Contributions to the UN on Right to Protest and Citizen Surveillance

The Asociación por los Derechos Civiles (Association for Civil Rights – ADC) responded to the call for input made by the UN Special Rapporteur to civil society organizations fulfilling its commitment to developing «practical tools to assist law enforcement bodies in promoting and protecting human rights in the context of peaceful protests,» in view of the 55th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Our submission reviews the state of affairs in Argentina on three main subjects: surveillance technologies, social media monitoring, and mobile device forensic extraction. In addition to describing the current situation of these issues in relation to human rights violations, it details government actions and research carried out by ADC.

The contribution ends with a list of best practices. Among them, the establishment of a legal framework for handling protests with a comprehensive human rights perspective; impact assessments in the execution of public policies engaging citizen control; the guarantee of due process; transparency in government mechanisms; the creation of an external oversight committee on surveillance technologies; and ongoing training of security force members.