Data protection and international organizations: a dialogue between EU law and international law

Abstract

Opening remarks given at the online conference on the GDPR and international organizations held on 26 February 2021: I am delighted to take part in this online conference. It reminds me of some things I did during my time as the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) and also of an event 4 years ago at UN Headquarters in New York, organized by the IAPP (International Association of Privacy Professionals), and UN Global Pulse, an initiative of the Secretary General of the United Nations to use big data and artificial intelligence for sustainable development, humanitarian action, and global peace. During that event on ‘Data Ethics’, we spent a full day on how ‘responsible data processing’ and ‘data privacy’ could be made an integral part of any such activities by international organizations (IOs), in the countries involved and at global level. In other words, the relevance of today’s event is obvious to me and it also raises interesting legal issues and practical challenges, which we will be discussing today.