The letter, signed by Amnesty International, Digitale Gesellchaft, International Federation for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, Open Technology Institute, Privacy International and Reporters Sans Frontiers, was sent to 41 states that are parties to the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies. The member states are to partake in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday in Vienna.
"Surveillance technologies are not simply harmless tools. In the wrong hands they are often used as a tool of repression. Evidence is continuing to reveal the extent of this secretive trade that puts countless individuals at direct risk from human rights abusing governments," the letter says.
"This trade results in unlawful surveillance, which often leads to further human rights violations including invasions of privacy, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment, the silencing of free expression, preventing political participation and crushing online and offline dissent," the letter continues.
The human rights and digital rights organizations, which launched the Coalition Against Unlawful Surveillance Exports (CAUSE) this year, urge governments to exercise a strict policy of restraint with regards to granting export licenses. They call for transparency in exports by arms exporters and the development of an international legal framework controlling the trade of surveillance equipment.
