The Covid-19 pandemic engages the full spectrum of states’ human rights obligations. In addressing the virus itself, states are required to protect the rights to life and the highest attainable standard of health (right to health) and ensure that no-one suffers discrimination in access to and the nature of healthcare. States’ (in)action in meeting their obligations to fulfil…

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (known as the UNGPs or Ruggie Principles) were developed in 2008 by the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative, John Ruggie, and endorsed by the Human Rights Council in 2011. Comprised of three pillars to ‘protect, respect and remedy’ human rights violations, the third pillar on remedy has often…

In the field of artificial intelligence, the spectacle of the ‘killer robot’ looms large. In my work for the ESRC Human Rights, Big Data and Technology Project, I am often asked about what the ‘contemporary killer robot’ looks like and what it means for society. In this post, I offer some reflections on why I think the…