A/HRC/57/70 64. Through a racial discrimination lens, it is clear that digital space is often misunderstood as disconnected from challenges that take place offline. However, a digital transformation agenda without looking at human rights will not bring meaningful change for people of African descent. Seemingly neutral technology has human rights implications. In developing regulations of new technologies, it is crucial for States to fulfil their human rights obligations. While ethics in digital transformation is important, it does not create obligations for States. It is therefore essential to maintain a focus on obligations of States under international human right treaties in order to fulfil the ESCRs of people of African descent. 65. As the use of digitalization and AI become more widespread in society, governments, educators, employers and citizens at large will need to pay more attention to the nature and quality of education, training and life-long learning. 66. Digitalization and AI will not affect all societies, all sectors of society, nor all strata of society equally. The known variables of levels of education, affluence of poverty, demographic factors like race and gender, and the nature of jobs are all in play. 67. The underlying issues of stable, clean energy; individual and societal levels of digital literacy, skills and competencies; the readiness of national, international leadership across all sectors; and the adequacy of legislation and policies to harness digitalization and AI for the public good must be addressed nationally and internationally. 68. International and national regulatory frameworks, namely conventions, legislation, policies, administrative procedures, are still inadequate to address the current state of digitalization and AI. Moreover, without considerable focused investment in closing these gaps, the necessary regulation of digitalization and AI, and monitoring of their impact, will continue to fall behind, to the detriment of traditionally disadvantaged groups. 69. The public discourse, debate and discussion of digitalization and AI has not kept pace with the stealth of the reach, scope and impact of digitalization and AI. Similarly, education at all levels, from pre-K to post-secondary, is inadequate for ethically and equitably addressing the role that digitalization and AI are already playing and will continue to play in all aspects of daily life. Thus, even among government personnel, the expert knowledge of digitalization and AI falls well below what is needed for governments to discharge their role in governance. The limited levels of digital literacy, skills and competencies across many societies places many aspects of daily life vulnerable to the unplanned and unmanageable penetration of digitalization and AI. 70. While the scope, reach and impact of digitalization and AI continue to increase, there is growing consensus that human beings must remain at the helm and in control of these technologies at the highest meta levels, in the interests of the good of humankind, and in every sector, at every level, in every organization and in every job in the best interests of individual and community well-being, and to prevent the breach of the fundamental human rights and freedoms of every human being. 71. Particular attention must be paid to emerging and evolving issues and concerns, such as, for example, whether robots should have legal identities and protections; and the legal and ethical challenges digitalization and AI will engender. Equally, attention must be paid to how the potential benefits of digitalization and AI can and will be used, ethically and equitably, to address some of the historical perennial challenges that have haunted the human race, to reduce the divide between those who have and those who do not, as well as to prevent, contain and mitigate emerging and evolving challenges of environmental justice and digital justice. 72. Ultimately, these challenges require greater and more focused attention and investment in those who risk falling behind, in governance, education and justice, as human priorities. To mitigate these concerns, technology needs to be produced that can work within complex social realities, which require understanding legal, ethical and social contexts. This can only be done by incorporating more diverse perspectives into the technology sector. 73. Research on AI has shown that there is nevertheless extensive agreement on the core content of ethical principles that should be applied to AI systems. Firstly, transparency that can be interpreted widely to include accessibility, explainability and explicability of an AI system - in other words the possibilities for an individual to understand how the system works 16