59th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council
Item 3 - Interactive Dialogue with Working Group on transnational corporations.
Statement delivered by H.E. Ambassador Riia Salsa-Audiffren on behalf of the Nordic-Baltic States: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden.
19 June 2025
Mr President,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Nordic-Baltic States.
We thank the Working Group for its report and welcome its focus on (the procurement and deployment of) artificial intelligence.
The rapid uptake of artificial intelligence by both public and private sectors brings not only unprecedented opportunities but also multiple risks, such as discrimination, surveillance, and exclusion. This is particularly relevant in procurement processes that lack sufficient safeguards. Ethical, legal, labour, social and environmental challenges raised by new technology must be addressed.
With innovation comes responsibility. A human rights-based approach must be at the core of our digital governance model. Human rights risks are among the key concerns we identify in public AI deployments.
We fully support the anchoring of business responsibilities in the UNGPs and in other important guidelines on responsible business conduct such as the OECD guidelines. We call on both states and enterprises to uphold due diligence, transparency, and accountability in AI deployment and use, and take appropriate measures to detect and mitigate risks.
(We would welcome the Working Group’s guidance on) how could we strengthen rights-based procurement, especially where in-house AI capacity is still developing.
I thank you.