A/78/195 minorities – and rejecting the obscurantism and denial that portrays these rights as somehow threatening. 80. As the Special Rapporteur has consistently shown throughout his mandate, minority rights are human rights, as are those of other groups and communities recognized in specific United Nations instruments. His proposal for a global draft convention on the rights of minorities, 36 prepared with minority and legal experts from around the world, is therefore presented as an initi al discussion document that it is hoped will assist Member States, civil society organizations, minority representatives and experts and other interested parties to formulate ways in which the human rights of minorities could be further advanced and protec ted in international law. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur has included in the proposal sections dealing for the first time with specific rights for members of religious or belief minorities and for linguistic minorities, the issue of prevention of d enial of citizenship and statelessness for minorities, and conflict prevention through such measures as guaranteeing equal rights and non-discrimination in the political participation and representation of minorities. There are also indications on how to address newer challenges from an international human rights perspective, such as the threats of and the harm caused by hate speech and incitement to violence on social media, the dangers of artificial intelligence and the need to protect freedom of expression while ensuring that companies do not profit – free from any consequences or liability – from the harm they cause through misinformation and disinformation. 81. These global, real-world and systemic challenges require a global response, as the Special Rapporteur warned in his thematic report on hate speech on social media targeting minorities (A/HRC/46/57). The use of social media platforms as propaganda vehicles for extreme populist nationalism, genocide, racism, intolerance and the exclusion of minorities, and the disruptive effects they already have on many societies, are made worse by the business practices of major Internet and social media companies, which, as private enterprises, tend to amplify and reward hate and extremism because they prioritize profit over all else – and they are among the world’s most profitable companies. 82. At the end of his mandate, the Special Rapporteur has become convinced that, in order to strengthen democracies and protect the human rights of the world’s most vulnerable and marginalized, namely, minorities, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, people of African descent, women, migrants and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex persons, it is essential to ensure that platform owners are held liable for the real-world harm they cause or facilitate, and that dangerous products, such as artificial intelligence technology, is treated as what it has the potential to be – an existential threat to humanity and a societal risk on a par with pandemics and nuclear wars. 37 83. Both hate speech on social media and the effects of artificial intelligence are serious enough to warrant government intervention and the regulation of both, and their potential harm. 84. The Special Rapporteur thus calls for global regulation to deal with these real world forms of harm stemming from both of these new technological dangers, to impose liability and responsibility on the owners of their hugely profitable ventures, and to remove the immunity they still enjoy in many cases, while ensuring the strengthening of democracies and the protection of human rights. __________________ 36 37 20/21 See www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/2023-02/Annex1.-A-HRC-52-27_0.docx. Centre for AI Safety, “Statement on AI risk: AI experts and public figures express their con cern about AI risk”, open letter signed by more than 350 executives, researchers and engineers working in AI, including top executives, available at www.safe.ai/statement-on-ai-risk. 23-15818