The first binding international legal instrument on personal data was signed on 28 January 1981: the Council of Europe’s Convention 108 “for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data”. Since 2006, 28 January has become an international day to recognise personal data protection, known as “Data Privacy Day”.

In this regards, CRCD would like to reaffirm its high regard for the privacy and personal data protection guarantees as set out in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the European Convention on Human Rights as well as those stated in the EU Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and the Council of Europe’s Convention 108. We call on all citizens and their representative organisations to reject the measures that challenge their privacy and data protection. Current practices of capturing biometric data (particularly DNA) and their use by law enforcement and private companies led Sophia Roosth to claim that “we are at the dawn of the age of genetic McCarthyism”. This type of discourse is disconnected from rights, rights which were not founded on our technological capabilities.