UNHRC Says Privacy a Right

The UN Human Rights Council Thursday adopted a resolution on the right to privacy in the digital age that “addresses the need for better procedural safeguards and effective domestic oversight, as well as remedies for government surveillance that infringes upon an individual’s privacy rights,” said a Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) news release. The resolution “clearly states that metadata can reveal deeply personal information and that extraterritorial surveillance is a threat to the right to privacy,” the CDT said. The resolution also establishes a dedicated special rapporteur on the right to privacy for a three-year period, who will be “tasked with monitoring, investigating, and reporting on the state of privacy in UN Member States around the world -- including where secret surveillance is concerned,” the CDT said. In a news release, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights urged all countries to support the new mandate by “providing all necessary information" requested by the special rapporteur and to "consider implementing the recommendations made in his or her reports.” The resolution allows the council to “establish a forum to provide a platform for identifying best practices, challenges and opportunities to secure respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law,” the UN news release said. Thirty-five nations, including the U.S., voted in favor of the resolution, 12 nations abstained. The UN Human Rights Council “strongly reaffirmed that privacy is a core part of human freedom,” said CDT Human Rights and Surveillance Legal Fellow Sarah St. Vincent. “A Special Rapporteur on privacy is a monumental step in ensuring that the world remains focused on reining in invasive government surveillance practices that have a chilling effect not only on our right to privacy, but also on our right to free expression.”