Also in this week’s newsletter: Gaza’s dire humanitarian landscape, the death of an accused Rwandan genocidaire, and a court victory for rights.

A new Human Rights Watch report details how despite a regulatory framework designed in part to prevent abuses, the EU currently is doing too little to prevent sales and transfers from its member states to governments with a track record of using such technologies for crackdowns on dissent and other serious rights violations. 

Data analyzed by HRW shows evidence of the export of intrusion software, telecommunication interception systems, or both from Bulgaria to Azerbaijan in 2022; the export of telecommunication interception systems from Poland to Rwanda in 2023; as well as other examples of exports of these tools to other countries that have used surveillance technology to crack down on dissent.

States’ human rights obligations include an obligation to regulate the sale and export of surveillance technology. To meet this obligation, it is not enough to just put in place regulations; they need to implement and monitor those regulations to ensure that it is achieving its preventative purpose.

Without significant monitoring and enforcement of its own regulations, and without real transparency, EU countries and EU-based surveillance companies will keep getting the opportunity to put profits over people.

News Around the World

In Other News

• A Philippines court has cleared a civil society group of terrorism financing charges
• And a victory for rights as a Norwegian court blocks the extradition of a rights defender

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