SPECIAL COLLECTION OF THE CASE LAW ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION porteur referred to the UN Secretary-General, who in his Roadmap to Digital Cooperation recognized the need for greater coherence throughout the United Nations system, including by recognizing that “human rights exist online as they do offline and have to be respected in full.”104 The Special Rapporteur continued to say that the ITU “legal regime on suspension of telecommunications, which predates the digital era, is ill-suited to prevent misuse by Governments and address the threats that internet shutdowns pose to human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. ITU norms and processes lack guidelines or enforcement measures that would help prevent the human rights violations caused by these extreme measures. Even if notification to ITU is required per article 35 of the ITU Constitution, this cannot be equated with effective oversight. Article 34 of the ITU Constitution is particularly troubling as it could be interpreted to authorize internet shutdowns, including on a broad and indiscriminate basis.” 105 The Special Rapporteur called upon the ITU to issue guidance “clarifying that these provisions should never be understood as authorizing internet shutdowns and [to] foster collaboration between States, Internet service providers (ISPs), mobile telephony operators and civil society groups to promote policies and practices to prevent network disruptions, in line with human rights norms and principles, including the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs)” so as to prevent this undesirable outcome.106 This position of the UN Special Rapporteur was affirmed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who noted that the ITU was founded to facilitate “international connectivity in communications networks”. The above provisions of the ITU Constitution, she said, must “be applied together with and subject to the additional obligations that States have assumed under international human rights law to respect the right to freedom of expression and other applicable human rights.” She also agreed with the Special Rapporteur by recommending that ITU issue guidance clarifying that those provisions “should never be understood as authorizing Internet shutdowns”.107 The ITU thus recognizes that measures undertaken to protect against cyberthreats must protect and respect the provisions for freedom of expression as contained in the relevant parts of the UDHR and the ICCPR.108 104 Road map for digital cooperation: implementation of the recommendations of the High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation, Report of the Secretary-General, 20 May 2020, A/74/821, para 38, https://www.un.org/en/content/digital-cooperation-roadmap/ . 105 Ending Internet shutdowns: a path forward. Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. Human Rights Council Forty-seventh session 15 June 2021, A/HRC/47/24/Add.2, para 65-67, https://documents-dds-ny. un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G21/149/66/PDF/G2114966.pdf?OpenElement. 106 Ending Internet shutdowns: a path forward. Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. Human Rights Council Forty-seventh session 15 June 2021, A/HRC/47/24/Add.2, para 65-67, https://documents-dds-ny. un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G21/149/66/PDF/G2114966.pdf?OpenElement. 107 Internet shutdowns: trends, causes, legal implications and impacts on a range of human rights Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 13 May 2022, A/HRC/50/55, Para 18, https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ ahrc5055-internet-shutdowns-trends-causes-legal-implications-and-impacts. 108 International Telecommunications Union, The World Telecommunication Development Conference (Kigali, 2022), Resolution 45, Mechanisms for enhancing cooperation on cybersecurity, including countering and combating spam, https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/ tdc/D-TDC-WTDC-2022-PDF-E.pdf. 24