A/HRC/RES/47/16 Emphasizing that, in the digital age, technical solutions to secure and protect the confidentiality of digital communications, including measures for encryption and anonymity, are important to ensure the enjoyment of all human rights offline and online, Recognizing that the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken in response to it have increased the reliance of all sectors of society on the Internet, including persons in marginalized and vulnerable situations, including as a source of information, a means of participation in civil, political, economic, social and cultural life and a means of gaining access to public services, including but not limited to education and health, a source of livelihood and an arena for the exercise of human rights, Stressing the need to ensure that measures offline or online for the protection of national security, public order and public health are in full compliance with international law obligations and that the principles of lawfulness, legitimacy, necessity and proportionality are respected, and stressing also the need to protect human rights, including the freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association and privacy, and personal data in the response to health or other emergencies, Noting with concern that almost half of the world’s population, especially women and girls, do not have access to the Internet, and noting that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates pre-existing inequalities caused by digital divides, Expressing concern that many forms of digital divide remain between and within countries, and recognizing the need to close them, including through international cooperation, and recognizing also that the gender digital divide, which includes significant gender disparities in access to and use of information and communications technology, undermines women’s full enjoyment of their human rights, Recognizing that violations and abuses of women’s and girls’ rights online are a growing global concern that hinder the equal exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on the basis of gender, and may deter women from using information and communications technology, which can exacerbate the gender digital divide and widen gender inequalities in society, and that the barriers women using the Internet face, including multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, are exacerbated by offline inequalities, Stressing the importance of empowering all women and girls by enhancing their access to information and communications technology, by promoting digital literacy and the participation of women and girls in education and training on information and communications technology, and by encouraging women and girls to embark on careers in the sciences and in information and communications technology, Recalling articles 9 and 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which, inter alia, call upon States parties to take appropriate measures to promote access for persons with disabilities to new information and communications technology and systems, including the Internet, Taking note with appreciation of the Secretary-General’s Road Map for Digital Cooperation,1 presented on 11 June 2020, and the Call to Action on Human Rights, and recalling the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet: ways to bridge the gender digital divide from a human rights perspective,2 and the recommendations contained therein, Recognizing the concept of Internet universality, and in this regard also the Internet universality indicators of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as a possible tool to bridge digital divides, Noting the importance of building confidence and trust in the Internet, not least with regard to freedom of opinion and expression, privacy and other human rights, so that the potential of the Internet as, inter alia, an enabler for development and innovation can be 1 2 2 See A/74/821. A/HRC/35/9.