The international outcry over the US global surveillance is similar to the collective pressure that brought an end to the apartheid regime of South Africa, says UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay.
“I see how combined and collective action by everybody can end serious violations of human rights,” Pillay said on BBC’s Radio 4 Today program on Thursday.
Pillay, a South Africa native, noted that that just as international pressure helped end apartheid in her home country, the widespread condemnation of government spying should help boost privacy rights.
“And really that experience inspires me to go on and address the issue of Internet (privacy) which right now is extremely troubling because the revelations of surveillance have implications for human rights,” she said.
The former international criminal court judge said that her encounters with serious human rights violations, which included serving on the Rwanda tribunal, did not make her take online privacy less seriously.
“I don’t grade human rights,” she said. “I feel I have to look after and promote the rights of all persons. I’m not put off by the lifetime experience of violations I have seen.”
Pillay has been tasked by the United Nations General Assembly to prepare a report on the issue of privacy in the wake of leaks provided by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Meanwhile, a US federal judge has ruled that the massive data collection of millions of Americansâ„¢ phone and Internet records by is legal.
On Friday, Judge William Pauley of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York made the ruling in response to a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union against the NSA.
The judge asserted that the surveillance programs were needed to combat terrorism and to protect Americans.
HJ/HJ
With permission
Source: Press TV