Necessary and proportionate: Civil society agrees on principles on surveillance and human rights

July 31, 2013 - by Shawna Finnegan, Association for Progressive Communications.

These principles are being released at a crucial moment, as the Snowden revelations of US-­led surveillance demonstrate a growing and systematic disregard for human rights enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by a number of State and non-State actors. The right to privacy is a fundamental human right and is essential to other human rights such as free expression, association and peaceful assembly. Widespread digital surveillance conducted outside of legal frameworks seriously threatens the protection and promotion of these rights.