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JUNE 2016: STATEWATCHING
EUROPE: European conference marking Statewatch's 25th anniversary
Statewatch Observatory: Refugee crisis in the Med and inside
the EU - a humanitarian emergency: Daily news and document updates
Refugee
crisis: latest news from across Europe (5.4.16)
Greece
postpones return of next group of migrants until Friday, Turkish
official says
(ekathimerini.com, link): "Greece has postponed the return
of the next group of migrants to Turkey under a deal with the
European Union until Friday, a Turkish government official said
on Tuesday, with no other deportees expected before then."
Greece’s
New Asylum Legislation: What Will Change? (News That Moves, link):
"Appeals
against a negative decision will be examined and processed with
a final decision within 7 days by newly established Appeal
Committees (see art. 60, page 44)
The appeals process is made on the basis of file examination
without the presence of the applicant, and Appeals Committee
decides whether the applicant will be interviewed or not.
The seeker can still request to be interviewed two days before
the appeal process starts (see art. 62, page 45)".
and see: Greece:
asylum reform in the wake of the EU-Turkey deal (AIDA, link): "Greek
Law 4375/2016 was adopted under urgent procedure on Friday and
entered into force yesterday, amid debate and speculation around
the legal reforms needed for the implementation of the EU-Turkey
deal of 18 March. The Law introduces a considerable number of
changes to the institutional framework, the first reception procedures,
the asylum procedure, the labour rights of beneficiaries of international
protection, as well as the management of refugee flows in Greece."
Greece
pauses deportations as asylum claims mount (ekathimerini.com, link):
"Authorities
in Greece have temporarily suspended deportations to Turkey and
acknowledged that most migrants and refugees detained on Greek
islands have applied for asylum.....
Maria Stavropoulou,
director of Greece’s Asylum Service, told state TV that
some 3,000 people held in deportation camps on the islands are
seeking asylum, with the application process to formally start
by the end of the week. She says asylum applications typically
take about three months to process, but would be “considerably
faster” for those held in detention".
So
the Greece deportations are going ‘smoothly’? Take
a closer look
by Apostolis Fotiadis (Guardian, link):
"The
first refugees have been returned under the EU-Turkey deal, and
there are already concerns about coercion and force being used.
As it turns out, more than 90% of people arriving in Greek
islands since 20 March – when the EU-Turkey deal was enacted
– have opted for asylum, thus complicating their return
under the arrangement. It is no surprise then that no further
dates have been announced for future deportations.....
In one case
yesterday at a pre-removal centre in Chios, police faced angry
protesters among those rounded up to be deported. Videos have
emerged in which detainees appear to scream “no deport”
and “shame on Europe”. It is unclear to what degree
the deportees have been coerced to comply with operational procedures.
Such evidence
is important in order to pose questions about the future of the
deal. How much coercion and force will become necessary when
people really start resisting deportations? How will the EU follow
up the nasty details of the process when Frontex does not
have a complaints mechanism to carry out inquiries into violations?
What will be the limits for NGOs and international organisations
before they become complicit?" [emphasis added]
Refugee
crisis: latest news from across Europe (2-4.4.16)
FORCED RETURNS TO TURKEY: Welcome: "Returnwatch monitors risks that
forced returnees from the European Union face upon arrival in
Turkey. We are an initiative of volunteers and researchers who
operate under the umbrella of the Post-Deportation Monitoring
Network.
This website
aims to be an accessible and practical tool for people to reach
us after having been forcibly returned to Turkey. We seek to
connect returnees to Turkey with lawyers and human rights NGOs
in Turkey, as well as to document the procedures implemented
by Turkish authorities.
Forced returns
to Turkey are expected to start on the 4th of April from Greece
and by the 1st of June 2016 from other European Union member
states."
BORDER GUARD: European Parliament Study: The
proposal for a European Border and Coast Guard: evolution or
revolution in external border management? (pdf):
"The
proposal significantly reinforces Frontex’s regulatory and
operational tasks and provides the Agency with an additional
supervisory role. The proposal does not amend the fundamental
premise of operational cooperation at the external borders, reserving
executive enforcement powers to the Member States. Nonetheless,
the concept of shared responsibility in the absence of shared
accountability increases existing fundamental rights concerns."
And see:
Regulation on a European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Statewatch European
Documentation Centre (SEMDOC) Full documentation of Commission,
Council and EP documents. Also:EU border guard:
Council documents including "guidance for further work,
new European Parliament study
First
"easy cases" arrive in Turkey after deportation from
Greek islands begins
On the day the EU-Turkey
deal comes into force, over 130 people have been deported from
Greece. They arrived in the port of Dikili this morning after
being deported from the islands of Lesvos and Chios on boats
staffed by Frontex officers, Turkish officials and Greek riot
police. Those on board were "mostly Pakistanis, Bangladeshis
and Moroccans who were already being deported to Turkey before
the deal's creation," according to a report in The Guardian,
but there were also apparently two Syrians on board, "including
a woman who had volunteered to return." The BBC reports
that Sri Lankan nationals were also deported.
"EU
started biggest official human trafficking in human history!"
Turkish campaigners protest today's deportations" (link)
Facebook: Electra (link): "Greece
has not ratified the ECHR Protocol forbidding collective explulsions.
Most countries participating in Frontex, though, HAVE. Our governments
must be held accountable for this crime."
Comment: Steve Peers: "Every other EU country except
the UK has ratified the Fourth Protocol. And surely Greece is
covered by the ban on collective expulsion where there is a link
to EU law (as there is in asylum cases), due to the EU Charter."
Greece:
'No-one intends to go peacefully' (BBC WS, link with video): "Greece
is preparing to deport hundreds of migrants back to Turkey today.
Their deportations from the islands of Chios and Lesbos is part
of a deal between Turkey and the European Union to stem the flow
of migrants to Europe. Under the deal, migrants arriving illegally
in Greece will be sent back to Turkey if they do not apply for
asylum or if their claim is rejected. But questions remain as
to how the arrangement is going to be implemented. Electra Koutra
is a Greek asylum lawyer working with refugees in the camps in
Greece:"
Greece
begins refugee deportations under EU plan (ekathimerini.com, link):
"Under heavy security, authorities on the Greek islands
of Lesvos and Chios deported 202 migrants and refugees on boats
bound for Turkey – the first to be sent back as part of
a controversial European Union plan to limit the amount of migration
to Europe.
The operation
that started at dawn, as migrants were escorted onto small ferries
by officers from the EU border protection agency, Frontex, to
nearby ports on the Turkish coast, under the program which has
been strongly criticized by human rights groups.
"All
of the migrants returned are from Pakistan except for two migrants
from Syria who returned voluntarily," Giorgos Kyritsis,
a spokesman for a government refugee crisis committee, told state
TV....
""This
is the first day of a very difficult time for refugee rights.
Despite the serious legal gaps and lack of adequate protection
in Turkey, the EU is forging ahead with a dangerous deal,"
Giorgos Kosmopoulos, head of Amnesty International in Greece,
told the Associated Press from Lesvos.
"Turkey
is not a safe third country for refugees. The EU and Greek authorities
know this and have no excuse.""
See also: The
final EU/Turkey refugee deal: a legal assessment (EU Law Analysis, link)
and: Why
Turkey is Not a “Safe Country” (pdf)
Report from Lesvos: 2 April 2016: Electra
(FB,
link) "The new law has passed last night. Mass deportation
of 750 by tomorrow. 148 detained Pakistanees in Moria (although
they are PRE-21 May arrivals).
They thought they were waiting in detention to be transfered
to Germany. When some realized they were going to be returned
to Turkey, they tried to ask for asylum but were anounced "it
is forbidden". Local lawyer had to threaten with reporters
to achieve some "expressions for wish to request asylum"
registered. The local Asylum Office (reportedly functioning
with 2 officers for registrations of asylum claims) is already
"booked until the end of May".
People in wheelchair, children and adults, many sleeping on blankets
they put on the floor, are all within the population to be deported.
The authorities don't announce WHO of these persons will be among
the first 750. Noone has been specifically notified that they
are "leaving tomorrow".
Lesvos is currently an island. Not only in geophysical terms.
It is a space where the rule of law, where respect for fundamental
rights does not apply. We call Europe to stop this crime before
it is too late." [emphasis added]
POLAND: RENDITION: Polish
CIA prisons probe to be prolonged again? (Radio Poland, link):
"A Polish prosecutor's office has lodged a request with
the Attorney General to extend a long-running investigation into
whether a CIA prison was hosted on Polish soil from 2002 to 2003.
The deadline
for the completion of the probe – already extended several
times – is 11 April.
The investigation
was launched in 2008 and Poland has been repeatedly criticised
for dragging its heels on the matter."
See also:
CIA
photographed detainees naked before sending them to be tortured (The Guardian, link) and: Inside
CIA's secret prisons: Haunting images show 'blacksites', where
prisoners have been held and tortured around the globe on American
orders
(Daily
Mail, link)
Turkey
steps up preparations for receiving migrants returned from Greece
A camp for 5,000
people is reportedly being built in western Turkey as the country
apparently prepares to receive 72,000 migrants to be returned
from Greece on Monday 4 April as part of the EU-Turkey deal.
Returns
under "one-for-one" plan to start on 4 April as evidence
emerges of forced returns from Turkey to Syria
The European
Commission foresees returns from Greece to Turkey under the controversial
"one-for-one" plan starting on Monday 4 April, if changes
to Greek and Turkish legislation can be rushed through by then.
The credibility of claims that Turkey is a safe third country
has been challenged yet again, this time with evidence gathered
by Amnesty International that refugees have been forcibly returned
from Turkey to Syria. Yesterday, press reports claimed that the
Turkish military were shooting dead people attempting to enter
Turkey from Syria.
European
Parliament study on military research: EU should get ready for
war
A report commissioned
by the European Parliament calls for the EU to make significant
investment in new weapons and military systems in order to reverse
decreases in military investment at national level and ensure
that the EU has "strategic autonomy" in order to act
as a "security provider".
The report: European
Parliament Directorate-General for External Policies, The
future of EU defence research, March 2016 (pdf)
EU
border guard: Council documents including "guidance for
further work", new European Parliament study
Negotiations
within the Council on the proposed European Border and Coast
Guard, which would replace the Frontex agency, are progressing
fast. Under current plans a draft text of the entire Regulation
will be submitted to the Council's Permanent Representatives
Committee on 6 April, "with a view to obtaining a mandate
flexibe enough to open interinstitutional negotiations with the
European Parliament." Other documents provided here show
how the Council's position has taken shape.
Meanwhile a new
European Parliament study "highlights some of the central
challenges in the new EBCG [European Border and Coast Guard]
framework and provides some recommendations on how these might
be addressed."
Turkey
shoots dead Syrian refugees crossing the border as they flee
civil war
(Mirror,
link): "Border forces in Turkey are shooting refugees
dead as they cross over into the country fleeing civil war in
Syria, it has been reported.
Guards have
killed sixteen refugees including three children as they crossed
into Turkey, the Times reports.
Monitoring
organisation the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims border
forces have shot dead the sixteen refugees over the past four
months.
An officer
in the British-backed Free Syrian Police and a Syrian smuggler,
living in Turkey, claimed that the true number was higher."
And see: Refugee
crisis: latest news from across Europe (31.3.16)
EU: Black
people in Europe report widespread racism in anti-immigration
context
(ENAR, link): "Racist political discourse is predominantly
framed in the context of anti-immigration and targets migrants
that are both Black and Muslims. As a result Black migrants,
refugees, asylum seekers and Black Europeans are reportedly suffering
an increase in violent hatred and discrimination across all areas
of life."
See: Key
findings
(pdf) and the full report: Afrophobia
in Europe: ENAR Shadow Report 2014-2015 (pdf)
Top reports
See: Resources
for researchers: Statewatch Analyses: 1999-ongoing
SECILE Project:
Borderline: The EU's New Border Surveillance Initiatives:
Assessing the Costs and Fundamental Rights Implications of EUROSUR
and the "Smart Borders" Proposals (pdf) A study by the
Heinrich Böll Foundation. Written by Dr. Ben Hayes and Mathias
Vermeulen: "Unable to tackle the root of the problem,
the member states are upgrading the Union’s external borders.
Such a highly parochial approach taken to a massive scale threatens
some of the EU’s fundamental values - under the pretence
that one’s own interests are at stake. Such an approach
borders on the inhumane."
How the EU works and justice and home
affairs decision-making (pdf)
Statewatch's
20th Anniversary Conference, June 2011: Statewatch
conference speeches
TNI/Statewatch:
Counter-terrorism,
'policy laundering' and the FATF - legalising surveillance, regulating
civil society
(pdf) by Ben Hayes
Statewatch publication:
Guide
to EU decision-making and justice and home affairs after the
Lisbon Treaty
(pdf) by Steve Peers, Professor of Law, University of Essex,
with additional material by Tony Bunyan
Neoconopticon: the EU security-industrial
complex
(pdf) by Ben Hayes
The Shape of Things to Come (pdf) by Tony Bunyan
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