Technologies are deeply embedded in everyday life, shaping how we communicate, work, organise, and construct our identities. It is difficult to imagine a day without them - whether navigating with GPS, catching up on news and entertainment, or making instant online payments. Social media platforms create spaces for sharing ideas and mobilising around causes, while search engines and apps structure how we access knowledge, connect with others, and make decisions.
Within this context, technologies both enable and restrict human rights. Deepfake technologies, for instance, have been used to discredit political figures and silence activists, undermining freedom of expression. At the same time, digital platforms have enabled transnational movements, such as #MeToo, to amplify socially marginalised voices and broaden civic participation across borders. Conversely, AI systems increasingly deployed in labour markets and welfare administration risk discriminating on the basis of gender, ethnicity, or socio-economic status, reinforcing existing patterns of inequality and oppression. Added to this, the digital divide continues to exclude vulnerable groups, while the spread of disinformation corrodes truth and erodes public trust.
Furthermore, understanding this dual relationship between human rights and technology requires examining features of the technological ecosystem that challenge traditional human rights theories and frameworks. The transnational reach of online services unsettles state-based regulatory models, while the rapid pace of innovation often outpaces the slow development of legal norms. At the same time, the private sector exerts significant influence: the companies that design platforms, applications, and algorithms shape how rights are defined, exercised, and protected in practice.
Against this background, this course critically examines human rights in the current, digital age. It will explore:
1. Introduction to human rights in a digital age: Foundational concepts and the evolving relationship between technology and fundamental rights.
2. Human rights and vulnerability in digital technologies and AI systems: How technologies create, exacerbate, or mitigate individual and group vulnerabilities, especially considering data power imbalances.
3. Human rights of social groups in the digital and AI environment: The impacts of emerging technologies on women, children, LGBTIQA* communities, workers, and other vulnerable groups.
4. Law and measures protecting and challenging human rights in a technological world: Legal frameworks, regulatory tools, and practical mechanisms for safeguarding rights online and in AI design.
5. Emerging human rights in a digital age: Potential new rights identification and their implications for the future of human rights protection.
The course primarily draws on the UN and EU human rights frameworks, while also incorporating illustrative examples from other regional and national jurisdictions.
Course objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
Understand the evolution of fundamental rights theories and mechanisms in the digital age.
Map new technologies that can enable or restrict human rights.
Evaluate the constitutive and mutual relationship between human rights and technology.
Identify applicable laws, policy, and other measures to the case-studies under scrutiny.
Develop intellectual curiosity and forward-looking thinking.
To formulate a substantiated conclusion.
Mode of instruction
Number of lectures: 10 Lectures/seminars.
Assessment method
Assessment method(s) and the weighting of each form of assessment towards the final grade:
Closed book exam – 100% of the overall mark
Reading list
Literature:
To be announced.
Reader:
Course reader is available to be downloaded from Brightspace.
Contact information
Name of the lecturer: Gianclaudio Malgieri (g.malgieri@law.leidenuniv.nl) and Carlotta Rigotti (c.rigotti@law.leidenuniv.nl)
Faculty: Law School, Metajuridica Department, Leiden University
Administration advanced masters: BIO
humanrights@law.leidenuniv.nl
Disclaimer
Currently these pages are being updated to reflect the courses for 2025 - 2026 Until these pages are fixed as per 1 September 2025no rights can be claimed from the information which is currently contained within.
Should there be any future extenuating circumstances which may impinge our teaching and assessment, these could necessitate modification of the course descriptions after 1 September. This will only happen in the event of strict necessity and the interests of the students will be taken into account. Should there be a need for any change during the course, this will be informed to all students on a timely basis. Modifications after 1 September 2025may only be done with the approval and consent of the Faculty Board and Programme Director.