UN communications will not be monitored, says US

National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013, before the House Intelligence Committee hearing on potential changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Faced with anger over revelations about U.S. spying at home and abroad, members of Congress suggested Tuesday that programs the Obama administration says are needed to combat terrorism may have gone too far. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Amid growing international anger over the spying activities of the National Security Agency, the U.S. has assured the United Nations that the world body’s communications will not be monitored.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesperson Martin Nesirky told reporters on Wednesday that the world body has been “in touch” with relevant authorities in the U.S. since reports of the NSA’s spying and monitoring of phone conversations of 35 world leaders surfaced.

“We were indeed in touch with the U.S. authorities. And I understand that the U.S. authorities have given assurances that United Nations communications are not and will not be monitored,” Mr. Nesirky said when asked to comment on reports that the encryption system of the video-conferencing system of the U.N. had been broken into.

He said the “inviolability of diplomatic missions, including the United Nations, has been well-established in international law, and therefore, all Member States are expected to act accordingly”.

The U.S. is facing criticism from international leaders over revelations that the NSA carried out electronic surveillance and snooped in on conversations of 35 world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.