20141014 Resolution an EU Ausschuss

14.10.2014 Resolution an EU Ausschuss

Resolution

The Freedom not Fear movement, an assembly of human rights organisations,declares:

The respect for personal privacy and professional secrecy is an essential part of human dignity and any democratic society. A free and open society cannot exist without implicit private spaces and free communication.

Mass surveillance and blanket collection of information on our communications endanger our society. Such surveillance, as part of every day life, violates human rights, particularly:

the right to privacyand to anonymity
religious freedom
freedom of expression and information
the right to a free press
the freedom of movement and association
the integrity and confidentiality of communications
the right to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence.

Everybody is exposed to measures of surveillance and control in an excessive manner, including:

the personnel of psychological counselling services
medical practitioners
trade unionists
journalists
lawyers

People who feel that they are constantly being watched and monitored are no longer free, are restrained from standing up for their rights and a just society in an unbiased and courageous manner. Accumulating information indiscriminately about all citizens does not enhance our protection against crime; it only costs us billions every year.

*The Freedom not Fear movement **/urges/**the new European Commission to make the defence of human rights, in particular the right to privacy, the top priority.*

We call on the Commission to begin by immediately instituting infringement proceedings against all Member States that

a) continue to require indiscriminate retention ofcommunications data
ofpeople who are in no waylinked with serious crimedespite the judgment
of the Court of Justice of the EU of8 April 2014

b) have their intelligence services process communications data ofpeople
who are not even remotely a danger to national security, or that rely on
foreign mass surveillance schemes to accomplish internationally what is
not allowed nationally.

We also expect the Commission to follow the European Parliament's recommendations on IT security as set out in its resolution of 12 March 2014 on the US NSA surveillance programme.

Subscriber list will follow in the next days

Aktion Freiheit statt Angst

...