7amleh Issues a Position Paper on the European Union’s AI Act and its Implications for Palestinian Digital Rights

July 23, 2024, 7amleh - The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media issued a position paper on the European Union's AI Act and its impact on the digital rights of Palestinians. The paper examines the intricate relationship between the Palestinian-Israeli context and EU legislation, with a particular focus on the extraterritorial effects of these laws on Palestinian human rights. It precisely documents how this law conflicts with the fundamental human rights of Palestinians and highlights the dangers of employing AI in the Palestinian-Israeli context.

This position paper follows a previous one released by 7amleh in April 2024 on the extraterritorial impacts of the Digital Services Act, and it builds on earlier research by 7amleh titled "Impact of AI Technologies on Palestinian Lives and Narratives." The new position paper reveals that the EU's AI Act contains significant loopholes that could exacerbate human rights violations against Palestinians by the Israeli government. Given the law's limited scope, European companies are not obliged to comply when selling AI systems outside the EU, including to Israel, which uses these technologies to reinforce its control over the occupied Palestinian Territory, restrict the movement of Palestinians, and surveil them antagonistically.

The position paper provides a set of recommendations to governments, political authorities, civil society, and AI suppliers and users. These recommendations include taking additional steps to regulate the export of AI systems outside the EU, especially to conflict areas, assessing their human rights impacts, and resisting private sector pressure on high-risk AI systems' guidelines. Additionally, it emphasizes the need for immigration authorities using AI systems to be transparent in visa and asylum decisions and review the data used to reduce bias. Advocacy efforts to protect marginalized groups, including Palestinians and pro-Palestinian human rights defenders, are also essential. To read the position paper titled "The European Union’s AI Act and its Implications for Palestinian Digital Rights," you can visit the link here.