The proposed amendments to the Law on the National Security Agency (ANB) expand the competences of the officials of that institution, contrary to the provisions of the Montenegrin Constitution and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, representatives of the civil sector announced and called on the deputies to amend.
Representatives of the Action for Human Rights (HRA), the Alternative Institute (IA), the Center for Civic Education (CGO) and MANS, called on representatives of all political parties to submit amendments to the proposed amendments to that law and ensure respect for the rights of citizens guaranteed by the Constitution and international conventions and to protect human rights from the arbitrariness of any individual.
"The proposed amendments to the Law on the National Security Agency "backdoor" expand the competences of the officials of that institution, contrary to the provisions of the Constitution of Montenegro and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms," says the joint statement of those NGOs.
They reminded that the Government has proposed amendments to the Law on ANB, which, among other things, provide that all legal entities are obliged to provide the Agency official who is legitimized with an official ID, access to all their data through direct inspection.
Based on this, they clarified, each ANB official can independently, arbitrarily and without limits access all personal data of citizens, including medical documentation, banking data and all other information that all other legal entities in the country have in their possession.
"This stipulates that every legal entity, including the media, the non-governmental sector, and even political parties must allow any ANB official who has an ID card to inspect all their data, registers and other documentation without any restrictions or protection measures" , announced representatives of the civil sector.
According to them, at the same time, the proposed law does not even prescribe grounds for suspicion that someone has committed a criminal offense, so that his rights could be interfered with.
"In addition, legal entities are not left with any possibility of protection if they believe that an authorized officer should not access the registers or data collections they possess. No appeal mechanism has been prescribed that could delay the implementation of the oral order of ANB officials and access to data," the statement added.
The HRA, IA, CGO and MANS stated that the Law does not provide for control and verification mechanisms for why some ANB official accesses this data and for what purposes it is used.
As they said, the Constitutional Court concluded in its previous practice that the collection of this type of data enjoys the constitutional protection of the inviolability of secrecy and found that the inviolability of this data can only be waived on the basis of a court decision, for the purpose of conducting criminal proceedings or for reasons of the security of Montenegro.
The representatives of those NGOs pointed out that the Constitutional Court in its decisions in July last year, which it made at the initiative of MANS, determined that the provision of the Criminal Procedure Code, according to which the police without a court order, procures so-called phone listings.
"Although the court recognizes that intelligence services can legitimately exist in a democratic society, it reiterates that powers of secret surveillance of citizens can be tolerated under the Convention only to the extent strictly necessary for the protection of democratic institutions," the statement said.
From the civil sector, they said that the Constitutional Court indicated that the protection of an individual against unauthorized interference in his privacy is proclaimed in international law as a fundamental human right that enjoys legal protection and that only the court can allow deviations from the secrecy established by the provisions of the Constitution.
They believe that the proposed law gives even greater powers to ANB officials, who could obtain all other data that any authority or legal entity collects, stating that they could do so on an arbitrary basis and without any control, and that for all persons. without any restrictions.
"That's why we invite representatives of all political parties to submit amendments to the proposed Amendments to the Law on ANB and ensure respect for the rights of citizens guaranteed by the Constitution and international conventions", the announcement concludes.
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