CDT Joins NGOs Letter Urging EU Targeted Sanctions Against NSO Group

CDT has signed a joint letter initiated by Human Rights Watch, along with independent experts, international NGOs, and civil society groups from across all continents, to call on the European Union to take serious and effective measures against Israeli NSO Group following credible revelations that Pegasus Spyware was used to hack the devices of six Palestinian human rights activists. 

The letter urges the EU, by virtue of its prerogative to adopt targeted sanctions against entities deemed responsible for serious violations or abuses of fundamental rights, to designate and put NSO Group on its global sanction list and – until adequate human rights safeguard are in place – adopt measures to prohibit the sale, transfer, export, import, and use of the group’s technologies, as well as the provision of services that support NSO Group’s products.

CDT and other signatories strongly denounce the systemic targeting of Palestinian human rights defenders through the Pegasus Software, and note how NSO Group’s human rights policy fails to prevent and mitigate human rights abuse in a meaningful way. CDT previously joined another joint open letter to call on governments to investigate the sale and export of surveillance technology, emphasizing the threats of the use of targeted digital surveillance tools such as Pegasus on democracy and fundamental rights.

For the full letter on the NSO Group’s targeted sanctions + the signatories, read here.