Who is Who in Privacy and Personal Data Protection: A Case-based Analysis of the Parliamentary Diplomacy of National Delegations to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

The rapid digital transformation of our world poses substantial challenges to parliamentary institutions, including international assemblies, which are often regarded as guardians of democratic principles, human rights and the rule of law within and beyond the borders of their memberships. Among others, these challenges include effectively promoting and defending the rights to privacy and to personal data protection, which are enshrined in major regional and international human rights instruments, in an increasingly contested human rights-based international order. Based on in-depth case-study research, the paper examines the efforts of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to uphold these rights. It focuses on the parliamentary diplomacy of national delegations at both committee and plenary levels since the adoption of the 1981 Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (known as ‘Convention 108’), which was amended in 2018. Being the first legally binding international instrument in the field of data protection, this Convention is crucial due to its significant influence on privacy and data protection laws around the globe. The paper asks: How have national delegations to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe promoted and defended the rights to privacy and personal data protection to address the challenges posed by digital transformation since the entry into force of Convention 108? The aim is to identify and compare the strategies used by these delegations, contributing to the academic and policy debate on the role of international parliamentary institutions in upholding human rights and democratic norms in the digital age.