Human Rights and Converging Technology with Special Reference to Developing World

Abstract

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights sets out the rights and freedoms that people everywhere should be able to enjoy. It is the best definition the world community has so far been able to develop of the common elements of humanity shared by all people. For all to enjoy these rights, they must have access to basic communication and information services. Since World War II and especially in the 1990s, the language o human rights have come to occupy a central place in national and global public policy, touching virtually every aspect of human activity. While this turn to human rights has been extremely important and valuable, much remains to be done in bridging the gap between theory and practice and between promise and performance. This assumes great importance when seen in the light of the need to address the cultural and political implications of articulating human rights as universal rights. We have to follow the realization that the time is ripe for advanced thinking on designing a better empirically grounded, culturally sensitive, ethically, socially and politically responsible approach to human rights. Without action on the part of the world community, there is a very real danger that the world will be divided into the Information rich and the information poor; and that the gap between developed and developing countries will widen into an unbridgeable chasm. The deepening mal-distribution of access, resources and opportunities in the information and communication field is the matter of concern. The information and technology gap and related inequities between industrialized and developing nations are widening: a new type of poverty. Information poverty looms. Most developing countries, especially the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), are not sharing in the communication revolution, since they lack: affordable access to core information resources, cutting-edge technology and to sophisticated telecommunication systems and infrastructure; the capacity to build, operate, manage , and service the technologies involved; policies that promote equitable public participation in the information society as both producers and consumers of information and knowledge; and a work force trained to develop, maintain and provide the value added products and services required by the information economy. The paper argues that the introduction and use of information and communication technology must become a priority effort of the United Nations in order to secure sustainable human development and embraced the objective of establishing universal access to basic communication and information services for all. Paper emphasizes the need of the United Nations system to assist developing countries in redressing the present alarming trends.

Keywords: convergence, information communication technology, developing country, least developing country, information poor.information bridge