{"id":75901,"date":"2015-05-15T10:54:02","date_gmt":"2015-05-15T14:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/?post_type=blog&p=75901"},"modified":"2015-05-15T10:54:41","modified_gmt":"2015-05-15T14:54:41","slug":"un-member-states-call-for-us-surveillance-reforms","status":"publish","type":"insight","link":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/insights\/un-member-states-call-for-us-surveillance-reforms\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Member States Call for US Surveillance Reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Monday, US officials went before the gathered United Nations Member States in Geneva and were greeted with a message that was loud and clear: all surveillance, no matter where it takes place or whose data it involves, must comply with human rights law. As Congress and the Executive Branch continue to face urgent demands<\/a> from the American public to reform surveillance, they would do well to heed this global call for change as well. In particular, the Administration should give immediate and serious consideration to countries\u2019 recommendations to recognize that human rights apply to all surveillance; that any surveillance program must be subject to adequate judicial, congressional, and independent oversight; and that anyone whose fundamental rights are violated by surveillance activities must have access to effective redress.<\/p>\n

NSA surveillance remains a matter of strong and detailed concern to the global community.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As CDT explained<\/a> last week, the UN Human Rights Council conducted the Universal Periodic Review<\/a> (\u201cUPR\u201d) of the United States, which occurs once every four and a half years and entails a public review of the country\u2019s compliance with all of its obligations under human rights law. Every UN Member State had the right to participate in the US\u2019 review, and Monday\u2019s session demonstrated a remarkable cohesiveness among the serious issues that were raised\u2014and showed that NSA surveillance remains a matter of strong and detailed concern to the global community.<\/p>\n

Among the 17 countries that commented on US surveillance (or privacy rights more broadly), several emphasized something the Administration has thus far refused to acknowledge: namely, that the US must respect human rights whenever it conducts surveillance operations, including surveillance of people who are outside the United States and are not Americans. As CDT and the ACLU observed in a report<\/a> to the Human Rights Council prior to the session, the Snowden documents indicate that the NSA has been intercepting the private data of hundreds of millions of people around the world every day, and the Administration\u2019s failure to recognize that these activities give rise to human rights obligations remains a conspicuous and grave one.<\/p>\n

In addition to this general critique, several countries specifically indicated that the US must adopt better judicial, legislative, and independent oversight of its surveillance programs. Such oversight is an essential element of the right to privacy, and is a basic safeguard that CDT has been working hard<\/a> to promote both within the US and internationally. A number of countries also highlighted the fact that US surveillance places a burden on individual rights from the moment the NSA acquires private data, regardless of whether analysts later view or use it\u2014a point that echoes a similar finding<\/a> by a US Second Circuit Court of Appeals last week in a case concerning the agency\u2019s bulk collection of records of phone calls to, from, and within the US.<\/p>\n

Next month, the US is expected to state publicly whether it accepts these and other surveillance-related recommendations. We believe the Administration should accept the following obligations, among others, as a matter of official policy:<\/p>\n