{"id":37011,"date":"2013-12-02T12:00:19","date_gmt":"2013-12-02T12:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=37011"},"modified":"2015-05-05T22:20:16","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T21:20:16","slug":"un-advances-surveillance-resolution-reaffirming-human-right-to-privacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2013\/12\/un-advances-surveillance-resolution-reaffirming-human-right-to-privacy\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Advances Surveillance Resolution Reaffirming ‘Human Right to Privacy’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2022 Draft goes ahead despite US and UK concerns over language
\n\u2022 Inquiry possible into impact of excessive government spying<\/i><\/p>\n

The United Nations moved a step closer to calling for an end to excessive surveillance on Tuesday [26 Nov 2013] in a resolution that reaffirms the \u201chuman right to privacy\u201d and calls for the UN\u2019s human rights commissioner to conduct an inquiry into the impact of mass digital snooping.<\/p>\n

A UN committee that deals with human rights issues adopted the German- and Brazilian-drafted resolution that has become an increasingly sensitive issue among UN members.<\/p>\n

The resolution, titled \u201cThe right to privacy in the digital age\u201d, does not name specific countries but states the UN is: \u201cDeeply concerned at the negative impact that surveillance and\/or interception of communications \u2026 may have on the exercise and enjoyment of human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

The resolution says \u201cunlawful or arbitrary\u201d surveillance may \u201ccontradict the tenets of a democratic society\u201d. It says states \u201cmust ensure full compliance with their obligations under international human rights law\u201d.<\/p>\n

The 193-member general assembly is expected to vote on the non-binding resolution next month.<\/p>\n

The resolution was co-sponsored by Brazil and Germany after leaked documents from former National Security Agency consultant Edward Snowden revealed that the agency had spied on their political leaders.<\/p>\n

Britain and Australia \u2013 which, along with the US, Canada and New Zealand, make up the \u201cFive-Eyes\u201d intelligence-sharing alliance \u2013 had pushed for its language to be weakened<\/a> and lobbied successfully for one key component to be removed.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s bargaining power may have been weakened by revelations that it attempted to listen in on the private cellphone of the Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and inner circle. Indonesia is now negotiating a bilateral code of ethics <\/a>on intelligence-sharing with Australia.<\/p>\n

The main sticking point was over language stating that foreign nationals should have the same rights to privacy as the citizens of countries carrying out mass surveillance. US law currently gives citizens far greater protection than foreigners from NSA operations.<\/p>\n

The Five-Eyes members argued that the legal right to privacy was an internal matter for states alone.<\/p>\n

At the same time, countries including Cuba and Venezuela had pushed for more explicit language on alleged extraterritorial human rights violations during the negotiations.<\/p>\n

Diplomatic sources told the Guardian: \u201cThe UK and Australia did most of the talking, but outside of the negotiations the US clearly signalled they had concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

The source said he was pleased that the majority of the resolution was now moving forward, and pointed to its call for the UN high commissioner for human rights to conduct an inquiry and present a report next year on \u201cthe protection and promotion of the right to privacy in the context of domestic and extraterritorial surveillance and\/or interception of digital communications and collection of personal data\u201d.<\/p>\n

That investigation is likely to look again at the international laws surrounding the \u201cextraterritoriality\u201d of privacy and whether people\u2019s right to privacy has been infringed by the types of surveillance exposed by Snowden.<\/p>\n

In a letter to the UN committee, the UK said it was \u201cpleased to join consensus\u201d but expressed frustration that \u201cthe text was circulated late in the committee, with the result that member states were given limited opportunity to engage in the thorough discussion that this subject deserves\u201d.<\/p>\n

While general assembly resolutions are non-binding, unlike resolutions of the 15-nation security council, those that enjoy broad international support carry significant moral and political weight.<\/p>\n

Tung Yin, professor of law at Lewis & Clark Law School, said the resolution would bring further attention to the issues raised by Snowden, but it would be unlikely to have any real impact on the NSA\u2019s activities \u201cexcept at the margins”.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at the UN special rapporteur\u2019s reports on drone strikes,” he said. “They have consistently warned against extrajudicial killings and yet the number of drone strikes continues to increase.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last month, Martin Scheinin, former UN special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, told the European parliament that the \u201cthe surveillance constituted an unlawful or arbitrary interference with privacy or correspondence. This assessment follows independently from multiple grounds\u201d.<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 theguardian.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United Nations moved a step closer to calling for an end to excessive surveillance on Tuesday [26 Nov 2013] in a resolution co-sponsored by Brazil and Germany after leaked documents from Edward Snowden revealed that the agency had spied on their political leaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37011\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}