Human Rights Day: Reclaiming Dignity In A Digital, Divided World

On Human Rights Day, December 10, we must reflect on our position as a global society: how far we have come in safeguarding freedom and how much further we must go to ensure that every human being is treated with dignity.

The world faces a new set of challenges. Human rights violations are no longer confined to battlefields or prisons; they now occur quietly and algorithmically within the vast and complex systems that govern modern life. In the 21st century, the focus shifts from securing political and social liberties to defending digital, economic, and informational rights.

On this Human Rights Day, India—and the world—confronts a pivotal question: How do we protect human dignity in an era where unseen systems increasingly mediate technology, finance, and identity?

The Digital World: Expanding Rights, Expanding Risks

Digital technologies have empowered millions, providing information, connectivity, and opportunities to previously isolated regions. India’s own journey—from developing the world’s most extensive biometric digital identity system to achieving record-scale digital payments—demonstrates how technology can enhance inclusion.

However, progress entails vulnerabilities.

Data has become a form of currency, often collected without meaningful consent.

Surveillance tools are becoming more sophisticated, raising significant concerns about privacy and autonomy.

Digital monopolies concentrate power, diminishing transparency and accountability.

Algorithmic bias can subtly discriminate against individuals based on race, caste, gender, or location.

Technology is no longer neutral; it determines who gains access, who is excluded, and who is heard.

Human Rights Day thus urges us to ask: Are our digital systems empowering individuals—or quietly controlling them?

Financial Rights: The Last Mile of Human Freedom

Economic empowerment is one of the most fundamental human rights. Without economic agency, other rights—such as freedom of expression, education, and health—become difficult to exercise.

Nonetheless, 1.4 billion people worldwide remain unbanked or underbanked. Millions more have bank accounts but lack genuine financial autonomy due to restrictive systems, opaque intermediaries, or geopolitical constraints.

This is why discussions about decentralization, financial inclusion, and open access are crucial today. These topics are not merely driven by technological hype; they directly relate to human rights:

• The right to control one’s own property
• The right to participate in economic life without discrimination
• The right to fair, transparent, and accessible financial systems

One way to protect these rights is through decentralized networks that are built on clear, verifiable rules. By enabling individuals to maintain ownership of their assets, identities, and data, these systems lessen dependence on intermediaries that may censor, restrict, or surveil their activities. This philosophy resonates in several emerging digital infrastructures, including decentralized finance models that emphasize security, transparency, and user empowerment.

1.4 billion people worldwide remain unbanked or underbanked (Image:Freepik)

Ultimately, human rights aim to restore power to individuals, and financial autonomy is a critical aspect of that restoration.

India’s Moment: Rights and Responsibility in a Billion-Person Democracy

India, as the world's largest democracy and a leading digital society, stands at a crucial juncture where opportunity and responsibility converge.

A. Digital Governance and Inclusion

India’s digital public infrastructure—UPI, Aadhaar, and ONDC—has implemented some of the most extensive inclusion projects in human history. However, the challenge moving forward is not merely to scale these initiatives but to ensure adequate safeguards.

How do we ensure:

• Privacy and consent are significant.
• Technology serves to reduce inequality rather than exacerbate it.
• Citizens maintain control over their financial and digital identities.

In the next decade, India's human rights will be judged by how we apply our innovations, not just how many we create.

B. Combating Online Harassment and Misinformation

The surge in online hate, deepfakes, gender-based digital violence, and misinformation poses a threat to public trust and individual safety. To protect digital spaces as venues for respectful dialogue rather than intimidation, we need stronger legal frameworks, enhanced education, and greater accountability from platforms.

C. Protecting the Rights of Gig and Platform Workers

With millions of Indians relying on app-based work, new questions regarding workers' rights arise: Who safeguards their working conditions? Who ensures fair wages? Who guarantees transparency in algorithms?

Human Rights in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence presents remarkable potential, from medical diagnostics to climate modelling. However, if left unchecked, it can perpetuate existing inequalities and create new forms of discrimination.

Key concerns include:

• Opaque decision-making in AI-driven credit scoring, hiring, or policing.
• There is an inherent bias in datasets that disproportionately impacts marginalised groups.
• When automated systems cause harm, accountability is lacking.

To protect human rights in the future, AI must adhere to human-centric principles: fairness, explainability, diversity in training data, and stringent oversight. Ensuring that machines never undermine human dignity is essential.

Reimagining Rights for a Decentralised Future

A significant evolution in global conversations on human rights is the recognition that centralised systems carry both power and vulnerability. Whether in data storage, financial clearing, or identity management, over-centralisation creates single points of failure—and, more critically, single points of control.

A rights-driven future is one where systems are:

• Decentralized systems prevent any single institution from arbitrarily censoring or restricting access.
• Transparent, ensuring that rules are auditable and fair.
• Secure, allowing individuals—not institutions—to control their assets and identity.
• Inclusive, facilitating participation regardless of geography or privilege.
These principles already guide several emerging global digital infrastructures, rooted in the belief that technology should serve people—not the other way around.

Human Rights Are Not Static—They Evolve

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was designed as a living document. Its core values are timeless, but its application evolves with each generation’s realities.

In 1948, the frontier of freedom was political. Today, it encompasses digital, economic, and informational realms.

Human Rights Day serves as a reminder that rights must be actively defended, not passively inherited. They must be reinterpreted in light of each new technology, system, and societal shift.

The responsibility lies not only with governments but also with:

Technology builders
Financial innovators
Civil society
Educational institutions
Every individual is a citizen.

Rights flourish when people demand them—not just once, but continuously.

To protect human rights in the future, AI must adhere to human-centric principles (Image:Freepik)

A Call to Action: Reclaiming Agency in the 21st Century

As we observe Human Rights Day, we must commit to three urgent priorities:

A. Build systems that empower, not control.

Whether in finance, identity, or communication, individuals should remain at the centre—not merely as data points but as decision-makers.

B. Strengthen digital literacy and civic awareness.

Rights are meaningful only when people understand them. A digitally literate society is better equipped to defend privacy, question inequality, and demand transparency.

C. Foster a culture of decentralisation and shared power

Through democratic institutions or distributed technologies, systems that minimise single points of control better protect rights.

Ultimately, human rights revolve around achieving a balance between the individual and the system, freedom and responsibility, and innovation and ethics.

Conclusion: Human Rights Begin With Human Dignity

Human Rights Day is not just a commemoration; it serves as a reminder that a person's dignity is the most powerful charter we possess.

As India and the world embark on the next chapter of the digital age, we must ensure that progress does not come at the expense of autonomy, privacy, or equality. The future should be built on systems—technological, financial, and social—that uphold our shared humanity.

A world that protects rights is not only more just but also more stable, prosperous, and resilient.

It all begins with one principle: Every person deserves the freedom to shape their own destiny.

 

 

(Note: Dr (Prof) Sadhana Kala is a USA-trained robotic & laparoscopic surgeon, Uppsala University, Sweden, trained fertility specialist, Icon Endoscopic Surgeon of North India, and National Icon Endoscopic Surgeon of India. She is rated as India's Best Gynecologist by Google.)

(Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.)