HRC 51st Session: Item 3: Interactive dialogue on the report of OHCHR on the right to privacy in the digital age

16 September, 2022

Delivered by Mr. Henrik Yeritsyan, Second Secretary

President,

Armenia thanks the OHCHR for its report on the right to privacy in the digital age and appreciates the valuable recommendations addressed to the states.

We note with concern the observations of the OHCHR report on measures of surveillance taken by states and their incompatibility with international human rights law.

However, the challenges and risks to the right to privacy are not solely of intrastate nature and the surveillance of personal devices and communications on a transnational level should also be thoroughly examined and addressed. In this regard, Facebook, in its April quarterly Adversarial Threat Report, presented information on the activities of certain state agencies, including in the South Caucasus that have operated hybrid networks that combined cyber espionage with Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior (CIB) targeting both its civil society, particularly democracy activists, opposition, and journalists as well as the neighboring country by compromising numerous accounts and websites.

President,

In conclusion, we would like hear the views of OHCHR on the privacy-related challenges on transnational/interstate level and would appreciate if this topic were further explored by its relevant experts.

I thank you.

MFA RA
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