RightsCon Toronto 2018

Intelligence agencies increasingly have a global reach when they intercept the undersea telecommunications cables that connect our world. Beyond jointly developing and deploying surveillance technology, agencies also share the intelligence they gather and store. While there have been landmark cases about (the lack of) rules purporting to protect the privacy and civil liberties of their own citizens, the rules permitting cooperation between intelligence agencies are less known to the public. This area is unclear and contains loopholes that sidestep domestic legal constraints.

The International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO) is a network of 13 national human rights groups from the North and the South. We work together to advance fundamental rights and freedoms both domestically and internationally. In 2017, nine INCLO members filed Freedom of Information requests in their own countries. This was a coordinated attempt to shine a light on the shadowy agreements between national intelligence agencies and their international partners. This multinational attempt to demand accountability raised an interesting range of issues within and across coalition partners who operate in very different contexts. It opens up an opportunity to interrogate the barriers to citizens’ right to know on a global scale.

During this session, our panelists from India, Israel, Ireland, Canada and South Africa will share the challenges involved in engaging domestic governments on intelligence sharing practices. They will share any responses received thus far, and then open up audience discussion to interactively strategize potential steps to work towards state accountability in relation to intelligence surveillance and information sharing agreements.