On 11 and 12 of May, ARC experts participated actively in the side-events of the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting “Safeguarding Civic Space in the Digital Age” in Vienna.
The Association’s achievements and current activities in the area of research and counteraction to Russian usage of digital technologies against international order, global security, and human dimension were discussed by experts at the relevant events, such as “Disruptions, Civic Space, and Democratic Resilience”, “Surveillance of Peaceful Assemblies in the OSCE Region,” and others.
Participants also examined the dual role of digital technologies as both a risk multiplier and a potential mitigation tool in relation to conflict prevention, human rights protection, and media freedom.
Experts explored practical responses to disinformation, resilience strategies, and assessed regulatory and ethical approaches grounded in international law.
They agreed that recent technological developments, including the deployment of facial recognition, biometric identification, and other forms of digital surveillance, present new and complex challenges.
Relevant Russian illegal activities were researched, including illegal usage of digital technologies in the occupied Crimea to restrict the exercise of freedoms of assembly, association, and expression, among others, and to target the work of civic actors, including human rights defenders.
Results of our Association’s investigation of the relevant illegal activities of the Russia-controlled “International Russophile Movement” and “Congress of the Future” and their broad reflection in the European media caused strong interest of OSCE Meeting’s side-events participants.
