U.S. touts export curbs on surveillance tools

As the official first day of the latest Summit for Democracy wrapped up Wednesday, the U.S. announced international guidelines for curbing exports of technology that could be used by authoritarian nations to violate human rights.

The White House said the voluntary code of conduct is supported by 20 countries including Japan, South Korea, the U.K., Germany and France, and “commits subscribing states to better integrate human rights criteria in their export control regimes.”

It likely will be left to individual participants to decide what products and countries to target, but human rights groups have accused China of advanced surveillance against its Uyghur minority population, among other examples of technology-enabled repression.

“Today, the United States is building on our enduring commitment to boost democracy globally,” President Joe Biden said. “The democracies of the world are getting stronger, not weaker. The autocracies of the world are getting weaker, not stronger.”

The virtual event, which runs through Thursday, brings together representatives from 120 countries and regions, eight more than the first U.S.-hosted Summit for Democracy in December 2021.

The Export Controls and Human Rights Initiative was announced at the first summit by the U.S., Australia, Denmark and Norway. The new code of conduct was developed through the initiative, according to the White House.

Source: Valor Econômico

To read the original article, please see: https://valor.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2023/03/30/eua-anunciam-restries-exportao-de-ferramentas-de-vigilncia.ghtml

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