UN General Assembly
2019

At stake is whether we bequeath an Orwellian world, designed for censorship, repression and control, or a world of emancipation, debate and learning, where technology threatens famine and disease but not our freedoms. Seven decades ago, the General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with no dissenting voices, uniting humankind for the first and perhaps only time behind one set of principles. Our joint declaration upholds the freedom of opinion and expression, the privacy of home and correspondence, and the right to seek and impart information and ideas. Unless we ensure that new technology reflects this spirit, I fear that our declaration will mean nothing and no longer hold. The mission of the United Kingdom and all who share our values must therefore be to ensure that emerging technologies are designed from the outset for freedom, openness and pluralism, with the right safeguards in place to protect our peoples.