Privacy International's submission in advance of the consideration of the eight periodic report of the United Kingdom, Human Rights Committee, 140 session, March 2024 Introduction

Privacy International's submission in advance of the consideration of the eight periodic report of the United Kingdom, Human Rights Committee, 140th session, March 2024 February 2024 Introduction The following submission is based on PI's research and analysis of the UK's legislation, policies and practices and draws from the organisation's litigation in UK courts and the European Court of Human Ri. [...] PI maintains that some of the surveillance powers in the IPA 2016 (most notably the bulk powers in Parts 6 and 7) constitute a disproportionate and unlawful interference with the fundamental right to privacy as protected by Article 17 of the ICCPR and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).1 In the words of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the IPA 1 See PI’s comments. [...] The warrants did not meet the safeguarding requirements imposed by the applicable legislation (that is the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) and the IPA 2016).5 Despite these judgments of non-compliance with international and domestic human rights law, the government is currently proposing changes in the IPA regimes that, if adopted, would further undermine the right to privacy in. [...] Due to the excessive amounts of data collected, the potential reuses of data, the lack of transparency provided to individuals and the lack of effective oversight, the UK’s GPS tagging policy is subject to a number of complaints and lawsuits by tagged individuals.30 This form of surveillance is a seismic change in the surveillance and control of migrants in the UK. [...] The decision to neither confirm nor deny was further justified in the course of our appeal on the basis that “the deployment of any covert technique or technology is subject to multiple checks and balances to ensure that the rights of the citizenry are protected.”34 Yet this obsessive secrecy, especially with regard to widely known law enforcement techniques, is out of step with the positions of o.