The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) along with the International Coalition has called upon governments across the globe to protect privacy.
On September 20 in Geneva, CIS joined a huge international coalition in calling upon countries across the globe, including India to assess whether national surveillance laws and activities are in line with their international human rights obligations.
The Centre for Internet and Society has endorsed a set of international principles against unchecked surveillance. The 13 Principles set out for the first time an evaluative framework for assessing surveillance practices in the context of international human rights obligations.
A group of civil society organizations officially presented the 13 Principles this past Friday in Geneva at a side event attended by Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion, Frank LaRue, during the 24th session of the Human Rights Council. The side event was hosted by the Permanent Missions of Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Hungary.
Elonnai Hickok, Programme Manager at the Centre for Internet and Society has noted that "the 13 Principles are an important first step towards informing governments, corporates, and individuals across jurisdictions, including India, about needed safeguards for surveillance practices and related policies to ensure that they are necessary and proportionate."
Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, speaking at the Human Rights Council stated in her opening statement on September 9th:
"Laws and policies must be adopted to address the potential for dramatic intrusion on individuals' privacy which have been made possible by modern communications technology."
Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, speaking at the event, said that:
"technological advancements have been powerful tools for democracy by giving access to all to participate in society, but increasing use of data mining by intelligence agencies blurs lines between legitimate surveillance and arbitrary mass surveillance."
Frank La Rue, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion made clear the case for a direct relationship between state surveillance, privacy and freedom of expression in this latest report to the Human Rights Council:
"The right to privacy is often understood as an essential requirement for the realization of the right to freedom of expression. Undue interference with individuals' privacy can both directly and indirectly limit the free development and exchange of ideas. β¦ An infringement upon one right can be both the cause and consequence of an infringement upon the other."
Speaking at the event, the UN Special Rapporteur remarked that:
"previously surveillance was carried out on targeted basis but the Internet has changed the context by providing the possibility for carrying out mass surveillance. This is the danger."
Representatives of the Centre for Internet and Society, Privacy International, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Access, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, Association for Progressive Communications, and the Center for Democracy and Technology all are taking part in the event.
Find out more about the Principles at necessaryandproportionate.org
Contacts
NGOs currently in Geneva for the 24th Human Rights Council:
- Access β Fabiola Carrion: fabiola@accessnow.org
- Association for Progressive Communication β Shawna Finnegan: shawna@apc.org
- Center for Democracy and Technology β Matthew Shears: mshears@cdt.org
- Electronic Frontier Foundation β Katitza Rodriguez: katitza@eff.org β @txitua
- Human Rights Watch β Cynthia Wong: wongc@hrw.org
- Privacy International β Carly Nyst: carly@privacy.org
- Reporters Without Borders β Lucie Morillon: lucie.morillon@rsf.org; HΓ©lΓ¨ne Sackstein: helsack@gmail.com
Signatories
- Argentina β Ramiro Alvarez: rugarte@adc.org.ar β AsociaciΓ³n por los Derechos Civiles
- Argentina β Beatriz Busaniche: bea@vialibre.org.ar β FundaciΓ³n Via Libre
- Colombia β Carolina Botero: carobotero@gmail.com β FundaciΓ³n Karisma
- Egypt β Ahmed Ezzat: ahmed.ezzat@affeegypt.org β Affeegypt
- Honduras β Hedme Sierra-Castro: hedme.sc@gmail.com β ACI-Participa
- India β Elonnai Hickok: elonnai@cis-india.org β Center for Internet and Society
- Korea β Prof. Park: kyungsinpark@korea.ac.kr β Open Net Korea
- Macedonia β Bardhyl Jashari: info@metamorphosis.org.mk β Metamorphosis Foundation for Internet and Society
- Mauritania, Senegal, Tanzania β Abadacar Diop: jonction_jonction@yahoo.fr β Jonction
- Portugal β Andreia Martins: andreia@coolpolitics.pt β Associação Coolpolitics
- Peru β Miguel Morachimo: morachimo@gmail.com β Hiperderecho
- Russia β Andrei Soldatov: soldatov@agentura.ru β Agentura.ru
- Serbia β Djordje Krivokapic: krivokapic@gmail.com β SHARE Foundation
- Western Balkans β Valentina Pellizer: valentina.pellizzer@oneworldsee.org β Oneworldsee
- Brasil β Marcelo Saldanha: instituto@bemestarbrasil.org.br β IBE Brasil
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## Context and Background
In September 2013, the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) published Elonnai Hickok's report on a major coordinated push by international civil society to institutionalise the 13 International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance at the United Nations. On 20 September, CIS joined a broad international coalition in publicly calling on governments worldwide, including India, to evaluate their national surveillance laws and practices against their international human rights obligations.
The principles had been formally presented at a side event during the 24th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, hosted jointly by the Permanent Missions of Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Hungary. The event was attended by Navi Pillay, then UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Frank La Rue, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion, both of whom addressed the relationship between modern surveillance capabilities and human rights protections. Pillay had already flagged the issue in her opening statement to the Council on 9 September, stating that "laws and policies must be adopted to address the potential for dramatic intrusion on individuals' privacy which have been made possible by modern communications technology," and warned at the side event itself that the "increasing use of data mining by intelligence agencies blurs lines between legitimate surveillance and arbitrary mass surveillance."
La Rue's remarks focused on the structural link between privacy and free expression, arguing in his report to the Council that interference with privacy can both cause and result from interference with freedom of expression, and noting at the event that the shift from targeted to mass surveillance enabled by the internet was itself "the danger." Elonnai Hickok, then Programme Manager at CIS, was quoted describing the 13 Principles as "an important first step towards informing governments, corporates, and individuals across jurisdictions, including India, about needed safeguards for surveillance practices."
The event drew representatives from a wide coalition of international civil society organisations, including CIS, Privacy International, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Access, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, the Association for Progressive Communications, and the Center for Democracy and Technology. The original post also listed direct contacts for NGO representatives present in Geneva for the Council session, and a broader list of national signatories to the coalition's call, spanning organisations in Argentina, Colombia, Egypt, Honduras, India, Korea, Macedonia, several West and East African countries, Portugal, Peru, Russia, Serbia, the Western Balkans and Brazil.
## External Link
- [CIS and International Coalition Calls upon Governments to Protect Privacy](https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-and-international-coalition-calls-upon-governments-to-protect-privacy) on CIS website
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