Besides demanding answers directly of the Obama administration, some of those targeted have taken the fight to the United Nations.

Brazil and Germany in particular are calling for a UN resolution to demand internet privacy. They are urging the international community to take action to shore up the right to privacy against such surveillance without proper oversight.

Any UN debate on the issue must not lose sight of how this surveillance is damaging to fundamental human rights. It must not be limited to protecting world leaders or cross-border surveillance. Instead, it must address – or at least start a proper discussion on – the wider impact that massive electronic surveillance programmes have on whole societies.

There’s no question that the nature and extent of communications surveillance by the USA, the UK and other countries raise serious human rights concerns. The obvious one is the lack of respect for the right to privacy. Such measures also create a significant chilling effect on free expression and association.

More generally, privacy is essential to a person’s liberty and dignity. It is critical to personal identity, integrity, intimacy, autonomy and communication, and has overarching benefits for society as a whole.

Any measures to interfere with privacy must always be proportionate to a legitimate aim being pursued. And justifications for doing so must be subject to judicial oversight and parliamentary scrutiny that are transparent, robust and independent.

The extent to which the USA, the UK and other governments’ alleged surveillance of telephone and internet communications infringes on privacy without clearly satisfying those tests is breathtaking.

Instead of trying to show – in advance and to the public – that their surveillance measures are necessary and proportionate, they ask their own populations and the rest of the world to trust them, blindly.

Even when individual communications are not monitored, the capacity to analyse data that have been collected in bulk and aggregated from different sources can infringe on an individual’s privacy in alarming ways. It can provide a very accurate picture of a person’s private life, including their associations, use of time, health conditions, political views and other details.

It’s true that many of us agree to share some of this information when we use social media, apply for a loan, or change jobs. But we don’t expect the bank to have access to our dating history or to know who we spend time with. In fact, laws in many countries prevent banks and employers from seeking or using some information – for example, about political views, union membership, race or ethnicity, sexual orientation, or HIV status – and for good reason.

And when we do share information with businesses, we have the opportunity to read the terms on which we’re making the disclosure. But when governments are engaging in mass surveillance of internet communication, the only terms so far seem to be that it’s open season; any and all intrusion on our privacy is fair game.

Put it another way – imagine a government agent sitting in your living room, thumbing through your text logs, opening up and reading through the day’s emails, and making note of the websites you’ve visited. Would you feel uneasy about that?

And even if these governments can say that they’re not giving everyone this level of scrutiny, it’s still true that they can do so at any time. Some of the surveillance techniques actually allow states to collect and store the content of individual communications for years.

These are serious threats to human rights. They must be met with a serious response, one that stops mass surveillance programmes from encroaching on individual liberties for the foreseeable future.

States need to take a long, hard look at the practices they’re adopting and have an honest conversation about the risks they’re taking. And they must commit to striking an appropriate balance between privacy and security, one that gives enough weight to the freedoms that are essential to the human spirit.

Following reports of a second ship capsizing off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the international community to protect the rights of migrants and take action to prevent such tragic incidents.

“The Secretary-General is deeply saddened to hear reports of the loss of lives as another boat carrying migrants capsized last Friday off the coast of Italy, only a few days after the tragic incident near Lampedusa which had already claimed more than 300 lives,” Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement.

According to media reports, at least 27 people died and 221 were saved on Friday after their boat capsized near Lampedusa.

The incident occurred just over a week after more than 300 migrants, mostly Ethiopian, lost their lives when their boat caught fire half a mile from the coast, leading the vessel to capsize in the same area.

“The Secretary-General calls on the international community as a whole to take action to prevent such tragedies in the future, including measures that address their root causes and that places the vulnerability and human rights of migrants at the center of the response,” the statement said.

In early September, a story emerged about an 8-year-old girl who bled to death on her wedding night after she was raped by her new husband, who is in his 40s. Since then, activists across the region have been discussing on various social media platforms how to combat the practice of child marriage.

A new Human Rights Watch video documents the psychological and physical harm that child marriage causes to girls. In the video, a father expresses his regret at having chosen to give up his two young daughters to marriage, and two members of the religious community and a Nobel Laureate speak about the need to abolish the practice.

“Thousands of Yemeni girls have their childhood stolen and their futures destroyed because they are forced to marry too young,” said Liesl Gerntholtz, women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “The Yemeni government should end this abusive practice.”

Members of the Rights and Freedoms Committee in the country’s National Dialogue Conference should recommend prohibiting child marriage during its final plenary session in September 2013, Human Rights Watch said.

When the committee charged with drafting a new constitution as part of the transitional period is convened, it should consider including an 18-year age minimum in the new constitution Human Rights Watch warns, adding that if no minimum age is included, parliament should pass a law setting the minimum age at 18.

The Friends of Yemen should at its meeting in New York consider increasing support for programs that boost girls’ and women’s access to education, reproductive health information and services, and protection from domestic violence, both in cities and rural areas, Human Rights Watch added.

Tawakkol Karman, the Yemeni activist who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011, has criticized the transitional government’s failure to ban child marriage. She told Human Rights Watch that: “[Yemen’s] popular, peaceful revolution came about for the sake of fixing these societal problems. It didn’t happen just to solve political problems, but also to address societal problems, the most important being child marriage.”

A 2011 Human Rights Watch report documented severe and long-lasting harm to Yemeni girls forced by their families to marry, in some cases when they were as young as 8. Human Rights Watch spoke to 34 Yemeni girls and women. They said that marrying early meant that they lost control over their lives, including the ability to decide whether and when to bear children. They said that it had cut short their education, and some said they had been subjected to marital rape and domestic abuse.

There is no legal minimum age for girls to marry in Yemen and the only legal protection for girls is a prohibition on sexual intercourse until the age of puberty. In some cases documented by Human Rights Watch, however, girls were married before their first menstrual period and were raped by their husbands.

Yemen’s transitional authorities have failed to seriously address child marriage, Human Rights Watch said. The transition period, which began after Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down from the presidency under popular pressure in February 2012, will culminate with presidential and parliamentary elections in February 2014. As part of the transition, the six-month long National Dialogue Conference began on March 18. During the conference’s second plenary in June, it passed 363 directives, but not a single one referred to the practice of child marriage.

Yemeni government and United Nations data from 2006 shows that approximately 14 percent of girls in Yemen are married before age 15, and 52 percent are married before age 18.

Yemen has backtracked on protecting girls from forced marriage. In 1999, Yemen’s parliament, citing religious grounds, abolished the legal minimum age for marriage for girls and boys, which was then 15.

Yemen is party to a number of international treaties and conventions that explicitly – or have been interpreted to – prohibit child marriage and commit governments to take measures to eliminate the practice, including the Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriage.

UN treaty-monitoring bodies that oversee implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child have recommended a minimum age of 18 for marriage.

“The protesters in Change Square in 2011 risked their lives to demand equal rights for all Yemenis, and girls should be no exception,” Gerntholtz said. “Child marriage is a violation of their human rights and should be ended.”

HRW urges Saudi authorities to stop blocking the registration of human rights organizations and other independent groups and pass an associations law that gives groups the right to operate without undue government interference.

On August 28, 2013, founders of the Adala Center for Human Rights received an appeals court verdict affirming the Social Affairs Ministry’s denial of registration. The ministry said it can only license charitable organizations, and that Adala’s activities are not covered under the ministry’s definition of a charity. It was the latest in a series of such refusals to register human rights groups.

“Saudi Arabia created a catch 22 situation and is exploiting it to harass and prosecute human rights activists,” said Joe Stork, acting Middle East director. “The authorities should immediately pass an associations law that meets international standards, and let independent human rights and other activists operate without harassment.”

Saudi officials have spoken of passing an associations law that would permit the formation of non-charity organizations. The Social Affairs Ministry in 2006 submitted a first draft to the Shura Council, the highest advisory body to the king. According to the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, the Shura Council approved an amended version and submitted it to the Council of Ministers for final approval in 2008, but the ministers have taken no action since studying the law in 2009. The most recent version would allow groups to operate only under highly restrictive conditions.

The Adala Center for Human Rights is based in Eastern Province – and is dedicated, in the words of its website, to “spreading a culture of human rights and capacity building,” “strengthening the relationship between rights groups and the media,” “monitoring and documenting human rights cases,” and “supporting victims of abuses.” Activists who established the center submitted a registration application to the Social Affairs Ministry in December 2011.

In the absence of an associations law, the ministry regulates nongovernmental groups in accordance with the Regulation on Charitable Associations and Foundations (Council of Ministers decision no. 107 of 1990). Article 2 authorizes the ministry to register charitable, educational, cultural, and health associations that “are related to humanitarian services and do not have the goal of obtaining material profit.”

In December 2011 the ministry notified Adala that it had rejected its application on the basis that its objectives are “not in line with the regulation on charitable foundations and associations.”

In April 2012, members of the center filed a lawsuit against the ministry before an administrative court, contending that the objectives of “education, spreading a culture of human rights,” and “educating people about their rights and duties as citizens” do not contradict the provisions of article 2. Adala’s lawyer noted that establishment of the center falls in line with the first objective of King Abdullah’s Ninth Development Plan, issued in 2009, which aims to “guarantee human rights,” among other objectives.

Following a 13-month court battle, a panel of three administrative court judges unanimously rejected Adala’s claim on May 27, 2013, upholding the ministry’s position. The judgment, which Human Rights Watch has reviewed, also took issue with Adala’s stated reliance on principles of international human rights law, saying, “It is known for certain that many of [these] laws are not in agreement with Islamic Law, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an Islamic country whose constitution is the book of God [the Qur’an] and the Sunna of his messenger…”

Adala appealed the ruling on July 9, but a Saudi appeals court upheld the administrative court ruling on August 28. Local activists told Human Rights Watch that Adala may close its doors in the absence of the passage of an associations law that would allow the group to acquire legal standing.

“As Saudi Arabia openly campaigns for a seat next year on the UN Human Rights Council, member states should take notice that a Saudi court has ruled that certain human rights standards are not applicable in the kingdom,” Stork said. “Freedom of association is a bedrock human rights principle, yet it is impossible to exercise that right in Saudi Arabia.”

“We reiterate that the right to nationality is a fundamental right protected by article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which provides that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his or her nationality,” Cécile Pouilly, the spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), told journalists in Geneva.

She added that deprivation of nationality provided for by law had to comply with procedural and substantive standards, including the principle of proportionality. OHCHR is also concerned that arbitrary deprivation of nationality could lead to statelessness with serious consequences for the protection of the human rights of the individuals concerned.

“While recognizing the responsibility of States to maintain law and order, we remind the authorities that any measure should respect international human rights standards,” said Ms. Pouilly.

The Bahraini parliament, known as the National Assembly, recently met to discuss the revisions, supported by a royal decree on 31 July, to the 2006 Law on the Protection of Society from Acts of Terrorism.

The recommendations include increasing the detention period or revoking the citizenship of anyone found guilty of committing or inciting an act of terrorism. They also provide for banning sit-ins, rallies and gatherings in the capital, Manama.

OHCHR said that although it welcomes the Parliament’s recommendation that “basic liberties, particularly freedom of opinion, should not be affected to maintain a balance between law enforcement and human rights protection,” it reiterates its concern about the restrictions on public demonstrations and other public gatherings.

“We call upon the Government of Bahrain to fully comply with its international human rights commitments, including respect for freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and association, and urge all demonstrators to exercise these rights in a peaceful manner,” the spokesperson said.

The UN has repeatedly called for dialogue among all parties in Bahrain since civil unrest, including clashes between security forces and demonstrators broke out in early 2011, when widespread protests first emerged in the country.

“We are seriously concerned over reported acts of killings, torture, arbitrary detention, gender-based violence, enforced disappearances, ‘mob justice’ and the pervasive climate of insecurity and the absence of the rule of law which have prevailed in the country in the last five months,” the human rights experts said, urging authorities to take immediate steps to put an end to all human rights violations and ensure there is no impunity for the perpetrators.

Violence erupted this past December in CAR – which has been marked by decades of instability and fighting – when the Séléka rebel coalition launched a series of attacks. A peace agreement was reached in January, but the rebels again seized the capital, Bangui, in March, forcing President François Bozizé to flee. At present, CAR is governed by a National Transitional Council headed by Michel Djotodia and a transitional government formed in June.

“There have been a number of killings, sometimes in retaliation for incidents of ‘mob justice’ against members of the Séléka coalition. Some 46 cases are allegedly documented,” said the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns. “I call for a thorough, transparent and independent investigation of all suspected cases of arbitrary executions to identify and bring to justice those responsible.”

The Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. Méndez, warned that “torture seems to be widespread in the country,” and called on authorities to make sure that every allegation of torture or of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is investigated by law enforcement officers.

Rashida Manjoo, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, stressed that there have been numerous cases of sexual abuse and rape reported in all of the localities that Séléka combatants have passed through.

“The State has a responsibility to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State or by private persons,” Ms. Manjoo said. “Women and girls must be provided with access to medical, psychological, social and other assistance as well as to effective mechanisms of justice and to just and effective remedies for the harm that they have suffered.”

The UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances said it had also received allegations that a number of civilians as well as officers and soldiers of the official army (FACA) had been abducted by armed Séléka groups. On 14 April, a staff sergeant of the amphibious battalion and a first class soldier of the ex-presidential guard were reportedly arrested and brought to an unknown destination.

“Any act of enforced disappearance is an offence to human dignity and no circumstances whatsoever may be invoked to justify this heinous crime,” the Working Group underscored.

Special rapporteurs are appointed by the Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

“The continued failure by parties to the conflict to protect civilians across Syria means that women, men, and children continue to be killed, injured and displaced across the country,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos said in a statement.

She urged commitment by all parties “to stop actions that result in loss of civilian lives, to allow access for aid organizations, and to respect their obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law,” Amos noted, adding that she and colleagues in the humanitarian and human rights community have publicly and frequently called for the violence to stop.

Amos noted that hundreds of people have reportedly been killed, injured or taken hostage in attacks in Homs, Aleppo and other areas of Syria in the last two days alone.

Aid officials – at risk to their own lives – are trying to get to civilians caught in the fighting, Amos said.

“They need our support to be able to safely reach all people in need, wherever they are in Syria,” she urged. “Their job is to be neutral and impartial and it remains vital that efforts to provide humanitarian aid are separate from political agendas.”

Meanwhile, the head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) urged “immediate safe access” to families caught in the fighting in Al Waer neighbourhood of Homs where some 400,000 people are believed to be living in partially constructed buildings, schools and other public buildings.

UNICEF has been aiding partners to distribute nutrition and basic hygiene supplies and clean water, but new checkpoints are preventing more supplies from entering the area.

“We call on all parties to facilitate immediate safe access to these families so we can provide life-saving assistance, and to allow those families currently trapped in Al Waer who wish to leave to do so in safety and in dignity,” UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said in a statement.

“Cannot all those involved agree that the innocent women and children in Homs, and across Syria, should be spared all possible suffering?”

Lake said the situation of women and children in Homs “is rapidly deteriorating” with reports of intense daily clashes, and rocket and mortar strikes causing many casualties.

Water and electricity are still available but vegetables, milk and other essentials are in increasingly short supply. UNICEF warned that its own emergency supplies “will run out within days”.

Some 5,000 people are killed monthly in the conflict, and an average 6,000 flee every day from the country, according to the UN figures presented last month to the UN Security Council.

Since fighting began in March 2011 between the Syrian Government and opposition groups seeking to oust President Bashar Al-Assad as many as 100,000 people have been killed, almost 2 million have fled to neighbouring countries and a further 4 million have been internally displaced. In addition, at least 6.8 million Syrian require urgent humanitarian assistance, half of whom are children.

On July 31, 2013, the government authorized the interior minister to “take all necessary measures” to “confront violence and terrorism” in the sit-ins, but did not elaborate what those measures would be. In dealing with protests, Egypt’s security forces have regularly resorted to excessive use of force, killing at least 137 people in the past month alone.

“To avoid another bloodbath, Egypt’s civilian rulers need to ensure the ongoing right of protesters to assemble peacefully, and seek alternatives to a forcible dispersal of the crowds,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The police’s persistent record of excessive use of force, leading to dozens of deaths this month, and the density of the sit-ins mean that hundreds of lives could be lost if the sit-in is forcibly dispersed.”

As a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Egyptian authorities are required to protect and ensure the right to assemble peacefully. This means they must facilitate demonstrations and ensure they can take place peacefully.

Any restrictions imposed must be for a legitimate aim, nonarbitrary, and according to law. And any restrictions may not discriminate on grounds such as political belief, and must be necessary and proportionate to the aim pursued. Prohibition of any particular demonstration, including dispersal, must be a last resort. Imposition of restrictions and bans on demonstrations should be subject to appeal before an independent and impartial court.

Under international law, the overall duty to ensure the right to peaceful assembly means that state authorities may not treat an entire demonstration as violent due to the acts of a few participants, Human Rights Watch said. The authorities may not punish peaceful protesters for crimes committed by individual protesters or for possession of unlicensed weapons by some protesters.

Human Rights Watch visited the two main protest sites, in Rab’a al-Adawiya and al-Nahda square, both of which were densely populated with women, children, and men who have been staging a month-long sit-in to protest the removal of President Mohammed Morsy.

Over the past weeks, some residents of the buildings surrounding the sit-in in Rab’a al-Adawiya have filed formal complaints because of their inability to easily access their building entrances. Media reports have circulated claiming some Morsy supporters abused individuals they suspect of being “infiltrators” of the sit-in. Witnesses have reported seeing protesters armed with guns at the Giza sit-in. Human Rights Watch interviewed one man who said he and a group of men grabbed and detained another man under the Nahda stage along with eight other captives, as well as a boy who said protesters at Nahda beat him, subjected him to electric shocks, and cut him with bladed weapons.

The Egyptian authorities are required to take the utmost care in the choice of means and methods employed by its security services when confronting or dispersing a protest. The authorities must ensure that thorough planning takes place before any operation is carried out and then ensure that the operation is carried out in a way that minimizes harm or any risk to life. This planning should include giving advance notice to protesters so they can respond to dispersal requests by the security forces, HRW said.

“The Secretary-General once again urges all sides to act with maximum restraint. He supports the rights of all Egyptians to hold peaceful protests. He calls on the interim authorities to ensure law and order along with guaranteeing the safety and security of all Egyptians,” Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement.

“The Secretary-General renews his calls for a meaningful national dialogue and an inclusive reconciliation process. The aim must be to chart a peaceful path towards a full return of civilian control, constitutional order, and democratic governance,” the statement added.

Protests on Friday and Saturday have left scores of people dead and hundreds others injured. In a new statement, Ban stressed that Egypt’s security forces must act with full respect for human rights, including guaranteeing the rights to free speech and assembly. The Secretary-General appeals to all the people of Egypt to address their differences through dialogue and again renews his calls to all parties to engage in an inclusive and meaningful reconciliation process.

Ban also urged demonstrators to exercise restraint and preserve the peaceful nature of their protests.

“The Secretary-General appeals to all the people of Egypt to address their differences through dialogue and again renews his calls to all parties to engage in an inclusive and meaningful reconciliation process,” according to the statement.

The crisis in the country escalated earlier this month, resulting in the Egyptian military deposing President Mohamed Morsy amid widespread protests in which dozens of people were killed and wounded. The Constitution was then suspended and an interim government set up.

Ban urged the interim authorities to end arbitrary arrests and other reported forms of harassment. Morsy and Muslim Brotherhood leaders currently in detention should be released or have their cases reviewed transparently without delay, he added.

Meanwhile, speaking at a news conference in Geneva, the spokesperson for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay stressed that it is extremely important that security forces in Egypt do not resort to excessive use of force.

“People have a right to make peaceful protests,” said Rupert Colville. “All measures taken by the authorities must fully respect the law and international human rights standards. We will be closely following how the situation develops.”

“As citizens of Israel, the Arab Bedouins are entitled to the same rights to property, housing and public services as any other group in Israel,” said High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. “The Government must recognize and respect the specific rights of its Bedouin communities, including recognition of Bedouin land ownership claims.”

The first reading of the proposed bill, known as the Prawer-Begin Bill, passed by a narrow margin in the Knesset on 24 June, and is expected to go through the second and third readings before the end of July, according to a news release issued by the High Commissioner’s office (OHCHR).

Pillay said she was “alarmed” that the bill seeks to legitimize the forced displacement and dispossession of indigenous Bedouin communities in the Negev desert in southern Israel, without recognizing that they traditionally owned land titles in the region.

Instead, the bill offers Bedouins limited compensation on the condition that they move to one of the seven officially recognized urban Bedouin townships the Government has created.

“If this bill becomes law, it will accelerate the demolition of entire Bedouin communities, forcing them to give up their homes, denying them their rights to land ownership, and decimating their traditional cultural and social life in the name of development,” Pillay said.

The High Commissioner also pointed out that the 2008 Goldberg Commission set up by the Israeli Government recognized that the Negev Bedouins must be viewed as equal citizens with historic ties to the land, and that they were legitimate residents of the Negev.

“Respect for the legitimate rights of minorities is a fundamental tenet of democracy,” she said, adding that it was regrettable that the Government continues to actively pursue a discriminatory policy against its own Arab citizens.

Pillay added that a reconsideration of the bill must involve a genuinely consultative and participatory process that involves all representatives of Bedouin communities in the Negev.