Upon the initiative of German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, the five Foreign Ministers of Germany, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, and Lichtenstein sent a letter to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay concerning the protection of personal data on 6 September 2013.

The goal, as defined in their letter, is to ensure the protection of privacy and personal data in the age of the internet. The five Foreign Ministers proposed that an updated protection could be achieved through taking the appropriate steps in the Human Rights Council by assessing the possibility of an optional protocol to Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights or by inviting the Committee for Civil and Political Rights to update its General Comment on Article 17 (1988).

The signatories declared that the Human Rights Council would appear to be the most appropriate forum to initiate this debate, and invited UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay to accept the patronage of a discussion of the issue on the margins of the upcoming 24th session of the Human Rights Council.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)