Violation of the right to privacy due to unexplained surveillance and unlawful data modifications in the electronic frontier patrol system

Facts

The author is a human rights defender from Belarus. The author has based his claims following several incidents of arbitrary detention as well as violation of his privacy by the State authorities by collecting information about his private life and movements across the State border. During one such incident in August 2015, the author was crossing the State border when the Regional Customs Officer conducted a customs and frontier control of the passengers, during which the author’s passport was taken and he was ordered to get off the train for an in-depth personal customs control. He was violently grabbed and carried off the train as well even though he had been already subjected to a customs check previously on the journey.

The author later filed a civil suit against the Regional Customs Office claiming compensation for damage to his health, material and moral damage, and that the authorities were tracking his movements across the State border and that modifications had been made to his personal data in the electronic frontier system allowing for his repeated illegal detention. However, this claim along with all the appeals (including the supervisory review appeals) was rejected.

The author filed the present communication alleging the violation of his rights under articles 9 (1), 14 (1) and 17 of the Covenant on the grounds of arbitrary detention for two hours and violation of his privacy for tracking his movements across the State border.

Admissibility

Contrary to the submissions made by the author on violation of his rights under articles 9 (1) and 14 (1) of the Covenant, the Committee believed that the author failed to sufficiently substantiate his claims for admissibility. The Committee only accepted the author’s claim under article 17 as sufficiently substantiated for further examination on merits.

Merits

The Committee recognized the author’s claims of surveillance and unlawful data modifications in the electronic frontier patrol system, leading to extensive personal customs checks without cause, despite the author’s clean record. It also observed that the State party did not refute these claims or provide any evidence of legal remedies for the author. Without clarification on legal frameworks and safeguards against data misuse by frontier patrol, the Committee found that the State party violated the author’s right under article 17 of the Covenant.

Recommendations

The State party is obligated to;

a) Provide the author with an effective remedy and make full compensation to the author for moral and material damage;

b) Prevent similar violations from occurring in the future.

Implementation

Deadline for implementation: 17 April 2024