Human Rights Organisations Request Information About COVID-19 Tracing Apps

Human rights organisations in nine EU countries, all members of the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) network, are simultaneously filing information requests to their national authorities regarding new apps introduced to control the spread of COVID-19.

The initiative aims to ensure that EU governments are not processing more personal data than necessary to protect public health, and that they pay appropriate attention to minimise the risk of data leakage and other privacy breaches.

As one of the participants of the initiative, Civil Rights Defenders has requested information from the authorities in Sweden on how the GDPR law has been considered when developing COVID-19 tracing apps.

– The work to reduce and prevent the spread of COVID-19 is important, but it needs to be done in a way that respects people’s integrity and does not lead to the divulgence of sensitive personal data, said John Stauffer, Legal Director at Civil Rights Defenders.

The campaign is calling for the attention of governments and the general public to the fact that human rights are important safeguards during emergency situations, such as a pandemic. The countries joining the initiative include Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

Click here to read more about the initiative.