Alarmed by the Pegasus Project revelations that NSO Group’s spyware has been used to facilitate human rights violations around the world on a massive scale, SAFEnet (Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network) together with more than 100 civil society organizations and 28 independent experts worldwide call on states to implement an immediate moratorium on the sale, transfer and use of surveillance technology.
The undersigned highlight the key human rights implications of this major exposé and issue a series of recommendations to states, as well as states that export surveillance technology.
Through this joint-open letter, SAFEnet and the civil society coalition are calling for immediate strengthening of legal frameworks, oversight, safeguards, and transparency. Recommendations to states include:
- Immediately put in place a moratorium on the sale, transfer, and use of surveillance technology;
- Conduct an independent, transparent, and impartial investigation into cases of targeted surveillance and export licenses granted for targeted surveillance technology;
- Adopt and enforce legal frameworks requiring private surveillance companies and their investors to conduct human rights due diligence, and uphold transparency;
- Reform laws that pose barriers to remedy for victims of unlawful surveillance, and ensure that paths to remedy are available in practice; and
- To Israel, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and all states in which NSO has a corporate presence: immediately revoke all marketing and export licenses issued to NSO Group and its entities, and conduct an independent, impartial, transparent investigation to determine the extent of unlawful targeting, and release a public statement on results of efforts and steps to prevent future harm.
Find out more about our Joint Open Letter here:
