Microsoft Grant To UN: Tech For Human Rights

A five-year partnership between the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Microsoft was announced on May 16.

The partnership will particularly focus on the development and the use of advanced technology “designed to better predict, analyse and respond to critical human rights situations,” which are proliferating in many parts of the world and growing in complexity.

Microsoft will provide a US$5 million grant, which according to the release, is “an unprecedented level of support from a private sector organization.” 

According to the release, “The new partnership builds on a long-standing relationship between the UN Human Rights Office and Microsoft that is based on two shared ideas. The first is a commitment to ensuring technology plays a positive role in helping to promote and protect human rights. The second is a recognition of the need for the private sector to play a bigger part in helping to advance the cause of human rights globally.”

The Microsoft grant is expected to help the OHCHR establish technology which has a positive impact, such as new technology solutions. For example, an information dashboard called Rights View will allow UN human rights staff to aggregate large quantities of internal and external data on specific countries and types of rights violations in real time, the release said.

The application “will help to facilitate analysis, ensure early warning of emerging critical issues and provide data to guide responses,” it said, adding that the tool is powered by cloud computing and big data analysis.