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UN rights chief calls for whistleblower protection

The case of fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden shows the need to protect whistleblowers, also from within intelligence agencies, who disclose human rights violations, UN rights chief Navi Pillay said in Geneva on Friday.

Published: 13 July 2013 11:32 CEST

UN rights chief calls for whistleblower protection

Human Rights chief Navi Pillay. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP

"Snowden's case has shown the need to protect persons disclosing information on matters that have implications for human rights, as well as the importance of ensuring respect for the right to privacy," Pillay said in a statement, referring to the rogue intelligence technician who last month revealed details of vast US surveillance programmes.

"National legal systems must ensure that there are adequate avenues for individuals disclosing violations of human rights to express their concern without fear of reprisals," she said.

People who blow the whistle from within intelligence agencies must also be protected, Pillay said.

Martin Scheinin, a UN expert on fundamental freedoms, agreed, pointing out in the statement that "reliable factual information about serious human rights violations by an intelligence agency is most likely to come from within the agency itself."

"In these cases, the public interest in disclosure outweighs the public interest in non-disclosure," he said, insisting "such whistleblowers should firstly be protected from legal reprisals and disciplinary action when disclosing unauthorised information."

Pillay also implicitly criticised the rapid rejection of most of Snowden's asylum applications, which he has sent to more than 20 countries in a bid to avoid US authorities after being charged with espionage.

"Without prejudging the validity of any asylum claim by Snowden, I appeal to all states to respect the internationally guaranteed right to seek asylum . . . and to make any such determination in accordance with their international legal obligations," she said.

Since shortly after sparking one of the biggest intelligence leaks in US history, Snowden has been marooned at a Moscow airport without official travel documents.

He said Friday he wanted to claim asylum in Russia until he can travel on to Latin America, where Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have all indicated they would be willing to offer him a safe haven.

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Macron and Merkel demand answers on Denmark spying claims

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel hold a joint press conference after the 22nd German-French joint ministerial council on Monday. Photo: Thomas Samson/AFP/Ritzau Scanpix

In an investigative report on Sunday, Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR) and other European media outlets said the US National Security Agency (NSA) had eavesdropped on Danish underwater internet cables from 2012 to 2014 to spy on top politicians in France, Germany, Norway and Sweden.

The NSA got access to text messages, telephone calls and internet traffic including searches, chats and messaging services — including those of Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, then-foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and then-opposition leader Peer Steinbruck, DR said.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday they expected explanations from both Washington and Copenhagen.

“This is not acceptable between allies, and even less between allies and European partners,” said Macron after the two leaders talked via video conference.

“There is no room for suspicion,” said Macron, as he stressed the value of the ties between Europeans and Americans. “That is why what we are waiting for complete clarity,” from both Denmark and the US, he added. “We are awaiting these answers.”

Merkel said she “could only agree” with Macron’s comments, adding she was “reassured” by Danish Defence Minister Trine Bramsen’s condemnation of any such spying.

Bramsen, who took over the defence portfolio in June 2019, has neither confirmed nor denied DR’s report, but told AFP that “systematic eavesdropping of close allies is unacceptable”.

‘Unacceptable’

Denmark’s neighbours also demanded explanations. “It’s unacceptable if countries which have close allied cooperation feel
the need to spy on one another,” Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg told public broadcaster NRK.

She said Norway had asked Denmark “for all the information they have”. Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist said he had been “in contact with Denmark’s defence minister to ask if Danish platforms have been used to spy on Swedish politicians”.

DR said the NSA had taken advantage of a surveillance collaboration with Denmark’s military intelligence unit FE to eavesdrop.

But it was unclear whether Denmark knew at the time that the US was using the cables to spy on Denmark’s neighbours.

Contacted by AFP, Denmark’s military intelligence unit refused to comment on the revelations.

The US State Department and the NSA also declined requests from AFP to comment on the affair.

US eavesdropping on European leaders is, however, not new. In 2013, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed thousands of classified documents exposing the vast US surveillance put in place after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Among other things, the documents showed the US government was spying on its own citizens and carrying out widespread tapping worldwide, including of Merkel’s mobile phone.

However, if the Danish-US spying is confirmed, it went on during and after the 2013 Snowden affair. In 2014, following the Snowden scandal, a secret internal working group at FE began looking into whether the NSA had used the Danish-US spying
collaboration — called XKeyscore — to spy on Denmark’s allies, DR said.

The group’s report, codenamed Operation Dunhammer, was presented to top FE management in May 2015.
What happened after that is not yet known.

READ ALSO: US ‘used Danish surveillance system’ to spy on Merkel and Nordic allies

‘New pieces of the puzzle’

Bramsen was however informed of the spying in August 2020, according to DR. Shortly after that, FE director Lars Findsen, his predecessor who was in the post until 2015 Thomas Ahrenkiel, and three other FE employees were removed from their positions — no full explanation was made public.

At the time, the government said an audit had raised suspicions that FE was conducting illegal surveillance between 2014 and 2020.

In November 2020, DR revealed that the US had used the Danish cables to spy on the Danish and European defence industries from 2012 to 2015.

A month later, Denmark’s justice ministry ordered a commission of inquiry into FE’s operations. Its conclusions are due at the end of 2021.

Snowden, who now lives in Russia, called on Twitter for “full public disclosure” from Denmark and the US.

The latest revelations are “new pieces of the puzzle,” Thomas Wegener Friis, an intelligence expert and professor at the University of Southern Denmark, told AFP.

“It’s exactly the same kind of scandal as the one with German services helping the Americans to spy a few years ago.”

Denmark is one of the United States’ closest European allies and sent troops to fight in Iraq.

It is the only Nordic country that is both a member of NATO and the EU.

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