With telco providing access to banking, to communities, and to so many other aspects of civil society, the question must be asked: Is telco a human right?

With telco providing access to banking, to communities, and to so many other aspects of civil society, the question must be asked: Is telco a human right?

There is a universal declaration of human rights that the UN created in order to promote equality, fairness, and compassion among all citizens of the world.

When it was first proclaimed in 1948, telco was only a distant dream. Now, however, telco has expanded to encompass so much of everyday life.

The UN declaration has added many additional articles. All are included to address an ever-changing standard of living. But can you demonstrate that telco is necessary for a modern-day quality of life?

This article aims to provide insight into the lives of those who do and don’t have access to telco. Through this information, the value of telco as a modern human right should become clear.

Why everyone needs internet access

It can be difficult to determine what a common standard of living is when different areas of the world can differ so greatly from each other.

We can all agree that people deserve food, shelter, and protection from harm, but how can telco be determined to reach that level of necessity? One of the most significant recent displays of this necessity came by way of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Covid-19 brought about a new normal in life around the world. New restrictions and limitations meant that people had to access nearly every part of their life at a distance, whether physically or virtually.

No contact solutions for payments and shopping, as well as remote work setups, meant that people were moving further away from each other. In-person engagement and interaction were now accomplished through largely digital means.

Covid-19 did not spare any corner of the world, and some regions responded differently than others and were more successful in containing it than others. Nearly every area of the world had to make drastic adaptations.

What Covid-19 exposed was that many people did not have internet access, and in this hard time, this often meant they did not have access to essential goods and services.

Education went online, and for children without digital devices or the internet, this meant that they went without education or had to resort to desperate measures.

As the pandemic went on, increasing digitization meant that more and more shortcomings and vulnerabilities would come to the forefront. To help give each of these issues the weight they deserve, let’s break them down on more specific levels.

Is it a human right?

By discussing scenarios occurring on different levels of society, we can take a more objective look at the value of telco as a human right.

Many of the discussions surrounding the right to telco and the internet on the international level stem from discussions surrounding freedom of expression. The UN universal declaration of human rights mentioned earlier even passed a resolution focused on such.

The UN posits that it is a right for humanity to freely express themselves through any media, of course including the internet. They also continuously hold resolutions regarding “the promotion, protection, and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet”.

The first of these resolutions was introduced in 2012, and since then they continue to discuss the value of the internet in human life.

Outside of protecting expression on the internet, discussions regarding the internet as a basic human right also focus on what is known as “the digital divide”.

This refers to the concept that people and nations with internet access enjoy a level of prosperity that is denied to those without. If you don’t address this divide, then marginalized communities without access will only become more disadvantaged.

This is one of if not the most important discussions in regards to recognizing the internet as a basic human right. The “digital divide” debate acknowledges the tremendous value that the internet and telco provide to the individuals and nations that enjoy it.

Economic development, social development, and the expression and enjoyment of all human rights are referenced as being emphasized through internet access. The disparity between not having telco access and having it is clearly seen when you can observe international bodies.

The UN has yet to go as far as to clearly include the Internet as a basic human right in its universal declaration. However, they have produced initiatives that support the cause.

The “One Laptop Per Child” project supported by a UN development programme was specifically formed to spread the availability of the internet into developing countries (with a current heavy focus on Uganda and Rwanda). This programme has shown that the UN recognizes the necessity of access to the internet. The programme also shows the importance of access to technology such as laptops.

When considering concepts such as developing and developed nations, it is much easier to see the value of internet access and the disparity that can arise in its absence. This is especially true when considering this internationally.

Many countries, Australia included, have accessibility guidelines to help accommodate people with disabilities. You may see some of these initiatives in action. Public buildings have infrastructure specifically included to aid wheelchair users, braille readers, and other disabilities.

As the Internet grew in popularity, telco has expanded to be more relevant in everyday life. The Australian commission responded by extending these accessibility guidelines to the internet and telco as well.

This is an important act of recognition. These disability guidelines focus on making public services and institutions accessible for the disabled. By acting to include the internet, there is at least an implicit acknowledgment of the public service that telco provides.

The explanation behind making accessibility guidelines for internet access was based on the necessity for disabled people to increasingly rely on the internet. They rely on the internet for access to not only critical information but provisions as well.

The efforts of this initiative have led to such inclusions as notes for web designers and website owners . These notes include discussions on how they can minimize the possibility of disability discrimination.

This can include things like font size and colour to help those with dyslexia or those who are colour blind. This can also include the use of white space and the inclusion of audio aids for reading passages.

After the provisions in place for people with disabilities, the Australian Human Rights Commission also wanted to stipulate the importance of internet access for Senior Australians.

This is an important area of discussion, as the Australian commission uses this opportunity to discuss the idea of a “digital divide” applied not between developed and developing countries. However, between older people and the speed at which technology can begin to outpace them.

The internet and telco have given older people access to information and services that will allow them to live on their own without the need for care for longer. For those who can access these tools, this is a great advantage of telco.

However, the commission notes that many of the people who this technology can benefit are unable to reasonably engage with these internet tools.

Nowadays, the internet and telco accessories are built into most people’s education. You use laptops for schoolwork, and cell phones are offered by companies in order to keep data safe and keep in contact.

A lot of senior Australians (65 and older) did not receive that vital education and are now feeling excluded from this new normal.

This isn’t the same set of circumstances as a developing country lacking the resources to purchase internet-enabled devices and maintain the infrastructure, yet a similar occurs due to the reality of the digital divide.

Telco is essential in modern-day life

In 2012, there was a lecture regarding age discrimination in relation to internet access. Susan Ryan opened by proclaiming that her current view of the difficulty facing senior Australians constituted age discrimination.

As a speaker for the Australian Human Rights Commission, she stated that her responsibilities were to “advocate for equal rights to employment, education, finance and goods and service regardless of age, and to pursue changes in those policies, laws and societal attitudes that discriminate unfairly on the basis of age.”

With this motivation in mind, Ryan stepped forward in defense of older Australians, and in defense of “the importance of this technology in all aspects of our lives.”

This lecture occurred in 2012, and it was neither the first of its kind nor would it be the last.

From regional commissions to the UN human rights board, there is a growing acknowledgment not of the importance of the internet in our lives. This also acknowledges the internet's essential role in our lives.

These discussions are not being held casually by disinterested parties, they are the topic of rigorous debate by bodies dedicated to defining what constitutes a fair and just quality of life for humans everywhere.

One of the best practices to help people understand the reach of telco in their lives, and the inherent value it now holds for humanity, is to do a little exercise.

Imagine a typical day in your life. Consider the places you go, the things you do, the products you use, and the people you talk to.

Now observe how many of these things rely on internet access and telco in order to exist.

Telco is a human right

With the scenarios and actions covered in this post, the message should be clear about the importance of telco and why its access should be encouraged and protected.

Government agencies were formed to ensure citizens get clean water. Laws are passed to ensure that citizens cannot be abused by the state.

For many areas of the world, healthcare is provided for by the government, in recognition of its importance to a functioning society.

Telco covers all these concerns and more. Human rights, access to healthcare, access to employment, and freedom of the press are all enabled by access to the internet.

As we continue to move into the future, and as digitization affects more and more areas of our lives, it is abundantly clear that telco and internet access are fundamental to the human experience, and must be upheld and cherished as a human right.