Post date: Nov 26, 2013 11:19:34 PM
A U.N. General Assembly committee called for an end to excessive electronic surveillance.
The committee adopted the German and Brazilian-drafted resolution by consensus, and is expected to be voted on next month.
Brazil's Ambassador to the United Nations, Antonio Patriota: ANTONIO DE AGUIAR PATRIOTA, BRAZIL'S AMBASSADOR TO THEUNITED NATIONS
"Mr. Chair, through this resolution, the General Assembly establishes for the first time that human rights should prevail irrespective of the medium and therefore need to be protected both off-line and online. It also reiterates that human rights are universal."
The draft text does not name specific countries but North Korea's deputy U.N. envoy, Ri Tong-il, did mention names.
RI TONG IL, DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA'S DEPUTY AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS, SAYING:"It is not a secret that since 2007 the United States has been operating the code-named PRISM massive surveillance program domestically and this created another condemnation already."
The draft resolution comes after U.S. contractor Edward Snowden released details of a global spying program by the U.S. National Security Agency.