HUMAN RIGHTS: PRIVACY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Often practitioners say I believe in human rights and a fundamental question seems to arise which right are they advocates of? What are the objects and purposes of this right? What source is it derived from the constitution, treaty law or another legal instrument?
Key rights that are mentioned in this posting are privacy and environmental rights. Privacy issues may arise for mediators in many contexts in which mediation occurs.
There seem to be an increasing awareness of environmental issues and there are calls for mediation.
In theory individuals in such countries as Canada and the USA have a privacy right. In Australia privacy law may be limited ‘given that Australian courts have resisted inventing new torts to protect privacy’ (McKeough, Bowrey and Griffith, 2007, p. 545).
Maybe in other jurisdictions ‘privacy law provides an appropriate remedy if the authors of unpublished materials object to their publication’ (Kaplan and Lee, 1995, p. 751). Individuals who have access to private information may become powerful (Cohen, 2005, 429, 431-432).
Perhaps transparent accountability including standards and regulations, for example, about the duties of personnel in cyberspace including the purpose for holding kinds of personal information and for how long needs to be fostered.
Other rules that could be adopted include those pertaining to whom personal information can be disclosed and penalties for breaches of privacy (See Article 29 Data Protection Working Party of 4 April 2008 [2008] 00737/EN WP 148; Cohen, 2005, 436-437, 451-452, 472; Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) s 14; Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 [2001] OJ L 8/1 s 5).
Often Preventative measures are called for to safeguard private online data which may be drawn, for example, from students’ works (Academic Senate, University of California, 2005).
A collection of information can be blended to provide detailed information about individuals (Cohen, 2005, pp 411-412). A pool of information may give rise to erroneous assumptions and interpretations of the data and about the individuals concerned (Cohen, 2005, 411).
Authors could have difficulty in correcting misinformation about the works which they post in cyberspace (Cohen, 2005, 411-412). This seems to call for individuals to be informed, for example, about the purpose of collecting information. Thus, it seems that forays into personal privacy may need to be guarded. For coverage of information about environmental human rights please see (Geary, 2009).
Bibliography
1 Articles/Books/Reports
Academic Senate, University of California, 2005 University Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications Policy – Approved Meeting Minutes – January 28 6 (2005)
Cohen, Stanley, A, Privacy, Crime and Terror. Legal Rights and Security in a Time of Peril (2005) 429.
McKeough, Jill, Bowrey, Kathy, Griffith, Philip, Intellectual Property Commentary and Materials (4th ed, 2007).
Submission to National Human Rights Consultation Secretariat on Human Rights ‘A Bill of Rights: Towards Environmental Human Rights’. Australian Government (2009) (Jen Geary) <at 23 September 2009
http://www.humanrightsconsultation.gov.au/www/nhrcc/nhrcc.nsf/Page/About_the_Consultation
Kaplin, William, A, and Lee, Barbara, A, The Law of Higher Education (1995).
2 Legislation
Article 29 Data Protection Working Party of 4 April 2008 [2008] 00737/EN
WP 148
Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) s 14
Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 [2001] OJ L 8/1
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