Barcelona, Nairobi, Amsterdam, Brussels - 25 March 2022 - Four European cities have been selected to pilot digital rights governance projects.

Brussels, in Belgium, Dublin, in Ireland, Sofia, in Bulgaria and Tirana, in Albania, will work with experts in digital governance to co-create, design and pilot a Digital Rights Governance Framework. They will receive technical advice, ad hoc support, and advisory input to address the pressing challenges related to the ethical and digital rights aspects of their local digital strategies and projects. 

The Cities Coalition for Digital Rights, UN-Habitat, Eurocities and United Cities and Local Governments - UCLG,  with support from Open Society Foundations, developed the framework as a normative and technical support for the upholding of human rights in the digital context of local governments. 

After the pilot phase, the four cities’ governments will have increased the capacity to advance digital rights in their local contexts and share the learnings with cities from all around the world.

Dublin, Brussels, Sofia and Tirana were selected in an open call for European cities to share their digital rights challenges. 

Because digital technologies influence change at a fast pace in society, and might have unforeseen or unexpected impact on individuals and communities, there is a need for enhanced models of governance to manage opportunities and risks driven by technology and ensure digital rights are protected and promoted. 

From planning the city’s actions to fight the digital divide to creating a capacity building programme for the municipality’s staff, the challenges aim at practically implementing digital rights at a city level in a coherent and sustainable manner, and will provide insights for other cities wanting to increase capacity in their local contexts. 

The toolkits created during the pilots will be made available for other cities in a Digital Rights Helpdesk, a platform with a repository of digital rights resources that will also include on-demand expert advisory support, which will be launched later in the year.