The 2024 Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law: Promises and Shortcomings

The Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law is the first-ever international legally binding treaty in this field. It strives to ensure the compatibility of AI systems with core values, and it was drafted by 46 member states of the Council of Europe, with the participation of observer states and other third states. It was adopted on 5 September 2024, and has so far it has been signed by eight Council of Europe member states alongside the European Union, United States and Israel.

This public event, jointly organised by the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights and the Accelerator Programme at the Institute for Ethics in AI, will bring together a panel of experts involved in the formation of the Convention and in parallel normative projects. Our speakers will discuss the negotiating process of the Convention, its main contributions and shortcomings in regulating Artificial Intelligence, as well as the vision for its implementation and potential uptake by states, civil society and technology companies. 

Professor Mario Hernandez Ramos is the Chair of the Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAI) of the Council of Europe and Professor of Constitutional Law at the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain). Previously, he was Professor at the University of Salamanca (Spain), where he obtained his PhD with the Extraordinary Doctorate Award and Doctor Europeus Mention. Between 2018 and 2021 he worked as a legal advisor at the Ministry of Justice of the Government of Spain in the Cabinet of the Minister, in the Secretariat of State, and in the Directorate General of International Legal Cooperation and Human Rights. Since its creation in 2019, he has been the head of the Spanish delegation of the Committee on Artificial Intelligence of the Council of Europe, where he has coordinated several working groups on Artificial Intelligence, human rights, the rule of law, and democracy. On 18 September 2024 he was elected Chair of the Committee. His main areas of research are Constitutional Law and new technologies, especially artificial intelligence; Constitutional Justice and the protection of fundamental rights; Public accountability; and multilevel constitutionalism.  More information is available here.

Dr Angela Müller is Executive Director of AlgorithmWatch CH in Zurich and Executive Board Member of AlgorithmWatch in Berlin. Before, she led the Policy Team at AlgorithmWatch for four years. She is responsible for the overall strategy of the organization and especially for its work in the fields of policy and investigations. Angela has testified as an expert before the Council of Europe, the German Bundestag and the Swiss Parliament, and was appointed as one of “100 Women in AI Ethics” worldwide in 2024. She is a member of expert working groups of the Swiss Federal Administration and – next to her role at AlgorithmWatch – of the Federal Media Commission. Angela studied political philosophy and ethics and holds a PhD in Law from the University of Zurich, where her research focused on the cross-border applicability of human rights law in the context of globalization and new technologies. She was a visiting researcher at Columbia University, New York, and Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Prior to her current role, she held positions at different universities, for an innovation platform, a civil society think tank on foreign policy, and the Swiss Foreign Ministry.

Professor Thompson Chengeta is a Professor in Law and AI Technologies at Liverpool John Moores University. He is Board Member of the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General’s 15-member Advisory Body on Disarmament Matters. Thompson is a Commissioner of the Global Commission on Responsible Artificial Intelligence in the Military Domain (GC-REAIM). He is the Principal Investigator in the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ study on human rights implications of AI (ACHPR/Res.473). Thompson was part of the experts that researched and drafted the first UN Human Rights Council Report on autonomous weapon systems (AWS) (A/HRC/23/47) which formed the basis of the current UN discussions on AWS. He has been consulted by the UN Human Rights Council in its current study on the human rights implications of AI in the military domain (A/HRC/51/L.25). For the past decade, Thompson has engaged the UN Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons in the framework of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons where he has given several presentations. Over the past 15 years, Thompson has been deeply involved in influencing the discourse surrounding governance of AI in the civilian and military domains, by advising numerous states and inter-governmental institutions. Thompson also serves as a legal expert for the International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC) and is the Africa Region Lead and Spokesperson for the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. He also served as a legal expert member of the International Panel on the Regulation of Autonomous Weapons (IPRAW). Previously, Thompson served as a consultant on the Alan Turing Institute project on Advancing Data Justice. Thompson’s PhD thesis (University of Pretoria) is on international law and AI. His LLM thesis (Harvard Law School) is on international law and human control of AI in the military domain. His other LLM (University of Pretoria) is on drone-targeted killings and international law. Thompson read for a Masters in AI Ethics and Society at the University of Cambridge.

Semeli Hadjiloizou is Researcher in Data Justice and Global Ethical Futures in the Public Policy Programme at The Alan Turing Institute. She is also Co-Organiser of the Turing’s AI & Arts Interest Group, which convenes a community of over 400 researchers, creative practitioners, and arts organisations from across the globe. As an interdisciplinary researcher, Semeli’s work examines the sociotechnical implications of data- and AI-intensive technologies. She collaborates with public sector organisations across the UK and beyond to deliver research and inform policy relating to AI ethics and governance, human rights, and data justice. At the Turing, Semeli works on a variety of projects that promote responsible and equitable approaches to designing, developing, and deploying emerging technologies. These range from co-developing the Human Rights, Democracy, and Rule of Law Risk and Impact Assessment for AI Systems (HUDERIA) with the Council of Europe’s Committee on Artificial Intelligence to working with UNESCO’s Ethics of AI team to co-design the Global AI Ethics and Governance Observatory, a platform which aims to foster more inclusive knowledge exchange. Previously, Semeli worked in the telecommunications/technology industry across data and insights, Internet of Things, and legal teams. 

Professor Başak Çalı is Professor of International Law at University of Oxford and head of research at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights. She is the author of Authority of International Law: Obedience, Respect and Rebuttal (OUP 2015), editor of International Law for International Relations (OUP 2010), co- editor of Legalisation of Human Rights: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Human Rights and Human Rights Law (Routledge 2006), Migration and the European Convention on Human Rights (OUP 2021), and Secondary Rules of Primary Importance: Standards of Review, Causality, Evidence and Attribution before International Courts and Tribunals (OUP 2022). She is the principle investigator of ‘Deep Impact through Soft Jurisprudence? The Contribution of United Nations Treaty Body Case Law to the Development of International Human Rights Law’ (German Science Council 2023-2026).