The United Nations Office at Geneva
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UN Geneva Press Briefing - 12 March 2024
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UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING
12 March 2024
Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology
Amandeep Singh Gill, Secretary-General's Envoy on Technology, stated that he was in Geneva for a meeting of the 39-member Advisory Board on Artificial Intelligence, which was now meeting in person for the second time. An interim report had been presented at the end of 2023, and the current meeting allowed the Advisory Body to deepen its considerations and analysis of the AI risks and challenges, and also to discuss what kind of international governance was needed to address the challenges and seize the opportunities. In the interim report, the Advisory Board had presented some guiding principles for international governance, in which it had emphasized the importance of inclusion and public interest. The report had also stressed the significance on building upon the UN Charter and other shared international norms rather than starting from scratch. AI governance ought to perform several functions, including horizon scanning, building consensus, interoperability, and mediating standards. Mr. Gill informed that this week the Advisory Board was meeting with specialized UN agencies, including the ILO and the WHO.
Replying to questions from the media, Mr. Gill said that the Board had members from all over the world who were steeped into the issue. In a short span of time of only 2.5 months, the members had achieved an agreement on several important issues, as presented in the interim report. Everyone agreed that AI was a powerful technology, and continuing business as usual was not an option. In the context of the Summit of the Future, a global digital compact was being negotiated, reminded Mr. Gill. The notion of privacy ought to extend to mental privacy, he said in a response to another question. Private sector, which was leading innovation in this area, had to be brought on board. Mr. Gill said that monitoring and analysis had to continue on a regular basis, given the constantly evolving nature of AI. On the issue of language barriers and the predominance of English, Mr. Gill said that indeed most AI models were based on the English language and acknowledged the challenge of maintaining linguistic and cultural diversity. In the Advisory Body, there was a lot of emphasis on capacity building, and it was hoped that there would be concrete recommendations to help prevent the expansion of the existing digital divide. Answering a final question on the composition of the Advisory Body, Mr. Gill said that 1,800 candidates had applied to be on the Body, of whom 39 had been selected from 33 countries and five regions of the world. The Body included both industry representatives and human rights experts. A consultative network of more than 120 experts had also been created, he informed; they should help address any gaps that might exist within the Advisory Body.
Human Rights Council
Pascal Sim, for the Human Rights Council (HRC), informed that this morning the Council was holding its first dialogue with Ben Saul, new Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. In the afternoon, the Council would hold an interactive dialogue with Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, and an interactive dialogue with Ana Brian Nougrères, Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy. The following day, the focus would be on children’s rights, specifically violence against children and children in armed conflict. At 5 pm, the High Commissioner would present his report on the impact of climate change on the realization of human rights. On 14 March, the Council would hold a full-day panel discussion on rights of the child.
Humanitarian aid for Gaza
Responding to questions, Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that the UN had not been involved in the planning of organizing the ship which had departed from Larnaca, Cyprus, to Gaza. Any food and other aid that would come into Gaza were desperately needed, and all efforts were appreciated. However, stressed Mr. Laerke, neither sea nor air deliveries could make up for overland access and safe, secure, and regular deliveries. Any and all entry points into Gaza should be looked at. While the UN had a large, coordinated operation in and around Gaza, there were other humanitarian actors, acknowledged Mr. Laerke.
Announcements
Thomas Croll-Knight, for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), reminded that the Regional Forum on Sustainable Development would take place at the Palais des Nations on 13 and 14 March. The objective was to take stock on the progress made towards SDGs in the UNECE region. The Forum would be informed by the 2024 status report on SDGs progress in Europe, North America & Central Asia which warned that sustainable development is slowing (only 20 of 117 measurable SDG targets were on track) and in preparation for the Summit of the Future
He also informed that the next Global Methane Forum would bring together over 1,000 global thought and industry leaders in Geneva from 18 to 21 March to promote replicable methane mitigation successes and mobilize action to continue making progress toward addressing methane. The Forum would be hosted by the Global Methane Initiative and UNECE in partnership with the Global Methane Hub and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition. Actions to cut emissions now would pay off in mid-term; half of those actions were in the fossil fuel sector, reminded Mr. Croll-Knight. Targeted measures included venting and flaring in gas and oil operations. Methane had been responsible for 30 percent of warming since the Industrial Revolution, just after CO2.
Zeina Awad, for the International Labour Organization (ILO), informed about ILO’s upcoming report on stolen wages due to illegal forced labour. The report is “Profits and Poverty: The Economics of Forced Labour” would be presented on 19 March, during a press briefing that day. Presenters would be Federico Blanco, ILO Senior Researcher, and Zeina Awad, Chief of News and Multimedia. The report would be available under embargo as of 15 March. This global report would reveal the latest figures for forced labour and forced sexual exploitation, including estimated value of stolen wages due to forced labour.
Rolando Gómez, for the for the United Nations Information Service, said that on 19 March at 2 pm, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) would present its State of Global Climate 2023 report at a press conference. Speakers would be Celeste Saulo, WMO Secretary-General, and Omar Baddour, Chief of Climate Monitoring.
Today at 1 pm, Ben Saul, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, would present his vision and priorities at a press conference.
On 15 March at 9 am, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine would hold a press conference, before presenting its comprehensive report to the Council.
On 18 March at 1 pm, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran would present its findings at a press conference.
The Human Rights Committee would this morning conclude its consideration of the second periodic report of Indonesia. This afternoon, it would start its review of the eighth periodic report of the United Kingdom.
The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities would this morning conclude its consideration of the combined second and third periodic report of Sweden. This afternoon, it would start its review of the combined second and third periodic report of Azerbaijan.
The Conference on Disarmament was convening a plenary meeting this morning.
Teleprompter
very good morning.
Thank you for joining us here at the UN office at Geneva for this press briefing
on the 12th of March.
And for those of you observing Ramadan, Ramadan Mubarak,
Uh, we have a slight change to the schedule we had initially thought to have. Mr
Amandeep Gil, Uh, Secretary General's
envoy on technology, to join you at the beginning.
He's going to join us a bit later, closer to 11 o'clock. So if you could stay for that,
um, that would be, um, appreciated. We'll start
therefore immediately with Pascal Sim from the Human Rights
Council for an update on the ongoing session.
Pascal.
Thank you, Rolando. Good morning, everyone.
The United Nations Human Rights Council is
holding dialogues with three special rapporteurs today.
It is currently having its first meeting with Ben Saul,
the first the new special rapporteur on counter terrorism and human
rights who will present his vision and priorities for the mandate.
He was appointed by
the Council last October. Mr.
Saul is professor of law at the University of Sydney in Australia.
He will also present the reports from his predecessor Finola
Narley,
about her visit to Bosnia Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Germany
and Mr Sol will also give his first press conference in
his capacity as special rapporteur in this room today at 1 p.m.
this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. the council will debate with Mary Lola,
the special rapporteur on human rights defenders,
on her reports focusing on challenges faced by child and youth,
human rights defenders as well as on her recent visit to Tajikistan and Georgia.
The council will then hear from Anna Brian Norea,
the special rapporteur underwrites to privacy,
who will present her reports on legal safeguards for
personal data protection and privacy in the digital age,
as well as on a recent visit to Lithuania
and just to flag that on Wednesday around 5 p.m. the High Commissioner Volker
Turk will present his reports
his report on measures for minimising the adverse impact of climate
change on the full realisation of the right to food.
The report is available online
and this week the focus of the Human Rights Council is on Children's rights.
On Wednesday,
we will hear from two special representatives of the secretary general
who will present their latest report
first from Najat
Majid,
whose mandate focuses on violence against Children and then from Virginia Gamba,
who addresses the issue of Children in armed conflict.
And on Thursday,
the council will hold a full day panel discussion on the
rights of the child that will be divided into two parts
one in the morning,
focusing on the barriers Children encounter when
it comes to inclusive social protection.
It will feature the participation of Deputy High Commissioner Nada
Al
Naif and Representative from
And
a
second part of the panel will take place in the afternoon on the theme of
child rights mainstreaming in the United Nations on
how to strengthen a child rights based approach
across all three pillars of the UN Human Rights,
Peace and Security and Development.
High Commissioner Walker
Turk
will deliver a video message and we
will have the participation of representatives from
from the fact finding mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran
and from the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
That's it for me.
Thank you, Pascal. Another busy day at the, uh,
council. Do we have questions for Pascal either online or here in the room?
Ok, I don't see that's the case. So thank you once again.
And good luck OK, we just have announcement today.
I should mention we do have some briefers online.
And once again, for those of you coming in a little later,
uh, Mande
Gill, the Secretary general of the envoy and technology,
will hopefully join us around 11 o'clock.
He's currently
chairing an advisory group meeting on a I, uh, which,
uh, is taking place, um,
this week, up until tomorrow, but he'll hopefully be here soon.
I'll now turn to Thomas Kroll,
Knight of the UN E CE who has an announcement on Global Methane Forum taking place.
Uh, next week, Thomas.
Thank you. Good morning, everybody,
Before starting.
Uh,
just a reminder that this week we
have the regional forum on sustainable development
for the UN E CE region taking place 13 and 14 March so tomorrow and Thursday.
That is the UN platform to take stock of SDGS progress in Europe,
North America and Central Asia
happening every year.
And just to remind you that, uh, IN the last STG report 2024
for the region uh, we
noticed we noted that, uh, only 17. Uh, excuse me. 17% of the measurable STG targets
are on track in the region for 2030.
So clearly a lot of progress to make.
And uh
and that's a platform for governments, civil society,
UN organisations to come together to share solutions for that.
So on to this morning's main announcement
next week, the Global Methane forum taking place here in the
ballet 1821 March.
So
this is an occasion to convene governments, industry
and partners here to promote replicable methane emissions
reductions. Now there are strategies
that can enable those reductions to take place. Many of them
are cost effective,
and it's considered that targeted action
on methane is absolutely necessary to reduce
global warming to 1.5 by mid century the goals of the Paris agreement.
So this is the premier global meeting on methane reductions
expected to attract some 1000 participants from over 100 countries
convened by UN
C and the Global Methane Initiative in partnership with the global
methane hub and the UN E convened Climate and Clean Air
Coalition.
Why do we need action on methane? So methane is a very powerful greenhouse gas
with a warming effect 80 times greater than that of CO two over a 20 year time frame
which means that action to cut emissions now pays off in the near term.
As I mentioned, readily available measures
exist,
half of which are in the fossil fuel sector.
Uh, and they are needed to reduce methane emissions by 30%.
Uh, if they're fully implemented
so hand in hand with decarbonisation
of our energy systems. Targeted measures are
deemed necessary,
such as by eliminating, venting and flaring in gas and oil operations,
and that is considered absolutely needed to stop
us from crossing irreversible climate tipping points.
Now methane is responsible for 30 per
cent of warming since the Industrial Revolution,
the second largest contributor to warming after CO
two
35%
of oil and gas emissions and 10% of coal mine emissions can be avoided at no cost.
So this is the focus of what we are.
This is the context. There are solutions available.
This comes at a critical time.
You may have seen the news last week about a new satellite
being launched that will
improve emissions measurement,
making that publicly available.
Indeed, there is rapid progress in emissions measurement.
There is also a rising political commitment
and the global methane pledge, which you may be aware of that was launched at Cop 26
now has 157 countries on board.
And that's aiming to reduce methane emissions at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030.
So we have the measurement improving fast political momentum growing fast too.
This forum is all about practical measures, sharing solutions
that have delivered results
and scaling those up
there in terms of participation. We have, uh we have government representatives
from quite a number of countries from around the world. A lot of industry present
international partners.
You've all received the advisory and briefing notes on this.
So please do get in touch with myself or Jean Rodriguez
for any interview requests. We'll be happy to facilitate that.
Thank you.
Thanks to you, Thomas.
Very comprehensive and important information shared with us.
Uh, questions for Thomas.
Ok, I don't see. That's OK, so thank you once again for joining us here.
We now
shift to ILO.
We have Zaina Awad on the line from
the International Labour Organisation who is going to
flag an upcoming report from the ILO on stolen wages due to illegal forced labour.
See that
I'm sorry.
Actually, before we before we turn to you saying I think, uh, Yuri has a question.
I'm not sure if that's for Thomas. Yuri?
No, no. Hello, Jon.
It was for Zena.
It
was just
you. You're
jumping the gun.
OK, let's let's hear from Zena
first, and then we'll we'll go to you afterwards. Uh, Zena
back to you.
Thank you very much. And, uh, good morning, uh,
colleagues,
next Tuesday, the 19th of March, we will be releasing
our profits and poverty. The economics of forced labour Report from the ILO.
Um, it will be presented by my colleague Federico Blanco,
who is a senior research officer and myself,
uh, during the, uh, regular press
A press briefing. Um uh,
time. However, the report will be available under embargo. Um, as of Friday,
we will be looking at the total value in stolen wages of forced labour in the world.
And we will be comparing the current figures with figures from a decade ago,
which is 2014.
Um, uh, We, uh, will be looking at both, uh,
forced labour and industry sectors as well as, uh, forced sexual exploitation.
And we'll be breaking it down. It's a global study.
Uh, so it's not country by country.
It's a global study that we'll be looking at different regions,
our regions being the Arab states,
Asia and the Pacific, Africa, Europe and Central Asia as well as the Americas.
And,
uh, we will be, uh, obviously present to take, um, questions.
And if, uh, you would like to put in a bid for an interview,
I'm also happy to to take that on board as well as, uh, potentially sharing
the, um, the, uh, report, uh, under embargo.
Um, And it promises to be a, uh, a very interesting, um, yet, um,
sad read when it comes out.
Thank you.
Thank you. Sena.
We have We do have a question for you as I mentioned, uh, Yuri from RIA Novosti.
Yep.
Go ahead. Say
it. Did you
OK, you're muted. OK? Can we unmute Zena?
Thank you. I wasn't able to
uh, me.
Uh
uh,
uh,
the
chat
box.
Yeah, if you can do that. Um, you're Katherine. A question for Zena as well.
Francois.
Catherine.
Yes. Uh, good morning. Uh, good morning. Uh, ernando.
Good morning,
Zina. Uh,
nice to see you. Uh, my question is. Maybe I missed it. The the info.
But you said that there will be a briefing on the 19 Tuesday.
Is it in the morning? Because morning, we have the briefing.
And in the afternoon we already have,
um, a briefing with WFMO. If I'm not mistaken at two o'clock,
Yes, it's, uh it's in the going to be in the morning.
Uh, as far as I understand and have communicated.
OK, thanks for clarifying that.
So I know we have a question also from Well, cat, did you have a follow up? Go ahead,
Catherine.
Yes, I did not catch the time because we have the briefing at 1030.
So when do you plan to have the ILO briefing?
We we're going to We will present it within the, uh, Palli
briefing.
No, I mean, this is not this is not good. I mean, we hate that because
in order for for journalists to to have time enough
to ask you all the questions related to the report,
it it would be really appreciated to to make to organise a briefing apart.
Yeah, Catherine, maybe we C
We can discuss this with CN
and
try to find the, um, to deconflict this and try to find the optimum time for this,
But maybe say that we can discuss,
uh, with you afterwards. Uh, well noted. Well noted, Katherine,
Um, Maya. Question for Sena. May I view the UN brief?
Yes. Thank you very much for taking my question.
uh
uh.
The International Labour Organisation yesterday organised
an event that was quite good,
because for the first time,
I've seen a UN agency take really the lead in terms of discussing the impact of, uh,
artificial intelligence in the fu on the future of work.
So is your report that you are, uh, um informing us about we,
uh, address some of that issue, too, in terms of wage theft,
because we have copyright wage.
Uh uh, copyright theft right now for content creators for journalists,
uh, being debated in this, um,
area of a I and its impacts.
Uh, any anything you can advance to us in terms of the impact of a I also on wage theft.
Thank you. For, uh, the question.
Uh, Maya, this particular report is focusing specifically on, uh, forced labour.
Um, your point is obviously well taken, and you're absolutely right, Uh,
that there's a whole area of work, as you've identified,
that has to do that's related to to a I.
This particular one, however, is focusing on, uh, as I said, forced labour, uh,
both in terms of, uh, labour in different in in industries and sectors,
uh, both, uh, public organisations as well as private enterprises as well as, uh,
sexual exploitation.
Great. Thanks very much for adding that, uh, Zena,
do we have further questions for sa
I don't see Follow up from Maya. Go ahead, Maya.
Thank you very much.
Uh, follow up? Yes.
In terms of, uh,
can you also give us a little glimpse of what's on the works in terms of, uh,
artificial intelligence debates and discussions.
Uh, are they going to be increasing in in the coming months?
And And can you perhaps give us some
preview of what's happening in terms of particularly what's
when it touches upon, um,
the work of, uh, journalists.
thank you for the follow up. Uh, well, the the short answer is yes.
There'll be more work around, Um, a I and labour.
Uh, because it's a it's an important area of, uh, of of research and one,
obviously the the IO mandate, uh, put in a position to lead on,
uh, in terms of what specifically is coming out. I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to, uh,
to to confirm at the moment whether specifically it has to do with,
uh, you know, in this case, the journalism and media as a profession.
Uh, I'd be very happy to get back to you, however, after I check with
or, um technical, uh, colleagues who lead on that area to see if indeed,
there is something coming coming out in that particular area.
But you can expect to see more on, uh, on the impact of digitization and a I on
particular
when it comes to, uh, to labour markets.
Great. Thanks. In advance, Lena, for that information.
Any final questions for
Sanna? No, I don't see it as a case.
I thank you once again for joining us Sanna at this press briefing.
So once again, we'll wait. Uh,
my clock says 1049.
And, uh, I think Mr Gill is a rather punctual man, so he should be here at 11 o'clock.
Uh, my colleague just went to collect him in the meantime, what I can do
is offer just a couple of announcements on the
behalf from U I.
And then if there are questions,
we do have a few colleagues online who are connected and and in the room.
But just to mention that in terms of the
meetings taking place here in Geneva, we have the Human Rights Committee
concluding this morning its consideration of its second report on Indonesia.
And this afternoon it will start its report of
the eighth Periodic Report of the United Kingdom.
That's a Human Rights Committee
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
This morning is concluding its consideration of the
combined 2nd and 3rd periodic reports of Sweden,
and this afternoon it will start its review of
the combined 2nd and 3rd Report of Azerbaijan.
Conference on Disarmament is also a meeting, and, uh,
it's a plenary session this morning.
Press conferences.
Quite a few to announce, starting with, uh,
one taking place today at 1 p.m. in this
room with the special rapporteur on the promotion,
protection of
human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism.
That's, uh, Ben Saul, as as Pascal mentioned.
So that's 1 p.m. in this room
this Friday, the 15th of March at 9 a.m. So before the briefing,
we have the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine
who will present to you their comprehensive report to the council.
Uh, that is being presented that day.
So that's Eric Mose,
the chair of the commission Pablo de Grief
and V
RDA Grover the commissioners
for this three person commission this Friday at 9 a.m.
turning next week to Monday the 18th of March at 1 p.m. to put on your calendars Um, the
interdependent international fact finding mission on
the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The three members, uh, will be here to brief you at 1 p.m.
They are presenting, uh, their first written report, uh, to the council.
So it's Sarah Hussein
Shaheen,
Sardar
Ali and Vivian Christo,
the three members who will be here to brief you
and finally,
uh, Tuesday the 19th at 2 p.m. We have the World Meteorological Organisation.
The head of the World Meteorological Organisation, Secretary General Celeste
Solo
will be here, uh, with a colleague, uh, Omar Bador,
chief of climate monitoring,
to present their state of the global climate for 2023.
So that's Tuesday, the 19th at 2 p.m.
And that is it from me, I think maybe, uh, Ben, you had your hand up first, I think.
Christo?
No. Yes, I was wondering, since we have to wait for the the tech envoy,
it would have been the best time for Jens to jump
on the podium so that we could harass him with our questions.
But, uh, he disappeared.
He's avoiding the harassment, so he's he may be back. I think he's, uh,
maybe lurking the hallway. So let's wait a minute for for Jens
Christoph,
who is that pertaining to?
It wasn't to
harass.
It was actually to ask Jennifer a question
on R
al
Assad
Rifat al Assad, the Ministry of Justice,
Swiss Ministry of Justice this morning announced that,
uh, they want to put Rifat al Assad on trial for human rights violations.
So I was just wondering if, uh, Jennifer had a comment from the
back.
Ok, I haven't I haven't seen that report, of course, but, um,
I think maybe that question is best directed to our colleagues
at the office for the High Commission of Human Rights.
Or maybe if Jennifer has something
no
OK, back to the Swiss Indeed.
Uh, please. Uh, yeah. If you can do that, obviously this is a sovereign decision.
But in terms of overall human rights comments,
obviously that's something for the human rights colleagues.
Francois, we have, uh, he's coming.
OK, so our guest will be here soon if there are any other questions for me, perhaps
Maya
online. Go ahead.
Oh, yes. Uh, I was going to, uh, say, um, is there a way, perhaps that we could have,
uh,
uh, a separate, uh, union briefing dedicated to new and emerging technologies
and UN agencies.
Because big technology companies have more sway than
many governments at the UN at the present,
perhaps we could have a separate
one every Wednesday
where we would just look into all the issues. It's a suggestion.
I know you have to put this to vote to so many people,
but it perhaps it is a good idea that the
time has arrived that we have a dedicated press briefing,
just like in New York.
There is a daily press briefing. I find
that at the UN
in Geneva,
we should be able to have a daily press briefing and certainly one
that is dedicated to new and emerging technologies and the impact they have
in the work of the UN in the work of the UN agencies as well
as have guests experts from the technology companies
that can help explain what they do.
OK, thank you, Maya. Thank you for the suggestion. And just on cue. Mr Mr Gill is here.
Uh, of course, Uh,
these are important suggestions and something we could take to our colleagues.
Uh, of course, it requires some servicing,
but indeed, um, we could consider this
as, um maybe a regular feature down the line. But
on that note, uh, Mr
Mr Gill, thank you very much for joining us here.
Um, thank you for stepping away from the advisory board.
I know you have a very busy schedule, but,
uh, Mr Gill, as you know, is the Secretary General's envoy on technology.
Uh,
he was appointed in October 2022 and now he sits on this advisory board in
a I He wanted to take some time to just to meet with you.
Um, step away from the meeting, which is ongoing. I understand.
And then he can speak to that
and some of the other developments over to you, sir.
Thank you very much. Thank you for the kind introduction
and bonjour.
Good morning. It's good to be back in Geneva in
this room. I think we've just shifted the floor.
So I'm here with the UN Secretary
General's advisory body on artificial intelligence.
This is a group of 39 experts
from different fields from different sectors as well.
Governments, private sector,
academia and civil society
that is meeting for the second time in person. It's met many times, virtually
in follow up to an interim report they presented around Christmas. So
some of you may have seen this interim report called Governing
for Humanity.
There are some copies with my colleague Rebecca. You can
take those.
Essentially, The meeting in Geneva allows the advisory body to
deepen its consideration. Its analysis of a I's risks and challenges,
the opportunities and what's needed to
seize those opportunities for sustainable development,
for instance,
and also what kind of international governance
is required of this very powerful set of technologies
so that we can
master
the
challenges, we can address the risks and we can seize the opportunities.
In its interim report the advisory body presented some ideas.
It presented them in the form of guiding principles for international governance,
international governance distinct from national regional regulatory
responses such as the European Union's A.
I Act and distinct from industry, self regulation, codes of conduct, et cetera.
So what are those guiding principles?
And they obviously include the guiding principle of inclusion,
particularly governance.
If a I matters for all humanity, all humanity must be involved in its governance.
It cannot be left to a few
member states or a few actors to decide on those issues.
Those guiding principles also include the principle of public interest.
So what should a I governance
be aimed at advancing the public interest?
And then, obviously I would in the interest of time.
I don't want to go into each and every principle. But
in the UN context,
there is an important principle that's basing ourselves on the UN Charter
on International Law on International Human Rights
instruments because we are not starting from a
clean slate when it comes to governance,
governance.
So I think basing ourselves on those shared norms is an important principle,
and then
the advisory body has advanced some functions
what kind of functions should be performed at the international level.
So seven sets of functions they presented it in the shape of a pyramid.
The baseline of that pyramid is regular
scientific assessment of what's the direction of technology.
What are its implications?
Something that you are familiar with from the climate change
context, the intercommunal panel on climate change.
So could there be something similar?
And the advisory body feels this is needed to allow
member states and other actors, including the private sector,
take the right decisions.
So those functions
the body has followed a form follows
function approach and the Geneva meeting in particular
is allowing them. And the discussion has started to
deepen their assessment of how functions can be translated into forms.
And in this context, it was tremendously useful for them to meet with
UN agencies funds programmes during their visit to Geneva as well.
So yesterday they spent the whole day
sitting down with colleagues at the I,
which had a very important discussion
at its governing body meeting on the impact of artificial intelligence
on work on the future of work on the labour markets.
So who
it?
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. So let me just stop there and
turn the floor back to you so that we can have some questions.
I'm available to answer some
questions.
Thank you very much. Uh, Ambassador Gill,
Um, do we have questions? We we have a couple of online.
We'll check in the room first, please, Michelle.
Thank you, Rolando. Um, thank you.
My question is regarding, um how do you view sort of the this, uh, this process to
come up with, um, Globe, some sort of regulation or glo global rules, Uh, on a I,
uh, given the the increasing, uh, fractured, uh,
geopolitical landscape IN which these would have to be taken
thinking IN particularly that some of the biggest
sort of players ININ this IN this field,
the US and China
would have to sort of also come up to to find some common ground,
even when they have really different views of how this, um,
sort of Internet and a I should be governed.
Thank you.
So within the body, which is co chaired by James
Manka
and KK
led the EU trilogue discussions. And James, as you know,
is president at Google
lives in the US comes from Africa.
So we have members from the US, from China, from the European Union, from India,
Japan
who are steeped in these issues.
And they were able to, in a very short span of time,
2.5 months able to come to consensus on this
ambitious, well received analysis. So that makes me optimistic.
In
New York,
there is a resolution draught resolution at the UN General Assembly that the US is ST
extensive discussions that has also enlarged the ground for consensus.
I think there are something that everyone is
agreed on that these are powerful technologies.
We just can't have business as usual.
You have the UK
safety summit. You have discussions in G7 G 20.
The Italians are continuing the work of the Japanese Hiroshima process on,
so I think that ground is increasing and we at the UN
The UN Secretary General is very conscious of this in
the context of the summit of the future this year,
where there is a digital track, among others,
you know there's financing for development, peace and security,
very important issues on the agenda of the summit.
But there's also the global digital compact
whose negotiations
have started. So it's a great opportunity to build on those areas of consensus.
Thanks very much. We'll now take, uh, John Zar
Costas in the room to the right here. John.
Uh,
yes. Nice to see you, Ambassador.
Uh, I was wondering, sir,
um, what are your views on neurotechnology?
And when people do not volunteer to give access to their brain waves?
Uh, are
there gonna be any guidelines to prevent,
uh,
this happening from people who don't approve it? Thank you.
I think that's a line that we should not cross at all. You know,
our notions of privacy should extend to mental privacy,
and we have now concerns with these
large language models. You know, the way they process brain signals.
So your private mental space may not be private for long,
so that concern is very much shared
strongly.
And in some jurisdictions, Chile, for example. This is being
and one state in the United States, By the way it's being translated into
legislation
at the UN We've had discussions on this. Our colleagues at the UNESCO
building on their pre existing work on bioethics on a I ethics
are starting a process to
bring different actors together
to discuss what kind of frameworks ethical
frameworks should apply to neural technology.
I think our challenge is to bring the private sector
more strongly into that because they are kind of leading
the innovation in this space. But the point is well taken,
and we are cognizant of it and working on it.
Yeah, go ahead, John. Yep.
OO on that very issue,
Given that some of the, uh, leaders in this field, uh, in research,
I also partners with UN agencies and some are also contributing
to finances of UN agencies. Do you have a firewall and, um, a
conflict of interest register? Thank you.
I think that will take us into a larger discussion.
We have a choice. In many cases
in these areas, the innovation is being led by the private sector.
So even governments,
public technology investments in a I neural technology are very limited and they
geographically they are limited In terms of size,
the talent has moved largely to private sector.
So for practical reasons, we have to have a multi stakeholder approach
to build collaborations with the private sector to enhance accountability, raise
awareness of the challenges on the UN side. Human rights implications,
hate speech implications, for instance.
So at the same time,
we should not be seen at all as advancing particular commercial agendas,
buying into hype of any kind,
and I think that's a challenge that we are all aware of.
So that's the kind of dilemma that modern dilemma that we have to face
and which governments also have to face
today when they sit down with the CEOs of
companies in the space to talk about regulation.
So they are often conflicted. How much do I step into my promotional role?
And how much do I step in?
Where my regulatory
hat, I think in the UN we have to be even more careful,
Thank you very much. OK, we'll take a couple more questions. Uh, Christo
from a FPF.
Thank you for taking my question. Um,
I was just wondering how you reconcile the
the speed at which this technology evolves.
Uh, it's it's practically daily. And, uh,
and the need for time for the regulation
of thinking about regulation and and even guidelines,
Uh, how do you reconcile that?
And is is it just a chase that will never end.
Yes, that's a challenge so different from the risks, like on misinformation,
disinformation,
challenge and spacing problem, as they call it.
But I think we met this challenge quite well with the interim report. So
2.5 months, at least 40 meetings,
a lot of deep dives and coming up with a quality analysis
at an important
time.
So we have to keep this up,
and particularly in terms of these regular scientific assessments,
we cannot wait for five years for a report. You know it's too late
or some of these other forums that we are used to in the technology management space.
And we also can't just rely on one set of tools like our tools are outdated.
Treaty making takes long.
We do want to have norms,
but you can also rely on existing norms and be more agile
in terms of the interplay of soft norms and hard law.
So all those things are top of mind,
and we hope that the recommendations,
the follow up to this and the broader follow up to the global digital compact
addresses this facing challenge
through innovative approaches through refreshed and creative
toolboxes toolboxes of international
governance.
Maybe one, perhaps, from our online.
We have a couple online.
If with your indulgence, maybe we can take those two just quickly.
Uh, Catherine from Franz von
KK.
Thank you, Orlando. Good morning. I'm and de,
uh, nice to see you.
Um, my question is, um, in fact, a follow up About what?
Uh, my colleagues, uh, mentioned
about the evolution. The very quick and fast evolution of the A I
and developing countries,
uh, we have less of those developing countries are 40% connected.
And most of, um, the the the people in charge of, uh, artificial in intelligence
don't understand.
In fact,
um, I would say the technology as mentioned just before you started the briefing by,
uh, one of my colleagues.
Even the journalists
don't understand exactly all the very technical
aspect of artificial intelligence, and at the level of countries, it is the same.
So what kind of tools?
Uh, do you intend to, um,
put at the disposal of those countries French speaking countries, particularly,
and other languages?
Because most of the info is in English.
So you have already the barrier of the language. Thank you for your answer.
the
problem.
Ambassador
Franco
on
a railway.
So I
switch to English now for the benefit of everyone.
So this
problem of the digital divide, lack of capacity, lack of understanding
and also the fact that
most of the data on which these large language models are trained is English
data from one part of the world. That's a huge problem. And
the world's diversity is also
an insurance against risk
biases in data sets, et cetera. So how do we uphold that diversity?
How do we uphold that understanding,
particularly in regions which are already behind
in terms of the digital divide connectivity,
meaningful connectivity, costs of excess costs of data.
So in the advisory body, there is a lot of emphasis on capacity building.
There are some ideas in terms of enhancing access to data, compute talent,
financial resources
and today and tomorrow's discussions would allow the
advisory body to come up with concrete suggestions
in that regard, so that the existing digital divide does not expand
to new areas like data and a I, which is already in some ways happening.
So we have to stop that concentration of tech power, economic power,
almost cultural power with a more diverse innovation.
Ecosystem.
Question one last 11 last question. Mr to
go back. So we'll take this from Maya from the UN brief.
Yes, thank you very much for taking my question. Rolando. Ambassador.
Really a pleasure to see you again.
Um uh, my question is,
aren't you worried that the composition of
your advisory board has too much industry represented
and not enough human rights and privacy law experts
And also the dissenters, like Gary Marcos, the scholar who is always criticising
the, uh, uh, uh, problems with the open A I and other big tech companies And Tim
Rere,
the scholar who was pushed out of Google because she was
doing important research on the fact that many of the,
uh questions of facial recognition systems were racist in in their in their design.
So isn't that a worry that to have just too
much industry represented instead of a balance of privacy,
law
and human rights law experts
Thank you, Maya. It's a pleasure to listen to you.
No, I'm not worried because
we had 1800 candidates who applied in their independent
capacity, voluntary capacity to be members and from those 1800 we select 39.
They come from 33 countries, all five regions of the world,
all sectors as I mentioned
and you need to have industry at the table.
So we have a few industry experts and we also have very strong
human rights
ethics, civil society experts.
And yesterday, when we had a session with High Commissioner
Folker
Turk,
they participated actively, came up with very interesting ideas and suggestions.
So I'm not worried about the balance,
but we can always do better.
And I know those two individuals that you mentioned very well. We engage with them.
Professor Marcus was at a one day long retreat
of UN entities and systems recently on artificial intelligence.
So we benefited from his insights.
And to address this problem of, you know,
you can't have just one body to address every issue.
There can always be gaps in expertise and insights.
We've created a consultative network of 120 plus experts that include
some of the experts that you mentioned
who would come together regularly with the advisory body co
chairs and help a deep dive into some areas like
intellectual property, open source,
human rights and some of issues around societal impact.
So we are enlarging the circle of engagement
to address any potential gaps in expertise and knowledge within the body.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
And may you may have a follow up, but Ambassador Gill really has been, uh,
very generous with his time.
He has to go back to the advisory board.
So thank you very much for highlighting the supremely important issue.
And we'll make sure to keep our journalists abreast of your activities.
Thank you very much. Again.
OK,
um
I think, uh, I Ben, you have your hand still up, so I think maybe that's for Jens.
Our colleague in the,
uh
Do you want to pose a question or you wait for him?
Go ahead, pose the question.
Hi.
So my question is, I guess the same
as my two other colleagues here
about the ship that took off from
that departed from Larnaca
this morning.
Do you have any
first of all?
Where is the UN in the operation?
I mean, what's the role or the position of the UN?
And if you have
any type of information about
the amount of food
that it is going to bring
or the amount of food that is
stuck at the border now and that this will help or not.
Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Ben, On your first question,
the UN has not been involved in the planning or the execution of this.
I can see the
World Central Kitchen, which is a reputable NGO.
A very big one, actually been working
with us in Rafa,
for example.
So it's not somebody who's unknown to us,
but they are tweeting. Indeed, their head
boss has just tweeted out that the ship has left Larnaca
and is on its way.
But that's basically
all we know about that.
Any food and other emergency aid that comes into Gaza, as we all know,
is desperately needed.
There is no question about it,
so
it's highly appreciated as the air drops that we have seen.
There are also concerns with that,
as you have seen and reported yourself what's
important for us to stress again and again,
and sorry if I sound like a broken record.
But it's not a
substitute for the overland transport of food and other
emergency aid into Gaza and particularly northern Gaza.
It cannot make up for that. So,
you know, make no mistake,
it is welcome.
But we need the overland access and the safe
and secure and regular delivery within Gaza as well.
Thank you very much, Jens.
Very quick. Follow up.
Just is the UN thinking of using this corridor at one point or not?
Is it a reflection that you are having
now, at the time,
what we have said is that any and all entry points into Gaza should be looked at.
Um
and I think I will
keep it at that.
All right, Thanks, Jens.
Jeremy.
And if I may? Yes,
another way to rephrase that. Uh,
do you Do you regret not being involved in in in this shipment?
as emergency responders, we tend to do things in these situations with no regrets.
We act when we can
to help those we need to help.
It's
also fair to say that while the UN has a large and co ordinated
and big operation in Gaza,
we're not the only show in town,
right?
There are others. The co ordination, for example, that
provides is voluntary.
Nobody is obliged to co ordinate with us. It's a service that we provide
for international responders
in support of a strategic and co ordinated response.
They locally see the value of that.
That's why they keep coming to us and to want us to help with the co ordination.
Thanks very much. Uh, Catherine, Uh,
Francois
Kat, do you have a question for Jens?
Yeah. Hello. Good morning, Jens. I mean, it's regarding the coordinations service
offered by OSHA,
who is
who is coordinating all the airdrops. Because some countries like Belgium,
are also organising airdrops.
So who is, in fact coordinating those food airdrops?
If it's not
a
so on the on that,
Yes. We have not been involved in any co ordination
of that.
Um
I don't want to speak out of turn on behalf of organisations and countries who
are doing this because I don't know exactly how they have set themselves up.
But I do know as you do that a country like Jordan, for example, has been
has been out early. Doing this as I understand, been quite instrumental
in making these airdrops happen.
Thanks very much, Jens, I don't see further questions, uh, for you, So I'd like to
thank you very much for jumping up, uh,
and joining me here in the podium And maybe just to
highlight the SG yesterday in his take out he did,
um, he did appeal, as he has been for for for months now, um,
to on Well, for the spirit of Ramadan.
Specifically, he talked about silencing the guns and removing all obstacles.
Ensure the delivery of life saving aid
at the speed and massive scale required.
This is part of his comments that we shared with you yesterday
as he spoke at the Security Council stakeout yesterday.
So I don't see further questions, So I'd like to
wish you a good afternoon and see you here on Friday. Thanks.