14 DAY TRIAL // It started out as a small plan to fight off NSA spying, but Brazil and Germany have gone through with their idea and introduced a new draft resolution to the UN General Assembly.
The document calls for internationally recognized rights to privacy following the NSA scandal. Although the straw that broke the camel’s back was the fact that the agency was spying on the leaders of the two states and not the millions of citizens affected, the result should still count.
“The General Assembly affirms that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, in particular the right to privacy,” the draft reads.
Furthermore, the fact that the surveillance of communications of any kind might lead to human rights violations and abuses is also mentioned in the file.
The draft has already garnered a lot of support from some 20 countries. However, it’s only in the starting phases, which means that it will suffer some modifications before it gets adopted by the UN.
“Where do we draw the line between legitimate security concerns and the individual right to privacy? And how do we ensure that human rights are effectively protected both offline and online?” asked German ambassador Peter Witting when presenting the document.
His Brazilian counterpart, Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, said that his nation considers that it’s crucial for the international community to engage in an in-depth debate on how to uphold fundamental rights of human beings in this digital era, including when concerns about national security and criminal activity are high.
All in all, the draft seeks to come up with measures that put an end to violations of rights and to create conditions to prevent such events, stressing the fact that relevant national legislation should comply with the country’s obligations under international human rights law.