The Freedom Online Coalition (FOC), an alliance of 41 countries from around the world working together to advance Internet freedom, has welcomed the UN Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance and called on governments, technology companies, and international organisations to ensure that the governance of AI is firmly anchored in international human rights law. The Coalition warned that the rapidly expanding use of AI poses growing threats to democracy, freedom of expression, privacy, and other fundamental rights if left unchecked
In a Joint Multistakeholder Statement released to coincide with the inaugural UN Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance in Geneva in July 2026, members of the Coalition welcomed the establishment of the new UN platform but stressed that its success would depend on whether it remains genuinely inclusive, transparent, and grounded in international law.
The Coalition said, in the statement: “We reaffirm that AI governance must be firmly grounded in international law, including international human rights law, and developed through genuine, inclusive multistakeholder processes that centre the voices of those most affected.”
The statement, endorsed by members of the FOC Advisory Network’s 2026–2028 cohort together with former Advisory Network members from the 2024–2026 cohort, represents one of the Coalition’s most comprehensive interventions on global AI governance to date. It builds on the Coalition’s earlier joint statements on AI and Human Rights (2020 and 2025), Responsible Government Practices for AI Technologies (2024), and Technical Standards and Human Rights in the Context of Digital Technologies.
While acknowledging AI’s enormous potential to improve people’s lives, the Coalition warned that the technology is increasingly being deployed in ways that undermine human rights and civic freedoms.
The statement notes that responsibly developed AI systems could generate substantial social and economic benefits by improving healthcare, expanding access to education and public services, strengthening democratic participation, and helping countries achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It, however, cautions that these opportunities are increasingly overshadowed by serious risks.
According to the Coalition, AI systems are already being used “to suppress dissent, enable unlawful surveillance, enable and amplify gender-based violence and online child sexual exploitation and abuse, spread misinformation and disinformation, and deepen structural inequalities,” warning that these harms increasingly transcend national borders and that “the governance decisions made now will shape how AI is developed for decades to come.”
Against this backdrop, the Coalition argued that respect for human rights should not be treated as one issue among many but should instead become the overarching principle informing every aspect of international AI governance.
The statement urges governments to refrain from using AI technologies as instruments of repression, and specifically called on States to avoid using or facilitating AI systems for unlawful or arbitrary surveillance, censorship, or the targeting of journalists, civil society organisations, and human rights defenders.
The Coalition also calls for stronger safeguards against AI-generated disinformation and technology-facilitated gender-based violence, including non-consensual intimate imagery, while urging governments to strengthen legal, technical, and organisational measures to combat such abuses.
Recognising that AI systems can perpetuate discrimination when trained on biased datasets, the Coalition recommends protections for communities that face disproportionate risks, including women and girls, children, persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples, minority communities, and other vulnerable groups. It further advocates for representative training datasets and continuous bias mitigation throughout AI systems’ lifecycle.
The statement also highlights the importance of promoting multilingual locally relevant AI systems capable of reflecting diverse cultures and languages, arguing that cultural and linguistic diversity is essential to ensuring equitable access to the benefits of AI.
On the need to address the unequal distribution of AI capabilities and governance influence between developed and developing countries, the Coalition argues that meaningful participation by developing countries remains constrained by unequal access to digital infrastructure, technical expertise, institutional capacity, and innovation ecosystems.
It adds that women and girls continue to face additional barriers to affordable connectivity, digital literacy, and participation in AI governance.
To address these disparities, the Coalition calls for increased investment in capacity-building programmes, stronger scientific and technical cooperation, including South-South and triangular cooperation, and support for national and regional AI strategies, including the African Union’s AI Strategy.
It also recommends expanding the governance agenda beyond technological risks to address digital exclusion, inequality, and the persistent underrepresentation of developing countries in international AI policymaking processes.
The full text of the statement can be accessed here.
