Graduate student researchers in SIS Professor Jonathan Crock’s Futures of Democracy, Tech & Human Rights Lab received international recognition in a report by UN Secretary-General António Guterres on advancing human rights and cultural diversity. The Lab’s research on innovations in combatting discrimination and promoting cultural diversity is featured in a section of the Secretary-General's report.

At the request of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Lab submitted a report, Recognition, Respect, and Expression of Human Rights and Cultural Diversity, on innovative state practices, including policies advancing Indigenous cultural rights, citizens’ assemblies, combatting racial discrimination in the workplace, and transitional justice mechanisms. The 16 SIS student authors are Kacey Berry, Jude Braithwaite, Mily Cancino, Annie Beth Clark, Mariama Dumbuya, Micah Hinnergardt, Sarah Jaley, Naomi Kamau, Penina Kamau, Chloe Mayhew, Dakendjy Pierre, Lydia Roeder, Edwin Santos, Julianna Tes, Isabelle Varon, and Alex Wagner.

The Secretary-General's report was mandated by UN General Assembly resolution 78/201, which raised "concern over the adverse impacts of lack of respect for and recognition of cultural diversity on human rights, justice, friendship and the fundamental right to development."

Marking another milestone, the Lab's 15 human rights reports on reparations, disinformation, AI and justice, AI and governance, AI and creativity, climate, and conflict minerals have now reached over 12,000 publication views, 2,900+ downloads, and have been cited by the UN Human Rights Council and Australian Human Rights Commission. Through its inclusion in the Secretary-General’s report, the Lab’s research on cultural diversity is accessible worldwide in all six UN languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.

Crock’s students have also published 43 articles in leading human rights and technology publications, including in Harvard University’s Health and Human Rights, Tech Policy Press, University of Oxford Faculty of Law’s Oxford Human Rights Hub, African Arguments run by African Affairs: The Journal of the Royal African Society, New York University School of Law’s Open Global Rights, University of London School of Advanced Study’s Refugee Law Initiative, LSE Human Rights, and University of Melbourne Social Equity Institute’s Refugee Research Online.

Read more about the Futures Lab and its reports here.