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	Protecting the rights to equality and non-discrimination in machine learning systems by Access Now, Amnesty International, agencies   The Toronto Declaration: Protecting the rights to equality and non-discrimination in machine learning systems was launched on May 16, 2018 at RightsCon Toronto.   At the time of the launch, the Declaration prepared by Amnesty International and Access Now and it has been endorsed by Human Rights Watch and Wikimedia Foundation.   Preamble   As machine learning systems advance in capability and increase in use, we must examine the positive and negative implications of these technologies. We acknowledge the potential for these technologies to be used for good and to promote human rights but also the potential to intentionally or inadvertently discriminate against individuals or groups of people. We must keep our focus on how these technologies will affect individual human beings and human rights. In a world of machine learning systems, who will bear accountability for harming human rights?   As the “ethics” discourse gains ground, this Declaration aims to underline the centrality of the universal, binding and actionable body of human rights law and standards, which protect rights and provide a well-developed framework for remedies. They protect individuals against discrimination, promote inclusion, diversity and equity, and safeguards equality. Human rights are “universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated.”   This Declaration aims to build on existing discussions, principles and papers exploring the harms arising from this technology. The significant work done in this area by many experts has helped raise awareness about and inform discussions about the discriminatory risks of machine learning systems.   We wish to complement this work by reaffirming the role of human rights law and standards in protecting individuals and groups from discrimination and non-equality in any context. The human rights law and standards outlined in this Declaration provide a solid grounding for the developing ethical frameworks for machine learning.   From policing, to welfare systems, online discourse, and healthcare – to name a few examples – systems employing machine learning technologies can vastly and rapidly change or reinforce power structures or inequalities on an unprecedented scale and with significant harm to human rights.   There is a substantive and growing body of evidence to show that machine learning systems, which can be opaque and include unexplainable processes, can easily contribute to discriminatory or otherwise repressive practices if adopted without necessary safeguards.   States and private actors should promote the development and use of these technologies to help people more easily exercise and enjoy their human rights. For example, in healthcare, machine learning systems could bring advances in diagnostics and treatments, while potentially making health services more widely available and accessible.   States and private actors should further, in relation to machine learning and artificial intelligence more broadly, promote the positive right to the enjoyment of the benefits of scientific progress and its applications as an affirmation of economic, social and cultural rights.   The rights to equality and non-discrimination are only two of the human rights that may be adversely affected through the use of machine learning systems: privacy, data protection, freedom of expression, participation in cultural life, equality before the law, and meaningful access to remedy are just some of the other rights that may be harmed with the misuse of this technology.   Systems that make decisions and process data can also implicate economic, social, and cultural rights; for example, they can impact the provision of services and opportunities such as healthcare and education, and access to opportunities, such as labour and employment.   Whilst this Declaration is focused on machine learning technologies, many of the norms and principles included are equally applicable to artificial intelligence more widely, as well as to related data systems.   The declaration focuses on the rights to equality and non-discrimination. Machine learning, and artificial intelligence more broadly, impact a wider array of human rights, such as the right to privacy, the right to freedom of expression, participation in cultural life, the right to remedy, and the right to life.   Using the framework of international human rights law   States have obligations to promote, protect and respect human rights; private sector, including companies, has a responsibility to respect human rights at all times. We put forward this Declaration to affirm these obligations and responsibilities.   There are many discussions taking place now at supranational, state and regional level, in technology companies, at academic institutions, in civil society and beyond, focussing on how to make AI human-centric and the “ethics” of artificial intelligence. There is need to consider current and future potential human rights infringements, and how best to address them with better thinking about harm to rights, and regulatory and legal regimes.   Human rights law is a universally ascribed system of values based on the rule of law which provides established means to ensure that rights, including the rights to equality and non-discrimination, are upheld.   Its nature as a universally binding, actionable set of standards is particularly well-suited for borderless technologies such as machine learning. Human rights law provides both standards and mechanisms to hold the public and private sectors accountable where they fail to fulfil their respective obligations and responsibilities to protect and respect rights.   It also requires that everyone must be able to obtain an effective remedy and redress where their rights have been denied or violated.The risks machine learning systems pose must be urgently examined and addressed at governmental level and by the private sector conceiving, developing and, deploying these systems.   Government measures should be binding and adequate to protect and promote rights. Academic, legal and civil society experts should be able to meaningfully participate in these discussions, critique and advise on the use of these technologies. It is also critical that potential harms are identified and addressed and that mechanisms are put in place to hold accountable those responsible for harms.   The rights to equality and non-discrimination   This Declaration focuses on the rights to equality and non-discrimination, critical principles underpinning all human rights.   Discrimination is defined under international law as “any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference which is based on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, and which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by all persons, on an equal footing, of all rights and freedoms.”   This list is non-exhaustive as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has recognized the necessity of preventing discrimination against additional classes.   Preventing discrimination   The public and the private sector have obligations and responsibilities under human rights law to proactively prevent discrimination. When prevention is not sufficient or satisfactory, discrimination should be mitigated.   In employing new technologies, both the public and the private sector will likely need to find new ways to protect human rights, as new challenges to equality and representation of diverse individuals and groups arise. These types of technologies can exacerbate discrimination at scale.   Existing patterns of structural discrimination may be reproduced and aggravated in situations that are particular to these technologies – for example, machine learning system goals that create self-fulfilling markers of success and reinforce patterns of inequality, or issues arising from using non-representative or “biased” datasets.   All actors, public and private, must prevent and mitigate discrimination risks in the design, development and, application of machine learning technologies and that ensure that effective remedies are in place before deployment and throughout the lifecycle of these systems.   Protecting the rights of all individuals and groups and promoting diversity and inclusion diversity   This Declaration underlines that inclusion, diversity, and equity are key components to ensuring that machine learning systems do not create or perpetuate discrimination, particularly against marginalised groups. There are some groups for whom collecting data on discrimination poses particular difficulty, however, protections must extend to those groups as well.   Intentional and inadvertent discriminatory inputs throughout the design, development and, use of machine learning systems create serious risks for human rights; systems are for the most part developed, applied and reviewed by actors which are largely based in particular countries and regions, with limited input from diverse groups in terms of race, culture, gender, and socio-economic backgrounds. This can produce discriminatory results.   Inclusion, diversity and equity entails the active participation of, and meaningful consultation with, a diverse community to ensure that machine learning systems are designed and used in ways that respect non-discrimination, equality and other human rights.   * The preamble of the Declaration and the full text is available via the link below.   http://www.accessnow.org/the-toronto-declaration-protecting-the-rights-to-equality-and-non-discrimination-in-machine-learning-systems/ http://www.accessnow.org/tag/artificial-intelligence/ http://international-review.icrc.org/articles/ai-humanitarian-action-human-rights-ethics-913 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/DigitalAge/Pages/SeminarArtificialIntelligence.aspx http://carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu/technology-human-rights http://digitalfreedomfund.org/ http://rm.coe.int/unboxing-artificial-intelligence-10-steps-to-protect-human-rights-reco/1680946e64 http://www.business-humanrights.org/en/big-issues/technology-human-rights/artificial-intelligence-ai/ http://bit.ly/2Sllcpk http://bit.ly/2SZrHyx http://minorityrights.org/publications/minority-and-indigenous-trends-2020/ http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/humanrights/2020/07/16/beginning-of-artificial-intelligence-end-of-human-rights/
	Climate Emergency: A Humanitarian Call to Action by Avril Benoit, Michael Charles IFRC, Medecins Sans Frontieres   Climate Emergency: A Humanitarian Call to Action, by Avril Benoit. (MSF)   We saw this coming. As humanitarians, our risk assessments in different parts of the world have always factored in the potential for extreme weather events and the spread of vector-borne diseases, of drought, desertification, and mass displacement.   Emergency first responders like us work up scenarios for interventions and gain experience each time we put our planning to the test in real crises.   As a medical humanitarian organisation that works with some of the most vulnerable communities in climate hotspots, Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) teams are responding to the kinds of public health challenges that threaten to increase in number and severity without urgent action to reduce carbon emissions.   We are facing a climate emergency, with devastating consequences for global health and humanitarian needs. Poor and marginalised communities already suffer the worst consequences of climate change, and are at greatest risk of future harm.   We witness firsthand how environmental factors can worsen humanitarian crises. MSF captured some of this experience in a special report, 'Climate Change and Health: an urgent new frontier for humanitarianism', published as part of the Lancet Countdown project examining current and forecast climate-related impacts on health.   Earlier this year, we launched a massive emergency operation in Mozambique following the devastating floods caused by Cyclone Idai. A few weeks later, with people still reeling from the disaster, a second cyclone struck the country. It was the first time in recorded history that two cyclones hit Mozambique in a single season.   The scale of the damage caused by these back-to-back disasters was a wake-up call to prepare for more high-impact tropical cyclones, coastal flooding, and intense rainfall linked to climate change, according to a statement by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), a U.N. agency.   'Never in my life, nor in my parents and grandparents lives, had anyone seen rain like that', said one MSF nurse from Mozambique whose husband drowned in the floodwaters.   'When those in your country watch the landscape from a helicopter, you see the flooded areas and the torn trees, but there is a lot you can't see. Beneath the waters, below the broken branches, you will find us our stories and our sadness and our resolve to live.   We know that with rising waters come the rising risks of waterborne diseases, like cholera. In the aftermath of Cyclone Idai, MSF teams worked around the clock to ensure that people would have access to clean water.   We treated more than 4,000 people with suspected cholera and supported a large-scale campaign to vaccinate more than 800,000 people against the disease. The cyclone also left large pools of standing water, ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes that spread disease.   And the waters inundated the fields just before harvest season, destroying an estimated 1.8 million acres of crops and threatening food security in an area where people are already vulnerable to malnutrition.   For every headline disaster, there are ripples of related disasters and attendant medical crises.   With warmer temperatures, rising sea levels, and heavy rains, we can expect to see an increase in climate-sensitive diseases, including waterborne diseases like cholera as well as vector-borne diseases spread by growing numbers of mosquitoes and ticks, such as malaria, dengue fever, and Lyme disease.   Malaria already kills more than 400,000 people a year, mostly children under the age of five and overwhelmingly in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2012, 2014, and 2015, MSF teams observed significant spikes in malaria cases in several sub-Saharan countries compared to long-term averages.   While the reasons behind these increases are complex including, fundamentally, inadequate political and financial support for disease control efforts - the weight of evidence suggests that the incidence and prevalence of malaria will increase in Africa and beyond due to climate change.   Honduras, considered a climate change hotspot, is battling its worst outbreak of dengue fever in 50 years following a prolonged rainy season. MSF's patients are mainly children under the age of 15, and mainly those living in poorer, urban areas.   Severe dengue affects most Latin American and Asian countries and is a leading cause of hospitalisation and death among children and adults in these regions, according to the WHO.   Worldwide, the incidence of dengue has increased 30-fold over the last half century, with approximately 390 million infections in 2010, partly due to warming temperatures and the associated spread of the mosquito species that carry and spread the disease.   The impact of climate change and environmental degradation on people's health isn't new. The Darfur war in Sudan, which began in 2003, has been called the first 'climate change conflict', with the violence triggered in part by food and water insecurity as groups competed for scarce resources during a drought.   While there were many drivers behind this conflict - including political, military, racial, and ethnic factors - subsequent studies added another element to consider: a rise in temperatures of the Indian Ocean had disrupted seasonal monsoons, contributing to the drying of the region.   The conflict claimed the lives of 400,000 people. MSF treated thousands more victims of extreme violence, forced displacement, and malnutrition.   With the U.N. estimating that by 2025 two-thirds of all people in the world could live in water-stressed conditions, we are extremely concerned about the prospect of wider conflict and upheaval.   We're also seeing malnutrition due to drought and water scarcity in places like the Lake Chad region of the Sahel. Lake Chad was once one of Africa's largest lakes and a vital source of water for people living in the surrounding countries of Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger.   Overuse and drought have left people without sufficient water for drinking, cooking, or washing, let alone to water their crops to ensure future yields. Children here face a high risk of malnutrition, which in turn can stunt their development and weaken their immune systems.   This makes them more susceptible to other deadly diseases like malaria. It's estimated that 422 million people in 30 countries are undernourished because of climate-related problems producing food.   Climate change and environmental degradation could further contribute to record levels of migration and forced displacement. Although estimates vary widely, the most frequently cited projection is that some 200 million climate migrants will be uprooted by 2050 if current trends prevail.   In Mexico, our teams treat thousands of people each year who are fleeing extreme violence and poverty in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Prolonged drought and other environmental push factors in the region are also at play, according to a growing body of reporting by the U.N. and news media.   We know that most displaced people seek alternatives within their home country before making the wrenching decision to cross international borders. Many are moving to urban centres to seek employment and secure livelihoods, only to find themselves living in highly polluted neighbourhoods and working in hazardous conditions.   In Bangladesh, a low-lying coastal zone we're providing primary care and occupational health care for people in Dhaka's Kamrangirchar slum. Many of these residents were forced to move to the city after flooding contaminated their farmland with saltwater.   Our patients include people injured or sickened in the course of their work in the area's numerous small-scale factories, as well as victims of sexual violence and intimate partner violence often trapped in close quarters with their abuser.   As humanitarians, we must step up our advocacy for policies to improve assistance and protection for the people most affected by the direct and indirect consequences of climate change. The people most at risk in the future are those who are already suffering today due to existing vulnerabilities and inequities.   This June, at our International General Assembly, MSF committed to doing more to urgently address the increasing humanitarian consequences on vulnerable populations of environmental degradation and climate change. We have a responsibility to do better for our patients, staff, and the world.   Health and humanitarian organisations must also lead by example and address the environmental impacts of our own aid efforts. As we carry out our work, MSF is guided by medical ethics, particularly the duty to provide care without causing harm to individuals or groups.   We are developing a toolkit to systematically measure and monitor MSF's environmental footprint around the globe, with the goal of reducing energy use, air transport, and waste while still carrying out our social mission. We are also developing a guidance framework to promote ethical, efficient, and sustainable humanitarian aid practices.   Across MSF projects, teams are exploring ways to cut our own carbon footprint - like using less diesel fuel and relying less on air travel for people and cargo. We've tested the use of solar panels to power our facilities in places like Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti, and we're building a fully energy efficient hospital in Sierra Leone.   While we all have a role to play, governments and polluting industries must act now to slash greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming. They also have a duty to help those most affected by climate change. It's clear that the disastrous forecasts ahead far exceed the capacities of an already overstretched humanitarian sector.   As activists and world leaders converged in New York for the just-concluded U.N. Climate Action Summit, it is critical that we address the environmental challenges facing us today before they contribute to multiplying humanitarian catastrophes in the future.   * Avril Benoit is the executive director of Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres in the United States (MSF-USA)   Sep. 2019   Urgent action needed for countries in Southern Africa threatened by drought, by Dr. Michael Charles. (IFRC)   All countries in the Southern Africa are currently experiencing pockets of dryness. Worryingly for the sub-region, Angola, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe have declared state of emergencies due to looming drought. The United Nations Climate Action Summit in September presents a timely opportunity for urgent global discussions to deliver concrete, realistic plans to address the disproportionate impacts of climate change on developing countries.   Southern Africa is one of the regions most affected by serious impacts of climate-induced natural disasters. This year alone, a succession of cyclones and floods has already resulted in significant loss of life and assets in Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe, and kept humanitarian organisations busy with emergency responses, as well as recovery and rebuilding efforts.   Tropical cyclones Idai and Kenneth were different in that they managed to attract global attention because they caused significant devastation during a short period.   Climate change-induced natural disasters in Southern Africa are often invisible in the global media, even though they are protracted and threaten the livelihoods of millions. Even lower-level cyclones can cause devastating floods that are quickly followed by debilitating droughts.   Many national economies in Southern Africa are agriculturally based and as long as climate change mitigation strategies enshrined in existing global policies are not wholeheartedly implemented, a significant portion of the 340 million inhabitants of Southern Africa could be food-insecure in the long-term because of famine.   The increased mass movement of people from areas affected by climate-induced natural disasters is also more likely. Internal and external migration will necessitate greater coordination among humanitarian organisations to adequately support receiving communities and countries to respond to the added burden introduced by new arrivals.   The effects of food insecurity and mass movements are felt most by the vulnerable in our communities, such as the chronically ill and disabled, and women and children. They also place immense pressure on already strained health systems in many countries in the sub-region.   With the necessary funds, the Red Cross Movement has the capability and is well placed to address some of the consequences. But urgent action is still needed on the climate change question.   Climate change is certain and evident. Its effects are being felt more in less developed nations, especially in southern Africa. Efforts for adaptation are essential not only to decrease the negative consequences but also to increase opportunities for communities to be more resilient in the long-term.   Countries in the sub-region are working to decrease their response times to calamities and improve their communities readiness to mitigate impacts of natural disasters.   The need for humanitarian assistance in Southern Africa in the latter part of 2019 and into 2020 will be greater with the imminent drought. Notwithstanding ongoing local efforts to improve countries and communities disaster risk management practices and increase their resilience, global stakeholders have a responsibility to definitively act to reduce the need for climate change-induced disaster mitigation efforts in the most affected developing countries. http://bit.ly/2PRhuQQ   * Dr Michael Charles is the Head of the Southern Africa Cluster of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.   Sep. 2019   A new report by the world’s largest humanitarian network warns that the number of people needing humanitarian assistance every year as a result of climate-related disasters could double by 2050.   The Cost of Doing Nothing – published by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) – estimates that the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of storms, droughts and floods could climb beyond 200 million annually – compared to an estimated 108 million today.   It further suggests that this rising human toll would come with a huge financial price tag, with climate-related humanitarian costs ballooning to US$20 billion per year by 2030, in the most pessimistic scenario.   IFRC President Francesco Rocca said:   “These findings confirm the impact that climate change is having, and will continue to have, on some of the world’s most vulnerable people. It also demonstrates the strain that increasing climate-related disasters could place on aid agencies and donors.”   “The report shows the clear and frightening cost of doing nothing. But it also shows there is a chance to do something. But now is the time to take urgent action. By investing in climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction, including through efforts to improve early warning and anticipatory humanitarian action, the world can avoid a future marked by escalating suffering and ballooning humanitarian response costs,” said Mr Rocca.   The report shows that we are facing a stark choice. No action and costs are likely to escalate. Take determined and ambitious action now that prioritizes inclusive, climate-smart development and the number of people in need of international humanitarian assistance annually could in fact fall to as low as 68 million by 2030, and even drop further to 10 million by 2050 – a decrease of 90 per cent compared to today.   Julie Arrighi, an advisor at the Red Cross and Red Crescent Climate Centre, and one of the main contributors to the report, said:   “In this report, we present some of the potential consequences should the global community fail to step up ambition to address the rising risks in a changing climate. It also shows some of the potential positive outcomes if indeed the global community takes action now to build resilience, adapt and address the current climate crisis.   “We hope that this report helps build momentum to increase investment in inclusive, climate-smart development – including reduced emissions, but especially renewed efforts to adapt to the rising risks,” Ms Arrighi said.   * Access the report: http://bit.ly/2RFhHWX   http://media.ifrc.org/ifrc/press-release/200-million-people-need-us20billion-respond-new-report-estimates-escalating-humanitarian-cost-climate-change/ Visit the related web page
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