Forum: The Economic and Social Council Issue: Privacy rights in light of NSA files released by Edward Snowden

Delegation: Austria The balance between privacy of individuals and security of the country has been a controversial issue ever since Edward Snowden revealed documents of NSA. In Snowdens point of view, instead of accusing NSA violating peoples rights, he considered that it should be decided by the public whether the moves were appropriate. As for the US government and NSA, the disclosure not only represents Snowdens betrayal, more importantly it also exposed USs weakness and increased the probability of a terrorist attack. The different points of view divided people into two conflicting position: Does personal privacy always comes in priority, or it can be sacrificed in order to prevent terrorists? As a permanent neutral country, Austria doesnt agree that privacy comes in prior nor security. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, no one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy. However, it is necessary for the government to look out for suspicious or potentially dangerous people or actions; no one wants to see a second 911 attack. Nevertheless, spying on foreign country leaders, especially allied countries, is not acceptable in any way. Austria believes that there should be a balance between personal privacy and national security, and calls for every country to try their best to come up with a peaceful solution to this issue together.