Creating a Virtual Human Rights Lawyer Week: Addressing Challenges

By Gabriella Gricius, Jasmijn de Zeeuw, and Bethany Houghton - PILPG-NL Senior Research Associates

Over the past six months, PILPG’s Netherlands Office has been working with Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Knowledge Management Fund, InterCidadania Institute, the Legal Assistance Centre in Namibia and the VU Vereniging on the Virtual Human Rights Lawyer (VHRL) Chatbot. One of the main reflections from this project as well as the takeaways from our expert input sessions was how many challenges we first faced and later have overcome. 

At the beginning of this process, our team put together a list of some of the challenges that building the VHRL chatbot presented. For some of these challenges, we devised ways of meeting them, while for others we have adapted our approach to better take these factors into account. After much reflection at the end of the project period, we have determined some ways of adapting and meeting the most critical of these challenges. 

Challenge 1, 5 & 6: Internet, Adaptation to Local Customs, and Interacting with Victims

The first and most obvious challenge of the VHRL chatbot was that it relies on internet access. Victims of human rights violations often do not have internet access and therefore, a lack of internet access was a severe limitation of the chatbot’s usefulness. Furthermore, adapting the chatbot to local language presented another issue as many different cultures talk about certain issues such as rape in a roundabout way. Lastly, the challenge of how to interact with victims was one that we spoke to numerous experts about. 

To solve these three issues simultaneously, our team decided that to refine the focus on creating a tool for legally-minded civil society organizations (CSOs) rather than focusing on directly creating a tool for victims. Not only does working with legally-minded CSOs partially solve the challenge of creating a chatbot with understandable but legally accurate language, it also means that it is more likely that our target audience would have internet access. This ensures enhanced accessibility of our tool. 

Challenge 2 & 7: Building the Chatbot and Data Protection

Two separate but interrelated challenges are the actual construction of the chatbot as well as the question of data protection. Constructing the chatbot was a challenge that our team dealt with by working with InterCidadania Institute to create a first prototype. This version of the chatbot brought many further challenges to the forefront such as reflecting on whether we should be working with ontological or decision tree designs and how to create a sustainable backend that could be modified to use natural language processing once this technology is ready. 

The second challenge for our team was data protection. How would we make sure any data was securely stored? Did we want to collect data at all? Would the data that ran through Telegram as a third party be safe? Victims of human rights violations are particularly vulnerable and their data highly sensitive. Protecting this data is central to the development of the chatbot. To approach this challenge, we looked closely at data protection regulations throughout Europe and varying ways we could ensure that data would remain safe. We also examined at the possibility of not collecting data at all. Looking forward, we remain committed to making data protection and cyber security the most important aspect of the development of the VHRL chatbot.

Challenge 4: Domestic Remedies

The VHRL chatbot focuses on international and regional human rights mechanisms. These mechanisms in manyl cases ask applicants to first use all judicial proceedings available under domestic law before bringing a case or complaint before them. This poses a challenge for our chatbot - how can we ask users if they have exhausted domestic remedies? Which questions can help determine whether this is the case when domestic systems vary? And how to incorporate the exceptions to this requirement? 

Our choice for legally-minded CSOs addresses this challenge. The VHRL can assist those CSOs that work with clients who have already exhausted domestic remedies and are looking for another way to help them with their case. The chatbot aims to make information about mechanisms at the international level - information that is currently dispersed and often difficult to access - more accessible for these (local) organizations.

Creating a Virtual Human Rights Lawyer Week: VHRL Conference

By Hester Dek - PILPG-NL Intern

“A pro bono law firm does not have the resources to help with everything or everyone”. 

According to Dr. Marieke de Hoon, Assistant Professor VU Amsterdam and Direction & Senior Counsel of PILPG Netherlands, this led PILPG to set up the Virtual Human Rights Lawyer project (‘VHRL’) – a joint project of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Netherlands Office of the Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG).  The project works towards making information on human rights more accessible by using chatbot technology. 

On September 27, 2019, PILPG organized the ‘Creating a Virtual Human Rights Lawyer Conference’ to present the prototype of the VHRL and reflect on the function of technology in the human rights discourse. The conference focussed on the conceptualization of the VHRL, the challenges to the execution of the project, and exploring possibilities for development.  Dr. de Hoon provided an overview of the project, together with three senior research associates – Bethany Houghton, Gabriella Gricius, Jasmijn de Zeeuw – and former research associate Abby Roberts.  They explained some of the challenges to the project including data protection and simplifying otherwise technical legal terms. 

This was followed by a panel discussion on “Enhancing Human Rights Redress through Chatbot Technology: Opportunities and Challenges” with experts from the field of psychology, law, and technology. “The project is about contributing to helping people overcome human rights violations, not about making them even more vulnerable” said Dr. de Hoon and, a sentiment echoed by  Mr. Sinteur – Co-founder of Radically Open Security. They emphasized that – the VHRL team should be mindful of cyber security risks. Mr. Sinteur advised the VHRL against designing its own technology, as this could make it easier for it to be blocked, especially if state actors had reservations about the scope of the project.  In response, Ms. Serrurier – Co-founder of AI Training.nl and Associate Partner at Holland Consulting Group – observed that the risk of encountering objections from states also exists with human agents. An most important takeaway was that the best manner to deal with this risk is by communicating it well. 

Besides highlighting the importance of communicating the risk of cyber security, Dr. de Hoon stressed on the importance of managing the expectations of the VHRL.  Dr. de Hoon clarified that the VHRL is a navigation and knowledge tool, and that it should not be seen as a replacement for a real lawyer. 

The panel discussion also prompted, discussion on the benefits of the project.  Mr. McMahon discussed how technology-friendly projects like the VHRL could fill the accessibility gap created by international courts like the ICC.  Ms. Chahuneau – Senior Legal Advisor at Parliamentarians for Global Action – also explained that for victims of human rights violations, the mere affirmation  that a human right was violated has a validating effect . 

Overall, the conference provided PILPG and the attendees with a clear overview of what the design process and implications of the project.  Most importantly however, it was an eyeopener on the transformative potential of tools like the VHRL.  

Creating a Virtual Human Rights Lawyer Week: Spring Outreach

By the Virtual Human Rights Lawyer Team

In the months of April and May 2019, PILPG-NL’s Virtual Human Rights Lawyer (VHRL)-development team presented the VHRL at three outreach events, where the team were able to disseminate their activities and receive inputs on how to finetune the project. 

In April 2019, some of the VHRL Research Associates and Senior Research Associate, Gabriella Gricius,  participated in the Justice Challenge, a competition for social entrepreneurs with innovative solutions to justice problems.  The Justice Challenge is a new initiative by the Amsterdam Law Hub, a co-working space for students and staff at the University of Amsterdam. The Justice Challenge incubator consisted of two phases, a startup bootcamp and a pitch competition. At the bootcamp, topics such as lean startups, grant seeking, assumption-testing,  validation research, fieldwork, and user interviews were discussed. We would like to thank the organizers of the Justice Challenge, Nathalie Dijkman and Asefeh Zadeh, for their ideas and recommendations.  

In May 2019, the Amsterdam Centre for Migration and Refugee Law organized a seminar on the role of law clinics in strategic litigation in the field of migration law.  PILPG was invited to give a workshop on its work, in particular the progress of the VHRL project. PILPG- NL Director Dr. Marieke de Hoon and the Research associates Abby Roberts, Cleo Meinicke, and Filipe Costa started the presentation by outlining the overarching goal for the chatbot and explaining our approach towards achieving this goal.  They then discussed the process of creating the chatbot, the operational concerns identified during the development phase of the project, and the decision trees that map out the potential user interactions with the chatbot.

Also in May 2019, Dr. de Hoon was invited to speak at the Amsterdam Law Forum Conference: Technology and International Law on the VHRL. At the conference, Dr. de Hoon presented the VHRL, the challenges of the project, and how the team were working to overcome them. With an audience of academics with an interest in law and technology, the team was able to receive relevant feedback.

PILPG-NL extends its gratitude to those who organized the three events for giving the team the platform to share knowledge of the VHRL and to hear feedback on the project.

Creating a Virtual Human Rights Lawyer: Expert Panels

Following the valuable contributions of experts to our Friday Sessions, PILPG-NL’s Virtual Human Rights Lawyer (VHRL) team organized three focus groups in June 2019. By bringing together experts from three key areas - Technical Development, Data Protection and Privacy, and Human Rights Community Testing - the sessions were aimed at acquiring critical and constructive feedback on the progress of the VHRL project from experts from different fields.   PILPG is grateful to the experts for their time and efforts.

 Technical Development Panel 

The technical panel featured three experts from the Vrije Universiteit:  Floris den Hengst, Charlotte Gerritsen and Victor de Boer. Floris den Hengst is PhD researcher specializing in artificial intelligence (AI). Dr. Charlotte Gerritsen and Dr. Victor de Boer are assistant professors at the VU whose research interests relate to social artificial intelligence and user-centric data science respectively. 

During the panel, the experts made several recommendations regarding the scope of the project.  We were challenged to take one step back and reconsider the problems that were desirable to solve, and the user groups which were to be prioritized.  It was further considered whether these individuals seeking redress for human rights violations at the international level were local lawyers looking to expand their knowledge of human rights law, or civil society organizations assisting individuals seeking redress.  The experts described how a modifying the target user groups would require significant changes to the interface and the platform on which the chatbot operates. As an example, Dr. de Boer highlighted his experience in West Africa, where (digital) communication had a strong spoken character. So, building a chatbot that operated through a phone line instead of an online application would enhance user-friendliness.  Other topics discussed included the challenge of internet availability, potential partnerships for technological development, techniques to enhance user interaction, and cyber security considerations. 

Data Protection and Privacy 

The second panel discussion, on data protection and privacy implications, saw presentations by Dr. Mistale Taylor, Laura Andeweg, and Tom Paffen.  Dr. Taylor is an expert in the field of data protection in relation to extraterritoriality and is a Senior Research Analyst at Trilateral Research. She was previously an assistant professor at the University of Utrecht.  Laura Andeweg works as a consultant for Capgemini specialized in data protection and the GDPR. The third participant, Tom Paffen, works at the VU as a legal counsel for data protection matters. 

The central issue for discussion was whether the VHRL should process personal data, and if not, how it was expected to ensure that the selections users make in the chatbot are secure and inaccessible.  The session also raised concerns about the impact of the General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’) on our partnership agreements, the choice of Telegram as the messaging platform through which the chatbot operates, as well as the organizational structure of the VHRL-team. 

Working with Victims of Human Rights Violations and Community Testing

Our last panel focussed on working with victims of human rights violations and community testing. The panel brought together three experts - Nathalie Dijkman, Camilla Elphick and Laura van der Lubbe.  Nathalie Dijkman is a specialist in law, development and entrepreneurship. In 2017, she co-founded SEMA, a system which aims to increase transparency and accountability of public services in East Africa by collecting citizen feedback.  Until recently, Camilla Elphick was a researcher at Spot, an online tool which is used to report workplace harassment and discrimination, and a post-doctoral research associate in psychology at The Open University. The last panelist, Laura van der Lubbe, is an expert in the field of serious games and gamification. 

The three panelists enhanced our understanding of cultural or societal factors which must be addressed or overcome in order to have a fully functioning chatbot.  They drew attention to the issues that arise when using English as the main language of the chatbot. They discussed how English translations could miss the nuance of different local accents, euphemisms, and hybrid words. The experts suggested that this could be partially overcome by adding visuals and concrete examples.  They agreed that the objective should be to create a respectful and emphatic bot as getting empathy wrong is worse than not aiming for it at all.  

Through these panels, the VHRL-team was able to get immediate feedback on the progress of the project and implement this into agile working practices.

Creating a Virtual Human Rights Lawyer Week: Friday Sessions

By the Virtual Human Rights Lawyer Team

How can legal logic be translated into a robot that can ‘speak’ to a user? How much empathy does a legal chatbot need to demonstrate to users? What data privacy risks are involved with using a human rights chatbot? PILPG-NL’s Virtual Human Rights Lawyer project (VHRL), aims at developing a chatbot to enhance access to and knowledge of international human rights mechanisms. During the first phase of the project, the VHRL team attempted to tackle these questions by organizing seven Friday sessions.  For each session, an expert specializing in the field relevant to one of the project modules was invited. After a brief presentation, the experts discussed the implications of their work relating to the project at hand, and provided inputs for the development of the VHRL project. 

The Virtual Human Rights Lawyer team was able to hear from the following guest speakers on their experiences:

1. 22 February 2019: Jasmijn de Zeeuw, who spoke about the relevance of the project to Namibia.

2. 1 March 2019: Floris den Hengst - PhD student at the VU’s AI department, and member of the Computational Intelligence Group - on decision trees, how chatbots can be structured, and artificial intelligence terminology. 

3. 8 March 2019: Laura van der Lubbe - PhD student in the VU’s Artificial Intelligence department - on serious games, gamification and how these concepts can be used for the Virtual Human Rights Lawyer chatbot and how they can inform user experience.

4. 22 March 2019: Jill Bähring -former PILPG Senior Research Associate and now Privacy Counsel for the Privacy Company - on data protection and privacy, with a focus on the General Data Protection Regulation. 

5. 12 April 2019: Lenin Medeiros on making chatbots more empathetic.

6. 26 April 2019: Laura Andeweg - a cyber security consultant at Capgemini - on data protection and privacy with a focus on the GDPR, and Marijn Markus - a senior data scientist - on artificial intelligence. 

7. 3 May 2019: Nadine Blignaut van Westrhenen - a researcher in community-based health interventions and education innovation at the VU - on the benefits of the educational model of community service learning in which students work together with the community or society on real time projects through internships. 

These sessions allowed PILPG Research Associates, with their background in law and policy, to learn about the different aspects that goes into applying their knowledge to the creation of legal technology. When law interacts with technology, much more than words on a page must be considered . As the VHRL project is in essence an interdisciplinary project, it depends on the input of people from many different backgrounds and disciplines. The input and comments from the guest speakers helped the team gain new perspectives and learn from the speakers projects and experiences. 

PILPG-NL extends its gratitude to the speakers for their contributions and continued support.