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AFP, 26 November 2013
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Picture
taken on November 9, 2012 shows German Chancellor Angela Merkel
using her
mobile phone in Berlin (DPA/AFP/File, Kay Nietfeld)
|
UNITED
NATIONS (United States) — A UN rights committee on Tuesday passed a "right
to privacy" resolution pressed by Germany and Brazil, which have led
international outrage over reports of US spying on their leaders.
The
resolution says that surveillance and data interception by governments and
companies "may violate or abuse human rights."
Fifty-five
countries, including France, Russia and North Korea, co-sponsored the text
which did not name any target but made lightly veiled references to spying
which has put the US National Security Agency at the center of global
controversy.
Brazil and
Germany launched the initiative after reports leaked by former US intelligence
operative Edward Snowden that the NSA had listened in to the mobile phone of
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the office communications of Brazil's
President Dilma Rousseff.
Germany's
UN ambassador Peter Wittig said it was the first time a UN body has taken a
stand on "online" human rights and the resolution sent an important
"political message."
The
resolution "emphasizes that unlawful and arbitrary surveillance and the
interception of communications are highly intrusive acts that violate the right
to privacy and may also violate the freedom of expression," Wittig told
the UN General Assembly's human rights committee.
"Human
rights should prevail irrespective of the medium and therefore need to be
protected both offline and online," added Brazil's UN envoy Antonio
Patriota.
"States
should refrain from and be held accountable for any act that violate these
rights, including the right to privacy," he added.
The United
States and key allies Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand -- who
together make up the so-called "Five-Eyes" intelligence group --
joined a consensus vote passing the resolution after language suggesting that
foreign spying would be a rights violation was weakened.
The
resolution said the UN committee is "deeply concerned at the negative
impact" that surveillance and interception of communications
"including extraterritorial surveillance" can have on human rights.
Germany and
Brazil had wanted the text to say the assembly was "deeply concerned at
human rights violations and abuses that may result from the conduct of any
surveillance of communications, including extraterritorial surveillance of
communications."
Under the
resolution, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay will prepare a report on domestic
and "extra-territorial" privacy. Wittig also promised a
"thorough" debate on the issue at the UN Human Rights Council in
Geneva.
US deputy
ambassador Elizabeth Cousens gave backing to the initiative.
She did not
mention the NSA controversy, but told the committee: "In some cases,
conduct that violates privacy rights may also seriously impede or even prevent
the exercise of freedom of expression, but conduct that violates privacy rights
does not violate the right to freedom of expression in every case."
Indonesia,
which is involved in a battle with Australia over allegations of spying on
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, spoke out strongly for the resolution.
North
Korea, one of the world's most tightly controlled countries and an unlikely
ally backing the resolution, used the meeting to slam US spying.
North
Korean ambassador Sin Son-Ho accused the United States of "hypocrisy and
deception" in condemning other countries' human rights records.
Human
Rights Watch specialist Philippe Bolopion said it was unfortunate that the
resolution had been watered down.
But he said
it was "a vital first step toward stigmatizing indiscriminate global
surveillance."
The
non-binding resolution will now go to the full 193-member UN General Assembly
for a vote.
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US Senator Christopher Murphy (r) congressman Gregory Meeks speak
in Berlin over the NSA scandal. Photo: dpa |
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