The Principles Week of Action: A World Without Mass Surveillance

Between 15th-19th of September, in the week leading up the first year anniversary of the 13 Necessary and Proportionate Principles, Panoptykon Foundation and the coalition behind the 13 Principles will be conducting a week of action explaining some of the 13 guiding principles for surveillance law reform. Every day, we'll take on a different part of the principles, exploring what’s at stake and what we need to do to bring intelligence agencies and the police back under the rule of law.

The International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance were first launched at the 24th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on 20 September 2013. Drawing on international law and jurisprudence, the Principles articulate the obligations of governments under international human rights standards in the digital age. The Principles are a product of a collaborative effort of privacy experts, human rights lawyers and civil society groups. They provide a tool to evaluate and help reform governments’ surveillance practices.

Each day of the week leading up the first year anniversary of the 13 Necessary and Proportionate Principles new posts explaining some of the 13 guiding principles for surveillance law reform will be published on Principles webpage. The goal is to bring awareness to the serious surveillance problems that each organization is fighting in their own region, and how these problems violate the principles, and our human rights. As part of the campaign, we'll be featuring this year Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch), a ground-breaking report on national and global mass surveillance published by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and the Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (Hivos).

During the week, Access will be also giving a champion’s award to those who have worked in support of the 13 Principles, as well as recognizing individuals, groups, and governments who have subverted their intention. They'll also be publishing an implementation guide providing more details on how the Principles apply in practice in the situation where a government official seeks to conduct surveillance.

Let's send a message to Member States at the United Nations and wherever else folks are tackling surveillance law reform: surveillance law can no longer ignore our human rights. Tweet #privacyisaright

Read the Necessary and Proportionate Principles