RightsCon Tunis 2019

Landmark sessions cover the core trending issues that have emerged from the RightsCon Program. These sessions elevate issues that deserve greater attention to support creating the most impactful programming possible. Landmarks are hosted in the RightsCon main stage at the Palais and benefit from greater production support, including translations.

The use of surveillance tech to monitor and target activists, users at risk, human rights defenders, and journalists is a global issue. In the hands of authoritarian regimes, unchecked law enforcement agencies and bad actors, commercial malware and sophisticated cyber surveillance are enabling egregious violations of human rights, and existing mechanisms for justice are insufficient to hold perpetrators to account. When confronted, tech companies defer the responsibility of regulating their products to governments, and policymakers deflect (if not flat out deny) their culpability in expanding surveillance programs.

How do we formulate policy solutions which can be replicated across the globe? What do we need to do to create accountability and justice for those whose human rights have been abused at the hands of spyware?

The United Nations is a critical space for debating issues around human rights, technology, and surveillance. Over the past two years, several UN Special Rapporteurs have produced robust research on this topic, supported by numerous consultations with civil society. The next frontier is identifying how to use these findings for collective civil society action, with the aim of establishing clear international accountability for the commercial surveillance market and its detrimental impact on human rights. The discussion will also help to demystify UN processes, including the potential role of Special Rapporteurs and other supranational actors, for advocates and campaigners, and will raise awareness of forthcoming reports.