Access to Internet as a Human Right – Justification and Comparative Study

Abstract

This paper advances a human rights perspective to the understanding of internet access by viewing it through a comparative lens with reference to countries in Europe, and the USA, India, and China. The question that is explored is: does internet access warrant recognition as a stand-alone human right, or is it sufficient that access is so bound up with one or more existing rights that formal recognition is unnecessary? Through this paper an effort has been made to analyse whether having a right to internet access as a human right is possible and to argue for the need to recognise such a right given the importance such a right holds, as can be seen especially during the ongoing pandemic when every aspect of life has been shifted to the online mode.