Description
In the Internet age, Information Warfare has increased by many folds. With the advent of Social Media and Artificial Intelligence, the spread of misinformation, disinformation and fake news as a tool against adversaries’ populace has become more widespread, easier and non-attributable. Unlike conventional wars, Information Wars do not kill people; however, it manipulates their mind and caps their free thinking, which should be considered a non-conventional Human Rights Violation and necessitates a reconsideration of the conventional view of human rights. This paper asserts that in the 21st Century, there is a need to review the Human Rights Covenants of UNHCR as digitalisation has led to the easier spread of misinformation, disinformation, and fake news that could impact human cognitive space could create cognitive dissonance, homophily, and biases that potentially could exacerbate conflicts based on identities, races and cultures. The paper argues that there is a need to look at Human Rights from a new perspective, given that the intervention of technology has meant to introduce digital rights to the already covenants that include political, economic, social and cultural rights.
