Open NGO Letter to EU Member States and Institutions Regarding the Export of Surveillance Equipment
Following the alarming evidence that EU-made electronic surveillance equipment is still being exported to authoritarian countries around the world, we strongly urge all EU member states and institutions to respect their human rights obligations and call on them to prioritise long overdue EU reforms. We are extremely concerned that little has changed since civil society firstrecognised the need to modernise current EU rules governing the export of surveillance equipment as far back as 2011 during the Arab Awakening. As the European Commission has sinceproposed reforms to the current system specifically aimed “to prevent human rights violations associated with certain cyber-surveillance technologies”, we urge memberstates to refrain from any further delays in the process and to ensure that states throughout the European Union prevent surveillance exports that pose risks to human rights....