About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

4 Int'l J. Advanced Legal Stud. & Governance 47 (2013)
Human Rights and Access to Information and Communication Technologies

handle is hein.journals/ijalsg4 and id is 129 raw text is: Human Rights and Access to Information and Communication Technologies Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo Faculty of Law, Baze University, Abuja, Nigeria E-mail: nudeka@yahoo.com ABSTRACT The world is going through a profound change where advances in Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) have tied nation states into an increasingly complex web of development, 'thus prompting the extreme importance of access to ICTs.2 Article 27of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR)3 provides that 'everyone has the right to participate, enjoy and share in scientific advancement and its benefits'. Though, billions of people the world over are presently excluded from access to ICTs necessitating the submission yet those who lack access to ICTs are extremely marginalised from present day development. This article critically weighs the immense importance of ICTs to everyday living and global development, the relationship between access to ICTs, law and human rights and recommends the adoption of a human rights-based approach towards bridging the ICTs or digital divide. Keywords: Human Right, ICT, scientific advancement, digital divide INTRODUCTION Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to develop and discuss new human rights ideas and principles and to advocate their acceptance4. ICTs are the engines that drive modem development and have been regarded as the electricity of the present age5, thus, access to them has become a yardstick for measuring development and underdevelopment. ICTs are so important that they can save lives, create jobs and introduce radical societal benefits. The international community and national governments are presently engaged in various efforts to ensure universal ICTs access and the issue of the ICT divide has been put on all agendas, whether public, political or scholarly.6 This has prompted the argument that implicit in the right to development7 and in the provisions of Article 27 UDHR is the right to ICT access and that without the right to ICT access, there might be an emergence of the 'Fourth World' inhabited by countries of people who lack ICT access, resources and infrastructure.' The question is, are ICTs that crucial to present day living and development to have become a necessary amenity for all and thus a human right or a derivate of human right? International Journal of Advanced Legal Studies and Governance, Vol. 4, No. 2, August 2013 47

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most