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The legal affairs committee of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly has published a draft report calling on Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, as well as Germany, to clarify their use of Pegasus spyware.
The report, published on Friday 8 September 2023, urged the Benelux countries and Germany to report on their use of this controversial spyware - plus the mechanisms in place to oversee it - within three months.
Citing "mounting evidence" that such spyware has been used for "illegitimate purposes" by certain member states of the Council of Europe, the committee also urged the governments of Poland, Hungary, Greece, Spain and Azerbaijan to promptly and fully investigate all cases of abuse of such spyware, sanction any they find and provide redress to victims.
The committee recalled that "secret surveillance of political opponents, public officials, journalists, human rights defenders and civil society for purposes other than those listed in the European Convention on Human Rights, such as preventing crime or protecting national security, would be a clear violation of the Convention."
It went on to advise member states to "refrain from using such spyware until their laws and practice on secret surveillance are in line with the Convention and other international standards, as assessed by Council of Europe legal experts", adding that even then it should be used only in "exceptional situations as a measure of last resort".
The draft report is due to be discussed by the full Parliamentary Assembly during its forthcoming plenary session in Strasbourg from 9 to 13 October 2023.
