governments. The most relevant reports that are
referenced throughout this paper include:
• OHCHR
»» Report on the right to privacy in the digital
age (30 June 2014)20
• Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy
»» Report to the Human Rights Council
providing an overview of the right to
privacy (24 November 2016);21
»» Report to the Human Rights Council
outlining first approaches to a more
privacy-friendly oversight of government
surveillance (24 February 2017)22 and
»» Report to the General Assembly on Big
Data and Open Data (19 October 2017).23
• Special Rapporteur on the promotion and
protection of human rights and fundamental
freedoms while countering terrorism
»» Report to the General Assembly examining
the use of mass digital surveillance for
counter-terrorism purposes and the
implications of bulk access technology for
the right to privacy (24 September 2014).24
»» Report to the General Assembly examining
surveillance of electronic communications
data in the counter-terrorism context (11
August 2017).25
• Special Rapporteur on the promotion and
protection of the right to freedom of opinion
and expression
»» Report to the Human Rights Council
analysing the implications of States’
surveillance of communications on the
exercise of the human rights to privacy and
20 Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights, The Right to Privacy in the Digital Age, A/HRC/27/37 (30
June 2014) http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/DigitalAge/Pages/DigitalAgeIndex.aspx
21 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy, Joseph A.
Cannataci, A/HRC/31/64 (24 November 2016) https://documents-dds-ny.
un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G16/262/26/PDF/G1626226.pdf?OpenElement.
22 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy, Joseph A.
Cannataci, A/HRC/34/60 (24 February 2017) para 25 http://www.ohchr.
org/EN/Issues/Privacy/SR/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx.
23 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy, Joseph A.
Cannataci, A/72/34103 (19 October 2017) http://www.ohchr.org/EN/
Issues/Privacy/SR/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx.
24 Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights
and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Ben Emmerson,
A/69/397 (23 September 2014) https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/
UNDOC/GEN/N14/545/19/PDF/N1454519.pdf?OpenElement.
25 Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights
and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Ben Emmerson,
A/72/316 (11 August 2017) http://undocs.org/A/72/316.
to freedom of opinion and expression (17
April 2013)26
»» Report to the Human Rights Council
addressing the roles played by private
actors engaged in the provision of Internet
and telecommunications access and
providing principles to guide the private
sector on human rights in the digital sector
and new modalities of surveillance (30
March 2017).27
International legal framework to regulate
surveillance in cyberspace
The Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy has
collaborated with the European Union-supported
Management Alternatives for Privacy, Property
and Internet Government, otherwise known as
the MAPPING project, on issues relating to the
“protection of privacy in this age of ubiquitous
surveillance.”28 The collaboration led to the
development of a draft legal instrument on
surveillance.29 The document is expected to be
ready for consideration by the Human Rights
Council by 2021 and may compromise “soft
law” in the form of recommendations or an
international multilateral treaty. 30
D7 – Digital Rights Working Group
The New Zealand Government is to lead an
international working group on digital rights,
made up of New Zealand, United Kingdom,
South Korea, Estonia and Israel, Uruguay and
Canada.31 The Group’s aim is to enable the digital
environment to meet human rights standards
and protections through the creation of a multinational framework for digital rights.32
26 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection
of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue, A/
HRC/23/40 (17 April 2013)
27 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection
of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, A/
HRC/35/22 (30 March 2017). http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.
aspx?si=A/HRC/35/22.
28 https://mappingtheinternet.eu/about.
29 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22762&LangID=E
30 See Statement by Mr. Joseph Cannataci, Special Rapporteur on the
right to privacy, 6 March 2018, Human Rights Council 37th session,
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22858&LangID=E
31 The group originally comprised of five countries, including New Zealand, known as the Digital 5. However, Uruguay and Canada joined in
2018. For more information see https://www.digital.govt.nz/digital-government/international-partnerships/d7-group-of-digital-nations/
32 See https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/leading-digital-nations-putdigital-rights-heart-their-agenda
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