Governments and law enforcement increasingly rely on digital technologies for crime prevention and investigation. While these tools can support legitimate public interest objectives, they are too often deployed in ways that undermine fundamental rights, enabling unlawful or disproportionate surveillance and causing significant harm to individuals and communities.
Recent years have exposed the abuse of highly intrusive surveillance technologies, including spyware, against journalists, human rights defenders, political opponents, and civil society across Europe. These practices threaten the rights to privacy, freedom of expression, and democratic participation, while weakening public trust and the rule of law.
The European Union must strengthen legal safeguards, oversight, and accountability to ensure that surveillance measures remain necessary, proportionate, and consistent with fundamental rights. We work with civil society and policymakers to advance rights-respecting approaches to digital security and law enforcement.
Through legal analysis, policy advocacy, and coalition-building, the Security, Surveillance and Human Rights Programme promotes strong privacy protections, secure communications, and robust safeguards against unwarranted surveillance.
Actions & Objectives
The Security, Surveillance and Human Rights Programme works to:
- Protect individuals’ from unwarranted and disproportionate government surveillance and law enforcement overreach, including in the context of national security and public order measures.
- Promote government accountability, independent oversight, and effective checks and balances to safeguard fundamental rights in the digital environment.
- Advance the development, deployment, and protection of strong encryption technologies to secure communications and data against unauthorised access and surveillance.
Policy Priorities
Our current policy priorities include:
- Defending strong encryption and opposing measures that weaken the security of digital communications.
- Strengthening safeguards, transparency, and accountability for the use of surveillance technologies by public authorities.
- Ensuring EU security and law enforcement initiatives fully comply with fundamental rights and data protection standards.
Relevant Legislative Files
→ Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR)
→ ePrivacy Regulation
→ European Media Freedom Act (spyware safeguards)
→ European Dual-Use Regulation (DUR)
