Artificial Intelligence & The Violation of Right to Privacy Under Article 17 of the ICCPR

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has driven innovation and also has posed greater threats to the privacy rights guaranteed by Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). AI systems allow for surveillance, profiling, data fusion and automated decision-making; many of them offer little transparency, consent or accountability. This study employs a doctrinal legal methodology to analyse Article 17’s interpretive jurisprudence, while drawing comparative insights from frameworks like the GDPR. It examines how AI practices often involve unlawful inferences when lacking a clear legal basis and arbitrary interference that does not meet the requirements of proportionality, necessity and reasonable standards. Case studies show violations by facial recognition at protests, algorithmic profiling of behaviours and discrimination over health topics, highlighting intersections with the non-discrimination guarantees in Article 26. Findings illustrate that remedies are still insufficient, and States struggle to ensure oversight, effective redress and privacy-by-design protections. The paper ends by arguing that Article 17 must be broadly interpreted to cover informational, algorithmic and biometric privacy, which demands more sophisticated governance and independent regulation and protection of enforceable rights of access, correction and erasure to protect human dignity in the age of AI.