UN Human Rights Council adopts first resolution devoted solely to AI

A first dedicated AI text from the Council

Resolution 63/15 deals with the implications of artificial intelligence for the promotion and protection of human rights. According to Shany, the Council has addressed the effects of new digital technologies, including AI, before, with resolutions in 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025. The new text is different because it is the first detailed resolution to focus only on the human rights impacts of AI systems.

Shany says this signals growing interest among states and inter-governmental organisations in specifying human rights standards that fit the challenges AI systems pose. The resolution was co-sponsored by 13 states from four different UN regions. It has a lengthy preamble and 23 operative paragraphs.

It was adopted one day after the Oxford Institute for Ethics in AI held its first Summit on AI and human rights, where prominent speakers called for human rights to be placed more firmly at the centre of AI governance, Shany writes.

What the preamble covers

The preamble first lists the UN resolutions, treaties and standard-setting bodies that feed into human rights for AI. These include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the Global Digital Compact, and the preliminary report of the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence. It also mentions the 2026 Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance.

It then describes possible effects of AI. Positive ones touch health, education, research, access to information and development. The negative ones the text mentions, explicitly or implicitly, include risks to:

• non-discrimination, including through profiling
• privacy
• freedom of opinion and expression, including access to information
• participation in public affairs
• freedom from violence and harm
• decent labor standards

The preamble also points to environmental effects, digital divides within and across countries, and negative consequences for people in situations of vulnerability and marginalization, especially children and victims of racism. It also names "low-resources languages" and cultural diversity. It states that "human dignity and human agency should remain central to the design, development, deployment, use and governance of artificial intelligence". It calls for human rights due diligence and impact assessment for states and businesses, and for capacity development, knowledge-sharing, technology transfer and access to open models so developing countries can take part in AI discussions.

Principles and obligations in the operative paragraphs

The operative paragraphs reaffirm that AI can have both positive and negative effects on human rights and that international law applies to AI design, development, deployment, use and governance. That may include international human rights law, international humanitarian law and the principles of the UN Charter. States are asked to consider human rights implications when building their own regulatory frameworks.

Shany calls paragraph 7 one of the key paragraphs. It encourages states to adopt approaches to AI that respect human dignity and human agency and uphold equality and non-discrimination, privacy, accessibility, transparency and explainability, accountability, sustainability, safety, human oversight and access to effective remedies.

Paragraphs 10 to 13 highlight specific concerns: human oversight, review, transparency and accountability where AI affects rights; the balance between freedom of expression and privacy; the disparate impact on vulnerable or marginalized groups and the need to involve them in policy-making; and the responsibility of businesses across the AI life cycle to respect human rights and contribute to remediation. Paragraphs 14 and 15 promote digital literacy, international cooperation and capacity-building. Paragraph 16 encourages digital public goods, digital public infrastructure and open AI models, data sets and tools with adequate human rights safeguards, so that countries with limited resources can benefit.

Role for the UN and the commentary

The final paragraphs ask the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to contribute to UN discussions on AI, support capacity-building and technical development on human rights implications, convene a future Council panel discussion and prepare a report.

In his commentary, Shany welcomes the resolution's special focus on AI and its aim to recenter human rights in national and international regulation. He finds it particularly useful that the Council highlights features unique to AI systems, namely the potential for manipulation, bias, privacy infringement, lack of human oversight, lack of transparency and accountability, and ineffective remedies. He also praises its emphasis on procedural steps such as due diligence and impact assessment. The source text available here ends partway through the commentary, so the specific shortcomings he identifies are not covered.

For governments and companies, the resolution points to a set of principles and procedures that the Council wants applied to AI. It is a statement encouraging states, rather than a binding treaty, as its wording "encourages" suggests.