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Bondi Beach gunmen had possible Islamic State links, media report

Sir Cliff Richard enthüllt im exklusiven Gespräch mit «Good Morning Britain», an Krebs erkrankt zu sein. Der Sänger betont die Wichtigkeit frühzeitiger Tests und kritisiert das Fehlen eines nationalen Screening-Programms.

Ein nach einem Streit in Tavannes BE gesuchter, als bewaffnet und gefährlich eingestufter Mann, ist in der Nacht auf Montag festgenommen worden.

In today's edition: High-voltage grids, internal combustion engine ban, vintage cars

"Bringing crypto into the regulatory perimeter is a crucial step in securing the UK's position as a world leading financial centre in the digital age," finance minister Rachel Reeves said

Asphyxiée par des dettes massives, paralysée par un système de financement bloqué depuis des années et minée par l'inaction politique, la Radio-Télévision publique de Bosnie-Herzégovine (BHRT) est au bord de la faillite. Une crise aux lourdes implications démocratiques.

- Articles / Une - Diaporama, Courrier des Balkans, Bosnie-Herzégovine, Médias, Une - Diaporama - En premier

Asphyxiée par des dettes massives, paralysée par un système de financement bloqué depuis des années et minée par l'inaction politique, la Radio-Télévision publique de Bosnie-Herzégovine (BHRT) est au bord de la faillite. Une crise aux lourdes implications démocratiques.

- Articles / Une - Diaporama, Courrier des Balkans, Bosnie-Herzégovine, Médias, Une - Diaporama - En premier

Seit fünf Ligaspielen ist der FC Luzern sieglos. Laut Sportchef Meyer steht Trainer Frick nicht zur Diskussion, er müsse jetzt aber Resultate liefern.

16-ra emelkedett a zsidó közösség elleni ausztráliai terrortámadás halálos áldozatainak száma, egy gyerek is meghalt.

Eine Türklingelkamera filmt, wie ein Haus in der Nachbarschaft explodiert. Sechs Menschen werden sofort ins Spital gebracht. Die Feuerwehr spricht von einer beschädigten Gasleitung, die zur Explosion geführt haben soll.

Jede zweite Tramlinie hat eine neue Route. Und beim Hauptbahnhof ist ein Jahr lang eine Haltestelle zu. Die Zürcher Verkehrsbetriebe haben am Sonntag den grössten Fahrplanwechsel ihrer Geschichte vorgenommen. Am Montag folgt nun der erste Pendler-Praxistest.

In Monday's edition: Ukraine, Döpfner’s U-turn, Trump’s assets plan, Kyuchyuk, Mercosur

Digitalization is transforming how we learn, work and participate in civic life. UNDP is supporting countries seeking to ensure that digital systems empower people and uphold their rights. Credit: UNDP Trinidad and Tobago

By Daria Asmolova, Arindrajit Basu and Roqaya Dhaif
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 15 2025 (IPS)

Within a generation, digital systems have changed much of how we learn, work and participate in civic life, especially in more connected regions. This shift is unfolding at different speeds in developing countries, but the direction of travel is unmistakable.

The question countries face today isn’t whether digital development should happen, but how to ensure that digital systems empower individuals and communities, upholding everyone’s rights.

As countries deepen their digital transitions, ensuring that rights protections keep pace becomes a shared challenge. UNDP’s Digital Rights Dashboard (DRD) is designed to help clarify that landscape and serves as an essential first step toward deeper inquiry and action on protecting human rights in a digital world.

Why the Digital Rights Dashboard?

UNDP’s Digital Development Compass and Digital Readiness Assessment already help countries understand where they stand in their digital journey. Yet one critical dimension needed sharper focus: how countries are set up to protect human rights in the digital space.

The DRD fills that gap by examining four essential rights online: freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of assembly and association, equality and non-discrimination, and privacy. It also explores cross-cutting factors like connectivity and rule of law, the foundations that make all online rights possible.

The DRD provides a structured framework for assessing the policies, regulations, and enabling environments that shape digital rights across over 140 countries. It does not rank or evaluate countries. Instead, it serves as a catalyst for dialogue among governments, civil society, international organizations, and development partners to identify gaps and work together on solutions.

The DRD follows the methodology of the Digital Development Compass, one requirement of which is data coverage of at least 135 countries, the most challenging constraint. Comprehensive data on digital rights remains limited, making it difficult to fully capture how well environments are structured to protect rights in practice.

To address this fragmentation of data, we developed the Digital Rights Foundations database as an additional data source for the DRD. Another challenge is that legal and policy frameworks do not always reflect realities on the ground.

For example, the existence of a data protection law or hate speech regulation does not guarantee enforcement; laws may be unevenly applied, and important processes such as public consultations and participatory policy design often fall outside what indicators can capture.
For these reasons, we recommend using the DRD as an entry point, a tool that highlights where deeper national analysis and dialogue are needed, rather than a definitive assessment of digital rights protections.

What we learned from five pilot countries

To test its practical application and assess how well it could guide rights-based digital development conversations in diverse contexts, UNDP piloted the DRD in Colombia, Lebanon, Mauritania, North Macedonia, and Samoa. The findings illustrate the importance of country-driven digital rights dialogues.

Colombia—strong frameworks, evolving needs

The DRD reflects that Colombia has ratified key international conventions and established legislation to protect digital rights, including a data protection law. Yet consultations revealed areas where legislation—such as intelligence-related surveillance—could be further aligned with international human rights standards.

A strong multi-stakeholder approach to rights-based digital development emerged as a promising pathway. For example, civil society efforts to counter hate speech and UNDP’s support to digitalize justice services demonstrate how digital tools can strengthen equality and safety, particularly in conflict-affected regions.

Samoa—building rights into digitalization from the start

While still in the early stages of its rights-based digital development journey, Samoa is proactively engaging stakeholders to shape inclusive data governance and cybersecurity policies. Samoa is also integrating technology into its programmes to protect human rights, including the right to equality and non-discrimination.

Partnerships with organizations like the Samoa Victim’s Support Group, supported by UNDP, show how digital platforms (helplines, secure communication channels) can advance the right to equality and non-discrimination by protecting the rights of vulnerable groups, particularly women and survivors of domestic violence.

Lebanon—protecting digital rights amid crisis

Lebanon’s experience highlights the difficulties of upholding digital rights during conflict, where disruptions to connectivity and freedom of expression are impacted. Yet, safeguarding the foundations of digital rights can also bolster resilience to crisis, as it enables individuals and communities to maximize the opportunities of the digital space.

UNDP collaborated with the National Anti-Corruption Committee to implement its recent legislation on access to information by incorporating digital tools. This illustrates how transparency and the right to information, core elements of freedom of expression, can strengthen accountability even in fragile settings.

Moving forward: a starting point for collective action

Across all five pilot countries, one lesson was clear: rights-based digital development strengthens institutions, empowers communities, and builds trust in digital systems. The DRD has limitations, and more robust data will be needed as the field evolves, but it creates a shared understanding of where protections are strong and where gaps persist.

The pilots also show that countries and stakeholders do not need perfect metrics before taking action. By combining the DRD’s insights with national expertise, human rights reporting, and civil society perspectives, governments can begin shaping digital development that respects and protects human rights both online and offline.

Daria Asmolova is Digital Specialist, UNDP; Arindrajit Basu is Digital Rights Researcher, UNDP; &
Roqaya Dhaif is Human Rights Policy Specialist, UNDP

Source: UNDP

IPS UN Bureau

 

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In Zusammenarbeit mit Sky präsentiert Blick die Highlights der Partie Crystal Palace – Manchester City (0:3).

On November 12, the European Federation of Associations of Health Product Manufacturers (EHPM) marked its 50th anniversary with a high-level celebration at the European Parliament. The milestone celebration brought together EU leaders, policymakers, industry representatives, and public stakeholders to reflect on five decades of progress in Europe’s food supplement sector. The event underscored the sector’s growing role in supporting preventive health, with Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare, Olivér Várhelyi, highlighting the importance of nutrition and the upcoming EU Cardiovascular Health Plan, and the need for a predictable regulatory framework, strong consumer protection, and support for innovation, particularly for SMEs.

Megkezdte működését a hétvégén Európa leghosszabb kabinos felvonója Párizs délkeleti elővárosi régiójában. A francia főváros agglomerációjának első városi felvonója C1 jelzéssel mindössze 18 perc alatt közvetlen összeköttetést biztosít 4,5 kilométeres szakaszon Créteil és Villeneuve-Saint-Georges települések között. Az új közlekedési eszközzel több mint felére csökkent a buszos utazási idő.

The realities of Russia don't matter for Ireland’s self-proclaimed "democratic socialists". Just as they do not for some other segments of the European left

Beijing’s export machine keeps running as Brussels hesitates, leaving European industry exposed

Governments and their transmission system operators resist greater control from Brussels