UN experts again call for temporary ban on surveillance tech
It is the second time in two years that the UN has warned about the dangers of unchecked surveillance technology
A panel of United Nations-appointed experts have called for a moratorium on the sale of surveillance technology, following the NSO Group Pegasus scandal last month.
Israel's NSO Group develops spyware known as Pegasus. Last month allegations flew about the software being used to surveil hundreds of politicians, journalists and rights activists around the world.
Following the news, the eight experts - appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, although not themselves UN staff - said countries should agree to a temporary ban on the sale and transfer of surveillance tools. Such a ban should last until 'robust' regulations that guarantee human rights are agreed and implemented.
They said, "It is highly dangerous and irresponsible to allow the surveillance technology and trade sector to operate as a human rights-free zone.
"We are deeply concerned that highly sophisticated intrusive tools are being used to monitor, intimidate and silence human rights defenders, journalists and political opponents. Such practices violate the rights to freedom of expression, privacy and liberty, possibly endanger the lives of hundreds of individuals, imperil media freedom, and undermine democracy, peace, security and international cooperation."
This is not the first time that the UN has issued a warning about the use of surveillance technology.
In 2019, the then Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression released a report with similar conclusions and the same recommendations as the new panel. At the time, countries failed to act on the report.
"Contempt for human rights"
The Pegasus scandal has brought the issue of surveillance tech back into the limelight.
The NSO Group has so far rejected alegations about its involvement in the widespread surveillance Amnesty International and Forbidden Stories found in July. The UN's experts responded by saying:
"Given the extraordinary audacity and contempt for human rights that such widespread surveillance shows, if the denial of collusion by the NSO Group is to have any credibility at all, the company must disclose whether or not it ever conducted any meaningful human rights due diligence in line the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and publish fully the findings of any internal probes it may have undertaken on this issue."
They also urged Israel to reveal the measures it took to review NSO Group's export transactions (i.e. the States and entities that purchased Pegasus) in light of its own human rights commitments.
In closing, they said, "In recent years we have repeatedly raised the alarm about the danger that surveillance technology poses to human rights. Once again, we urge the international community to develop a robust regulatory framework to prevent, mitigate and redress the negative human rights impact of surveillance technology and pending that, to adopt a moratorium on its sale and transfer."
The experts were named as Irene Khan (Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of expression); Mary Lawlor (Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders); Clement Nyaletsossi Voulé (Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association), and members of the UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises (known as the Working Group on Business and Human Rights): Surya Deva (Chairperson), Elzbieta Karska (Vice-Chairperson), Githu Muigai, Dante Pesce and Anita Ramasastry.