Spyware scandal: UN experts call for moratorium on sale of ‘life threatening’ surveillance tech

UN human rights experts today called on all States to impose a global moratorium on the sale and transfer of surveillance technology until they have put in place robust regulations that guarantee its use in compliance with international human rights standards. The experts expressed their concern about the sophisticated intrusive tools used to monitor, intimidate and silence human rights defenders, journalists and political opponents. Two years ago the UN report on the dangerous impact of surveillance technology on human rights recommended an immediate moratorium on its sale and transfer until international regulations incorporating human rights safeguards were adopted but the international community failed to heed his call. The UN experts highlighted how the International human rights law requires all States to adopt robust domestic legal safeguards to protect individuals from unlawful surveillance, invasion of their privacy or threats to their freedom of expression, assembly and association.