Yesterday, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined seven other human rights and free expression groups in writing a letter to European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan, requesting that human rights provisions be included in draft EU legislation concerning the exports of technology products such as surveillance software, which could be used for both civilian and military purposes.
The letter expresses concern that those dual-use technologies could be exported to repressive regimes, enabling the surveillance of journalists’ work. CPJ has recently documented instances of military surveillance tools being used against the press.
The letter calls for companies to assess the potential human rights impact of exports as part of their due diligence, maintain an EU “control list” of banned exports, and ensure transparency and disclosure of all export licenses for such technologies.
The letter can be read in full here.