Germany, Brazil enlist 19 more countries for anti-NSA UN resolution
Twenty-one countries, including US allies France and Mexico, have now joined talks to hammer out a UN resolution that would condemn “indiscriminate” and “extra-territorial” surveillance, and ensure “independent oversight” of electronic monitoring.
The news was reported by Foreign Policy magazine, which has also
obtained a copy of the draft text.
The resolution was proposed earlier this week by Germany and
Brazil, whose leaders have been some of the most vocal critics of
the comprehensive spying methods of the US National Security
Agency.
It appears to have gained additional traction after the Guardian
newspaper published an internal NSA memo sourced from
whistleblower Edward Snowden on Friday, which revealed that at
least 35 heads of state had their phones tapped by American
intelligence officials.
One of those is likely German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Earlier
this week the White House failed to deny that her personal cell
phone had been tapped in the past, though it claims that it no
longer listens in on Merkel’s private conversations.
Other countries involved in the talks reportedly include
Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guyana, Hungary,
India, Indonesia, Liechtenstein, Norway, Paraguay, South Africa,
Sweden, Switzerland, Uruguay and Venezuela.
While the document does not single out the US as the chief
electronic spy, its text seems to be a direct response to alleged
NSA practices.
The draft says that UN member states are “deeply concerned at
human rights violations and abuses that may result from the
conduct of extra-territorial surveillance or interception of
communications in foreign jurisdictions.”
Snowden’s leaks over the past months have revealed that NSA
intercepts data directly from data cables stationed around the
world. Internal documents also showed that American intelligence
staff did not need a warrant or any other legal basis to freely
spy on a non-US citizen.
The proposed document also claims that “illegal surveillance
of private communications and the indiscriminate interception of
personal data of citizens constitutes a highly intrusive act that
violates the rights to freedom of expression and privacy and
threatens the foundations of a democratic society.”
As opposed to the targeted spying of the past, where agencies
would tap a specific phone or intercept letters addressed to a
person, new technologies mean that almost all data that passes
through the internet is saved onto the NSA servers. This includes
private emails, web searches, and personal data of billions of
people. NSA agents then fish out the needed information with
precise searches.
The resolution, which is expected to be presented in front of the
U.N. General Assembly human rights committee before the end of
the year, turns NSA’s activities into an issue of fundamental
rights as opposed to international diplomacy, requiring the High
Commissioner for Human Rights to produce a report on the problem.
The draft also asks to institute “independent oversight
mechanisms” that would curb the untrammelled surveillance,
though it does not specify how such a secretive activity could be
effectively supervised.
