled and motivate to choose privacy.

Yet is seems clear that even where there is awareness, there may not be the skills – or even the attitude – necessary to act on it. As the Data & Society study shows, while there is demand, people with less money, less time, and less education may feel helpless in the face of companies and government agencies.

This is just as true in the case of right to be forgotten cases. While there is certainly a place for such rules in protecting people against unfair, irrelevant or incorrect information about them being found through search results, the risk is that it becomes a tool for those in positions of power to ‘edit’ the historical record.

 

How Libraries Can Help

A year ago IFLA and the FAIFE Committee used the momentum of the Chose Privacy Week to bring awareness to how personal data ownership affect libraries and library users and offered practical steps that individuals can take to keep their private lives private in regards to the General Data Protection Regulation.

A year after, there is still a need to work to ensure that everyone really is aware of, skilled and motivated to use their choice of privacy.

Libraries have an expertise in information management, and a responsibility to help others develop their own information literacy skills. With more and more library resources found online, libraries can not only offer a means of accessing information and expressing yourself in as private a way as possible, but can encourage privacy-friendly behaviours in their users’ own lives.

In short, the library is not only a trusted source of information but also a community support and can “close the privacy gap” for its users by providing a safe space, training and resources to help them take control of their private lives and data.

Here are a few steps that you can take to ensure the users privacy:

  • Make use of the privacy guidelines for libraries. In 2016, IFLA published the IFLA Statement on Privacy in the Library Environment. The Statement is intended to give guidance to libraries and information services in an environment that includes mass surveillance by governments and routine user data collection by commercial interests that provide content or services through the Internet.
  • Reduce data traces online. Greater care in choosing privacy settings, and simply better data hygiene can all help. And there are great tools such as the Data Detox Kit already available.
  • Apply tools to protect user privacy. ALA has created a list of resources on relevant tools, you can find the list here, while Scottish PEN has a Libraries for Privacy Toolkit.
  • Watch presentations and webinars on the subject. You can learn a lot by watching webinars such as the IFLA webinar on the GDPR, or the ALA video on raising privacy awareness in your library.
  • Help raise awareness throughout Chose Privacy Week!

What is the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and why libraries should get involved

There is little doubt about the importance of human rights in the library world. Outside too, few will dismiss them openly, even if their actions speak differently. However, there are concerns about their enforcement – what use are principles if they are not turned into reality?

Many countries have of course integrated many (most) aspects of key international human rights texts into national law. In the case of Europe, there is even an international court which has the power to go against the decisions and policies of independent states.

However, even where human rights feature in national legislation and constitutions, their application is only as strong as the rule of law – and this is highly variable.

Universal Periodic Reviews (UPRs) are a response to concern about the lack of impact of the UN’s human rights work. Launched in March 2006 under the auspices of the Human Rights Council, the process monitors and reviews the human rights situation of all 193 UN Member States. Its goal is to promote improvements and address violations wherever they occur, as well as to share best human rights practices around the globe.

How do UPRs work?

The reviews are ‘state-led’. This means that it is governments (rather than independent experts or the United Nations) which control the process. The reviews are formally conducted by the UPR Working Group (48 Member States) which meets three times a year for two weeks at a time. Each review is facilitated by groups of three States, known as “troikas”, who serve as rapporteurs.

In preparation for the Review, a Member State will provide a ‘national report’ on their own work to fulfil international human rights law. UN Special Rapporteurs (for example on Freedom of Expression or Cultural Rights), Treaty Bodies (such as the Commission the Rights of Persons with Disabilities), other UN entities, other Member States and NGOs can also submit information.

The UPR assesses human rights obligations as set out in: (1) the UN Charter; (2) the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; (3) human rights instruments to which the State is party (human rights treaties ratified by the State concerned); (4) voluntary pledges and commitments made by the State (e.g. national human rights policies and/or programmes implemented); and, (5) applicable international humanitarian law.

Each review consists of an interactive discussion between the state under review and the other UN member states, lasting about three and a half hours. In the course of the discussion, states under review can declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfil their human rights obligations.

The review process takes place in cycles. During its first cycle (2008-2011), all UN Member States were reviewed. The second cycle (20012-2016) reviewed 42 states, and the third cycle (2017-2021) is currently reviewing 48 countries.

Why is relevant to libraries?

As highlighted, libraries have a key interest in human rights. Freedom of access to information and freedom of expression are clearly central, but as IFLA’s series of blogs in the run up to the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights set out, other rights are also significant.

Where this is possible, librarians are often active in defending and promoting human rights, and watching out for problems. They can use different opportunities – national or local-level advocacy and lobbying, complaints to national human rights institutions, or other actions – to make progress.

UPRs offer the possibility to add action at the global level. Given that they welcome input from civil society, there is the opportunity for libraries to raise concerns or make recommendations. These feed into a stakeholder report, and can be cited by the UN or other Member States. Where this happens, there is a chance that such recommendations will form part of the published final report.

Libraries can also attend the UPR Working Group sessions and can make oral statements at the regular session of the Human Rights Council when the outcome of the State reviews are considered.

In an ideal situation, a Member State will then face a formal (and public) recommendation to act. Some examples taken from recent reviews are below:

  • Review legislation in order to ensure that all legislation, including any laws regulating the internet access to information, comply with international human rights standards protecting freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.
  • Make amendments to the Protection of State Information Bill with a view to guaranteeing the right to access to information and freedom of expression.
  • Continue efforts to ensure the right to access to information and freedom of expression by adopting regulations that would be in accordance with both the Constitution and international treaties and commitments.
  • Continue providing human rights education, in particular through access to information and promoting existing mechanisms for protection and reparation
  • Strengthen health information services, particularly with regard to sexual and reproductive health, and ensure that they are accessible to young people and persons with disabilities.

Practical issues

Submissions have usually a deadline and they must adhere to a specified format, and should not exceed five pages (or ten pages if submission is by a coalition of stakeholders). They are meant to be public documents and openly accessible and shareable, and ideally will be the result of coordination at the national level.

Deadlines for submissions are relatively early, in order to allow time to prepare reviews. For example, documents for the 34th session (to be held in October-November 2019) need to be sent by 28 March 2019. A full list of sessions, countries under review, and dates is available on the UPR website. More information on submissions are available online through this report.

In person participation at reviews is possible but requires accreditation, but a priori only in an observer status (i.e. it is not possible to speak). Accredited stakeholders can also attend and make oral statements during the regular sessions of the Human Rights Council when the outcomes of the State reviews are considered.

Reflections

UPRs clearly do offer an opportunity to highlight areas where improvements could be made to national human rights practices in order to benefit libraries and their users. In turn, recommendations resulting from UPRs can be a powerful tool in advocacy at the national and local levels.

At the same time, it is important to be realistic about the impact that can be had. The power of recommendations will depend on how likely governments are to listen (variable). Furthermore, some dismiss the process as a whole given the equal status it gives to all countries, regardless of their own human rights record.

Your views on libraries and Universal Periodic Reviews are welcome!

Digital Cooperation Day One: What values and principles should we bear in mind when taking decisions about the internet?

In the first of three blogs about the questions the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation is asking in its call for submissions, we’re focusing on values. Which values should lie behind any effort to build agreements and decide on actions concerning the internet? We’ll be incorporating your answers into our final submission to the Panel!

As we often underline in IFLA blogs, libraries are institutions built on values. Their mission – to preserve our heritage and give access to information to all – is not based on a drive to maximise profit or power, but to ensure that everyone has the possibility to learn, grow and live fulfilled lives.

These values feed into the approach libraries take to their own decision-making, and into the positions they take in broader political debates. This of course includes discussions about how the internet should be governed.

It is therefore good news that the UN Secretary-General’s High Level Panel on Digital Cooperation has given such attention to the importance of values. This is why our first question is about the values which should steer decision-making about the internet – for example how to protect data, deal with content that some people do not like, or promote connectivity and digital skills.

Which of the values promoted by libraries are applicable? What can the experience of libraries tell us about how to balance conflicting rights and priorities, such as between free speech and privacy? Does the internet, given its role in empowering individuals and its multistakeholder nature (i.e. governments, individuals, businesses and civil society all have important roles to play) mean anything is different?

Let us know what you think! We look forward to seeing your views in the comments box below!

You can read IFLA’s initial submission to the High Level Panel on our website. See all of our blogs on Digital Cooperation here.