The Geneva Declaration on Targeted Surveillance and Human Rights

This Declaration is a collective commitment to human rights in the digital age led by civil society organizations, Access Now and the Government of Catalonia to serve as a helpful advocacy tool for governments, civil society, tech professionals and academics worldwide. It recognizes the role of digital technologies in strengthening democracy and human rights and explicitly condemns the proliferating use of surveillance technologies to target communities engaging in protected activities.

It calls on governments, in coordination with civil society and the private sector, to implement a moratorium on the export, sale, transfer, servicing and use of targeted digital surveillance technologies developed by the private industry. Pending when rigorous human rights safeguards are implemented to regulate such practices.

It recommended some measures to multilateral organizations, governments, and private sector actors to protect democracy and respect human rights in the digital age, which include:

• Implementing an immediate moratorium on the export, sale, transfer, servicing, and use of targeted digital surveillance technologies until rigorous human rights safeguards are put in place to regulate such practices
• Recognizing and enforcing the right to remedy and reparation through robust and independent oversight measures for individuals targeted by cyberespionage
• Developing and encouraging the adoption of robust safeguards and standardized clauses in any contract of purchase and sale of cyber surveillance programs to ensure compliance with human rights standards for any use of these products and services
• Publicly report any detected misuse of cyber-surveillance products and services resulting in human rights violations to any relevant oversight body, either at the national, regional, or international level.
• Ensuring that digital transformation works for, not against, democracy and human rights in ways that strengthen opportunities while confronting ongoing challenges, among others.