Política de Derechos Humanos

Esta política fue aprobada por el Consejo Directivo Fundación Wikimedia el 8 de diciembre de 2021

Introducción

La visión del Movimiento Wikimedia —de un mundo en el que cada ser humano pueda compartir libremente la suma de todos los conocimientos— se basa en los derechos humanos y los hace posibles. Para que esa visión prospere, las personas deben poder buscar, recibir e impartir información libremente. Así, los proyectos de conocimiento libre de Wikimedia dependen del derecho a la libertad de expresión consagrado en el artículo 19 de la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos, que también afirma el derecho a “buscar, recibir y difundir información e ideas a través de cualquier medio e independientemente de las fronteras”.

El Movimiento Wikimedia se compromete a promover el acceso al conocimiento para las comunidades de todo el mundo mediante la eliminación de las barreras de acceso para que todos puedan participar plenamente y beneficiarse de nuestros proyectos. Al promover el acceso equitativo al conocimiento, desafiamos la concentración histórica del conocimiento en manos de unos pocos. Reconociendo que muchas historias y perspectivas han sido excluidas por estructuras de poder y privilegio, creemos que nuestros proyectos de conocimiento libre pueden jugar un papel clave en el logro de una educación inclusiva, equitativa y de calidad y en la realización del derecho humano a la no discriminación. Estamos comprometidos a mejorar la equidad del conocimiento para las mujeres, las comunidades LGBTQ+, los grupos raciales y étnicos históricamente subrepresentados, las personas con discapacidades, las comunidades en las regiones desatendidas y en los idiomas nativos de esas personas.

Sin embargo, la capacidad del Movimiento Wikimedia para ayudar a todos, en todas partes, a compartir la suma de todos los conocimientos es limitada cuando los derechos humanos universales no están protegidos y respetados. Por lo tanto, la Política de Derechos Humanos de la Fundación Wikimedia establece nuestro compromiso de proteger y respetar completamente todos los derechos humanos en todos nuestros proyectos, al tiempo que sirve como base para nuestro trabajo más amplio en la defensa de políticas y tecnologías que permitan que prospere nuestro movimiento global.

Compromisos

Nuestro compromiso en materia de derechos humanos se basa en la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos y en los siguientes instrumentos internacionales de dd.hh:

Como organización privada que apoya el funcionamiento de plataformas y servicios digitales, la Fundación Wikimedia se compromete a proteger y respetar todos los derechos humanos reconocidos internacionalmente de acuerdo con los Principios Rectores de las Naciones Unidas sobre las Empresas y los Derechos Humanos (PRNU) (UNGP). Como Fundación, somos una organización sin fines de lucro, pero nuestro trabajo de desarrollar, operar y apoyar las plataformas y servicios digitales nos expone a nosotros y a todas las personas que contribuyen o interactúan en nuestros proyectos, a los riesgos de violación de derechos humanos comunes en todas las plataformas digitales, incluidas las operadas por empresas privadas. Es por eso que nos comprometemos a seguir los estándares globales establecidos por los Principios Rectores de las Naciones Unidas sobre las Empresas y los Derechos Humanos.

Alcance: El compromiso de la Fundación Wikimedia de proteger y respetar los derechos humanos incluye: cómo respondemos y protegemos a los miembros de nuestro movimiento contra las demandas y amenazas de los gobiernos que violan los derechos humanos de las personas que contribuyen o interactúan con el movimiento Wikimedia, cómo respondemos y nos protegemos contra las amenazas de actores maliciosos no estatales, cómo en nuestros proyectos y plataformas pueden protegerse los derechos de los niños y todas las demás formas en que las actividades y operaciones de nuestra fundación, proyectos y movimiento puedan afectar los derechos de los empleados, voluntarios, audiencias y comunidades a las que pertenecen.

Apoyamos a los [1] defensores de los derechos humanos, incluidos periodistas, quienes trabajan pacíficamente para promover y proteger los derechos humanos y cuyo vital trabajo depende del conocimiento libre en todo el mundo. Condenamos cualquier amenaza, acto de intimidación, represalia, persecución, ataque físico o amenaza legal contra cualquier defensor de los derechos humanos. Nos esforzamos por apoyar un ecosistema que promueva los derechos humanos, en todo el mundo, abogando por leyes que respeten los derechos humanos.

Relación con las leyes: En el contexto de operar con plataformas y servicios en todo el mundo, la Fundación Wikimedia reconoce que, en algunos países, la legislación nacional puede ofrecer protecciones más débiles para nuestro personal, voluntarios y comunidad, que las normas internacionales o puede entrar directamente en conflicto con ellas. Nos comprometemos a mantener un estándar de derechos humanos más alto en los casos en los que la legislación nacional sea más vulnerable y tengamos la capacidad directa de mantenerlos. Cuando la legislación nacional entra directamente en conflicto con las normas internacionales, cumplimos con la legislación nacional en los casos en que determinamos que es aplicable, de acuerdo con nuestra política de determinación de la ley aplicable.

Cómo cumplimos con nuestros compromisos

Nos esforzamos por proteger y respetar los derechos humanos de todas las personas en el movimiento Wikimedia, en nuestros proyectos y fuera de ellos y a través de una gobernanza que refleje los valores de la Fundación. Como anfitriones de los proyectos de Wikimedia, estamos implementando esta política en consonancia con la cultura y los valores de Wikimedia, alineados con los principios rectores de la Fundación, a través de la apertura y la transparencia y en colaboración con las comunidades internacionales de Wikimedia. Pondremos en práctica nuestro compromiso con los derechos humanos de la siguiente manera:

LLevando a cabo la debida diligencia en materia de derechos humanos, incluyendo evaluaciones periódicas de impacto sobre los mismos,agregado a un compromiso sólido y estable con los titulares de derechos y sus representantes legítimos. Nuestra [diligencia debida en materia de derechos humanos https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Business/Pages/CorporateHRDueDiligence.aspx] tiene como objetivo garantizar que identifiquemos cómo todos los aspectos de nuestras operaciones y proyectos afectan a los derechos humanos y trabajar para mitigar y prevenir los posibles daños.

Track and publicly report on our efforts to meet our human rights commitments, as part of our broader commitment to public transparency and openness through all of our websites and platforms, in addition to our dedicated Transparency Reports.

Use our influence with partners, the private sector, and governments to advance and uphold respect for human rights. The Wikimedia Movement Strategy’s commitment to increase our global advocacy activities both reflects and enables this effort to advance the realization of rights we are uniquely positioned to support, especially the right to share and access information.

Provide access to effective remedies. In cases where the Foundation’s prevention and mitigation strategies have not prevented our products, platforms, or operations from contributing to the curtailment, infringement or violation of human rights, we commit to maintain and improve mechanisms for reporting harms or abuses. We also commit to work with experts and stakeholders to develop or support appropriate forms of redress, proportionate to the type and manner of harm. We commit to avoid obstructing access to other forms of remedy including judicial remedies.

The Wikimedia Foundation is committed to regular and ongoing improvement. We recognize that the commitments made in this policy take time to implement, and that we must be honest with ourselves, the movement, and the broader public about our successes and shortcomings along the way.

People of the Wikimedia Movement

People are at the core of Wikimedia’s work. Digital rights are human rights. For the Wikimedia Foundation this means paying special attention to our staff and contractors, volunteer contributors, and people who use Wikimedia projects. We also recognize our responsibility to people who are not direct contributors or audiences of our projects, but whose societies are affected by the impact of our projects on their overall information environments.

Foundation Staff

Wikimedia Foundation staff and contractors support Wikimedia projects, volunteers, donors, and audiences. Our workforce shares our commitment to free knowledge and respect for human rights, and the Foundation’s Board of Trustees will hold leadership accountable for abiding by this policy.

We reaffirm the Foundation’s ongoing commitment to educate and raise awareness levels for staff and contractors across all departments about how their work might affect the human rights of individuals and communities.

In managing our staff and contractors, we are committed to uphold international human rights and labor standards. The Foundation’s Code of Conduct outlines our expectations that staff and contractors treat each other with respect and the Movement’s Universal Code of Conduct defines expectations for everyone who interacts in and contributes to Movement spaces or activities. The Foundation will not practice or tolerate discrimination on the basis of place of origin, race, ethnicity, citizenship, gender or gender expression, age, political or religious affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, family relationship, physical ability, or economic or medical status. We aim to treat all people with respect, and to foster a productive environment free of harassment, intimidation and discrimination. In addition, we work to ensure the physical safety of our staff.

Movement Volunteers

Wikimedia projects are created by volunteer contributors. Editors and photographers write new articles and improve current articles. Developers write, maintain, and improve the software on which our platform is built. In doing so, they may expose themselves to risk—whether from harassment, government surveillance, or threat of reprisal by both state and non-state actors. Volunteers have the right to an environment that is free from harassment, whether by other volunteers, or by external actors.

Internal threats: Wikimedia projects belong to everyone, and we believe that everyone acting in good faith should be able to participate and feel respected. The Movement’s Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC) provides a universal baseline of acceptable behavior for the entire Wikimedia movement and all its projects. The UCoC is aligned with human rights norms and is grounded in the commitment to treat everyone who participates in the Wikimedia projects with dignity and respect. The Foundation is also committed to work with volunteers to ensure user conduct policies are clear, effective, and enforceable and that volunteers are provided with appropriate trust and safety tools, including tools to detect, report, evaluate and remove harassing content.

External threats: We recognize that volunteers may experience threats from outside the Movement based on their participation in our knowledge projects. At the Foundation, we conduct specific due diligence to maximize the safety and security of volunteers who are at greatest risk of persecution, reprisal or harassment in the course of their movement contributions due to their beliefs or characteristics, including human rights defenders who contribute to Wikimedia projects.

The Foundation’s commitment to mitigate risks related to government surveillance is guided by our Privacy Policy. It is also guided by our commitment to the Global Network Initiative Principles for protecting freedom of expression and privacy when addressing government demands, and international human rights standards outlined in the Commitments section of this Policy. The Wikimedia Foundation will work to protect our volunteers from requests for their data that contradict human rights standards.

We take seriously our responsibility to minimize and mitigate risks faced by those who contribute to and interact with our projects and operations, and to defend them from direct threats to the best of our abilities. We will provide our volunteers with support and resources to protect themselves from such violations of their legitimate privacy rights by governments and other powerful non-state actors. While recognizing that we operate in over 300 languages, we will strive to foster a culture of shared education and learning across the movement about how best to keep each other safe. Foundation executives and staff will report on our progress to the Board, to members of the movement, and to the public.

Impact of Wikimedia Projects

Wikimedia projects provide access to free knowledge around the world, thereby helping to advance a range of human rights. The Foundation commits to develop technology and products with guidance from staff members with deep human rights expertise. In keeping with such guidance we are committed to deploy technologies that are considered industry best practice to maximize the safety and security of everyone who contributes to or interacts with our projects.

Even so, we recognize that some projects could have features, technologies, or processes that may, inadvertently, have a negative impact on human rights across communities and societies. We recognize the need to evaluate specific risks related to childrens’ rights. We also recognize the risks of malign misuse. For example, some people and organizations try to use our projects to spread misinformation or to suppress historical facts.

Some activities or projects may be misused by malign state or non-state actors directly and intentionally against members of our movement with the aim of silencing or discrediting them. The Foundation actively works to align responses to such threats with international human rights standards, particularly for freedom of expression and privacy. Where needed, Foundation staff employ a Crisis Response Protocol.

The Foundation also works with volunteers on systems and processes to identify and remove demonstrably harmful content, such as online child sexual exploitation material. Furthermore, we recognize that not all content on our platforms may be appropriate for all audiences, including children. We strive to support our volunteers with training to ensure that content is handled sensitively and appropriately where it may be deeply disturbing, resulting in harm, including self harm.

Due Diligence

Due diligence and impact assessment processes are important tools for identifying risks and developing mitigation strategies to limit adverse human rights impacts, including infringements of the right to freedom of expression and non-discrimination. We commit to conduct ongoing due diligence, including periodic impact assessments to ensure that our due diligence covers the full range of ways in which our operations, projects, and other movement activities could cause, contribute, or be linked to any human rights harms.

The Foundation is committed to develop processes for due diligence and impact assessment that can be applied by staff and volunteers to new as well as existing products, services, features, and technologies (including algorithmic systems), in addition to other movement activities such as grants, campaigns, and events. At the same time, we recognize that designing and scaling due diligence processes over 300 languages in a highly complex socio-technical environment is a long-term commitment requiring significant time and resources. We commit to continuous improvement of our processes for discussing, identifying, and rectifying any human rights issues in our projects—both internally and externally. We will be honest and transparent about our progress.

Governance

Implementation of this human rights policy is coordinated by the Foundation’s cross-functional Human Rights Steering Committee, with day-to-day implementation led by senior staff across all of the Foundation’s departments, including those that develop and maintain Wikimedia’s technologies and products.

Grievance

The Foundation commits to continued evaluation and improvement of existing on-platform channels and grievance mechanisms on the Wikimedia Projects. Wikimedia trustees, officers, employees, volunteers, and independent contractors with a concern about the human rights implications of our actions can raise a claim via our Whistleblower Policy. Other stakeholders may communicate concerns to talktohumanrightswikimedia.org.

Accountability

The Board of Trustees has approved this policy and holds management accountable to it on an on-going basis through the Executive Committee. The Board further commits to include at least one member with human rights expertise. Senior Foundation executives update the full Board at least annually, including examples of specific human rights issues, and/or trends in types of human rights issues. The Wikimedia Foundation will continue to adapt our approach based on the findings of our ongoing human rights due diligence, engagement with volunteers, and engagement with other key external stakeholders.

Frequently Asked Questions

Available are answers to frequently asked questions regarding the Human Rights Policy.