The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy, Ana Brian Nougrères, sent a letter to the Government of Montenegro expressing serious concern regarding the Draft Law on the National Security Agency (NSA).

As a reminder, this Draft was withdrawn from parliamentary procedure at the end of July under pressure from NGOs and the opposition.

The Special Rapporteur warned that Articles 13, 15, and 18 of the Draft Law grant the NSA overly broad powers for surveillance and data collection without adequate judicial oversight, which could lead to violations of the right to privacy and other human rights guaranteed under international law.

She also took into account the amendments subsequently proposed by the Government and concluded that “despite these amendments, certain shortcomings remain and further changes are necessary to protect the right to privacy.”

The Special Rapporteur emphasized that the right to privacy protects individuals from arbitrary and unlawful interference in personal and family life, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the European Convention on Human Rights. She particularly highlighted that the Draft does not provide sufficient judicial safeguards, independent oversight, nor was it adopted through a process of public consultation, even though all of these are fundamental principles of democratic governance and human rights protection.

The intervention of the Special Rapporteur confirms earlier warnings from NGOs and their requests that the Government align the proposed provisions of the NSA Law with international human rights standards and conduct a public consultation on the matter.

In a joint statement in July, non-governmental organizations warned that the proposed law failed in multiple ways to meet the need for a thorough reform of the National Security Agency into a modern, professional, and democratically controlled security service that respects human rights. They called for a public debate and for adequate solutions to be proposed with the help of experts and the interested public.

Among other things, the Special Rapporteur requested the Government of Montenegro to:

• clarify how Articles 13, 15, and 18 comply with the recommendations of the UN Human Rights Committee regarding judicial authorization for intelligence data collection,

• explain how internationally recognized procedural standards to prevent surveillance abuse will be ensured,

• and state whether and how it plans to conduct a publicly accessible consultation process with citizens and civil society regarding the revised version of the law.

At the end of the letter, the Rapporteur announced that her communication, along with any potential response from the Government, would be publicly posted on the UN website and later included in her regular report to the Human Rights Council.

We call on the Government and the Parliament of Montenegro to seriously consider these recommendations from the Special Rapporteur and to include civil society in the drafting and adoption of laws of such importance.

The letter is available here.

Human Rights Action (HRA)
Women’s Rights Centre (WRC)
Center for Civic Education (CCE)