A/HRC/46/37
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
25 January 2021
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Forty-sixth session
22 February–19 March 2021
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Artificial intelligence and privacy, and children’s privacy
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy,
Joseph A. Cannataci*, **
Summary
The present report is prepared pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions 28/16
and 37/2. Never has the human right to privacy been more important and more under siege.
Technological trends, as foreshadowed in 2015, have posed ever more challenges for the
enjoyment of the right to privacy. In the present report, the final report of the inaugural
Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy, he addresses two separate challenges: firstly,
artificial intelligence and privacy, then children’s privacy, particularly privacy’s role in
supporting autonomy and positive participation in society. Guidance and
recommendations, developed through consultation and research, are outlined to address
those challenges. Along with other recommendations of the Special Rapporteur in his
previous reports, the present report completes the workplan presented to the Human Rights
Council in 2016 (A/HRC/31/64). An overview of the Special Rapporteur’s activities
conducted under the mandate activities since 2015 is contained in the annexes.
* Agreement was reached to publish the present report after the standard publication date owing to
circumstances beyond the submitter’s control.
** The annexes to the present report are circulated as received, in the language of submission only.
GE.21-00896(E)