Internet Access as a New Human Right? State of the Art on the Threshold of 2020
Internet Access as a New Human Right? State of the Art on the Threshold of 2020

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this study is to analyze the role that the Internet plays in the enjoyment of human rights and answer the question of whether we may be in the process of recognizing a new right, namely the right to Internet access. The conclusions are built upon a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the Internet-related recommendations adopted by the UN treaty-based bodies in the period between 2007 and 2017. Moreover, the paper is supplemented by a brief overview of the relevant recommendations formulated under the mechanism of the Universal Periodic Review. Analysis of the content of recommendations allowed them to be classified into two groups – the first one integrates recommendations that refer to the duty of non-interference, and the second concerns the duty to expand Internet infrastructure across the country. The article ends with a call for further investigation of the normative potential of Article 15(1)b of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as this hitherto forgotten provision might shed a new light on the proposed right to Internet access.

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