Australia joins alliance to restrict tech exports over human rights abuses

Australia, Denmark and Norway will join the United States in an effort to curb tech exports to those who use them to abuse human rights, officials say.

Summit for Democracy

Some countries at the Summit for Democracy plan to use export controls to curb rights abuses tech. Source: AAP

The White House says Australia, Denmark and Norway will join the United States in an effort to curb technology exports to governments that use the products for repression.

The White House said last week it was forming the group to address "the misuse of certain dual-use technologies that can lead to human rights abuses" and ensure that "critical and emerging technologies work for and not against democratic societies".

On Friday, it revealed the names of countries pledging to work with it on the endeavour, adding that Canada, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom supported the move.
"Over the coming year of action, we commit to working to establish a voluntary, non-binding written code of conduct around which like-minded states could politically pledge, to use export control tools to prevent the proliferation of software and other technologies used to enable serious human rights abuses," the member countries said in a statement.

The announcement was made as part of US President Joe Biden's December 9-10 Summit for Democracy, with the goal of helping stop democratic backsliding and the erosion of rights and freedoms worldwide.

The summit invitation list did not include China or Russia.


Share
2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP, SBS


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world
Australia joins alliance to restrict tech exports over human rights abuses | SBS News