The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy, Anna Briand Nougreres, sent a letter to the Government of Montenegro expressing serious concerns regarding the Draft Law on the National Security Agency (ANB), the non-governmental organizations Human Rights Action (HRA), the Center for Women's Rights (CŽP) and the Center for Civic Education (CCE) announced.
They remind that the bill was withdrawn from the parliamentary procedure at the end of July "under pressure from NGOs and the opposition."
"The Special Rapporteur warned that Articles 13, 15 and 18 of the Bill give the ANB overly broad powers to monitor and collect data without adequate judicial oversight, which may lead to violations of the right to privacy and other human rights guaranteed by international law," the statement reads.
They added that it also took into account the amendments subsequently proposed by the Government, and concluded that "despite these amendments, certain shortcomings still exist and that additional changes are needed to protect the right to privacy."
"The Special Rapporteur emphasized that the right to privacy protects individuals from arbitrary and unlawful interference with their private and family life, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights. She particularly emphasized that the Proposal does not provide for sufficient judicial guarantees, independent oversight, nor was it adopted through a public debate process, although all of these are fundamental principles of democratic governance and the protection of human rights," the three NGOs say.
They said that the Special Rapporteur's intervention confirms earlier warnings from non-governmental organizations and demands that the Government harmonize the proposed provisions of the ANB law with international human rights standards and conduct a public debate on the matter.
Non-governmental organizations, they remind, warned in a joint statement in July that the proposed law on several grounds did not respond to the needs for a fundamental reform of the ANB into a modern, professional and democratically controlled security service that would respect human rights, and they requested that a public debate be opened and adequate solutions be proposed with the help of experts and the interested public.
"The Special Rapporteur, among other things, requested the Government of Montenegro to: specify how Articles 13, 15 and 18 meet the recommendations of the UN Human Rights Committee on the introduction of judicial authorization for intelligence collection; clarify how internationally recognized procedural standards that prevent the abuse of surveillance will be ensured; and indicate whether and how it plans to conduct a publicly accessible consultation process with citizens and civil society on the amended version of the law," the statement reads.
At the end of the letter, the rapporteur announced that her communication, together with the Government's possible response, would be made public on the United Nations website and later included in the regular report to the Human Rights Council.
HRA, CŽP and CCE called on the Government and the Parliament to seriously consider the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur and involve civil society in the preparation and adoption of such an important law.
The translation of the letter was prepared by the Human Rights Action, and is available on the website you NEW.
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