On July 26th 2021, ARTICLE 19, alongside more than 150 civil society organisations and independent experts, is calling on States to immediately implement a moratorium on the sale, transfer and use of surveillance technology.
The revelations about the use of NSO Group’s spyware to facilitate human rights violations around the world require serious and immediate responses. The lack of robust legislative frameworks and democratic controls over the use of these technologies has only encouraged this industry to expand and enabled widespread human rights violations. Surveillance, in any form, unarguably infringes the right to privacy and has a chilling effect on freedom of expression. Where illegal surveillance is known or suspected to be carried out, independent, exhaustive and comprehensive investigations should be undertaken. As long as these abuses are not fully examined, they will continue to represent a serious obstacle to free journalism and the defence of human rights, a risk to the privacy of anyone anywhere, and a serious threat to democratic institutions.
Read ARTICLE 19’s statement about illegal targeted surveillance in Mexico