News online - current lead stories For full contents see: Statewatch News online with news, analysis, documentation and archives or What's New: which lists all new items on the website. The latest 20 lead items are listed below. New: Statewatch Sitemap See: Tony Bunyan's column in the Guardian: View from the EU Observatory on: Stockholm Programme EU: Major new report from Statewatch and the Transnational Institute: NeoConOpticon - The EU Security-Industrial Complex by Ben Hayes (pdf) Executive Summary (pdf) and NeoConOpticon blog. Released 25.9.09: 88,269 copies downloaded. EU: UK House of Lords Select Committee on the European Union: The Stockholm Programme: home affairs (pdf) EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council, 30 November 2009: Provisional Agenda (pdf) EU: European Commission: Green Paper on obtaining evidence in criminal matters from one Member State to another and securing its admissibility (pdf) UKRAINE: BORDER MONITORING PROJECT UKRAINE (UZHGOROD, ZAKARPATTYA): Monitoring the implementation of social and human rights of refugees and other vulnerable migrants in the Border region of the European Union and Ukraine (pdf) EU: European Commission: Draft Commission Decision of supplementing the Schengen Borders Code as regards the surveillance of the sea external borders in the context of the operational cooperation coordinated by the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders (pdf) The European Parliament's powers on this issue come under regulatory procedure with scrutiny (RPS). See: Note on Regulatory procedure with scrutiny (RPS) EU: LIQUIDS BAN: Very useful summary from ALDE group shadow rapporteur: Introduction of liquids onboard of aircrafts State of play (pdf). The European Parliament's powers on this issue also come under regulatory procedure with scrutiny (RPS). The proposal from the Commission envisages three steps: - from 2010 allow liquids of transit passengers - by 2012 big airports have to screen liquids with available technology - by 2014 all airports with available technology. See: Commission: Information paper: Ban on liquids onboard aircraft and possible next steps (pdf) EUROPOL: Analysis Work Files: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on the association of Third Parties to Europol’s AWFs (pdf) European Parliament: Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE): There were some strange goings-on in the LIBE Committee last week when it came to the vote on its report on the Stockholm Programme. 29 MEPs voted in favour (SD, Socialist and Democrats, and ALDE, Liberal group), 18 voted against (Greens and GUE, United Left) and 37 abstained (EPP and other right groups). The high number of abstentions appears to have happened because of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people) rights issues - the committee had voted through by 42-40 votes an amendment from Jeanine Hennis Plasschaert MEP adding: "Calls on Member States to ensure that the principle of mutual recognition is also applied to same-sex couples in the EU – notably married couples, partners or de facto couples – at least in relation to rights relating to freedom of movement". Draft report before the Committee: Stockholm Programme (pdf) EU-USA: SWIFT AGREEMENT: Draft Council Decision on the signing, on behalf of the EU, of an Agreement between the EU and the USA on the processing and transfer of Financial Messaging Data from the EU to the US for the purposes of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme ("SWIFT" Agreement) (pdf) and see: EU stalls bank data deal with US ahead of Lisbon Treaty (euobserver, link) European Parliament: Letter from the Director of the Fundamental Right Agency (FRA) on: Lithuanian law (pdf) EU: Future FRONTEX surveillance systems: FRONTEX R&D Unit: Automated Border Control Systems: State of the Art in Europe (link): FRONTEX’s role in policing the EU’s external borders and the open seas beyond is well known. What people seem much less aware of is that FRONTEX also has a significant internal policing mandate and will, if all goes according to current plans, soon preside over one of the world’s most extensive surveillance systems. This will be achieved through these interlinking of several existing EU databases and police communications systems and the creation of two new overarching surveillance frameworks (EUROSUR and EU entry-exit). See also: NeoConOpticon - The EU Security-Industrial Complex pp: 33-41. EU-IRAQ: Damning assessment of freedom and rights in Iraq: Council of the European Union press release: Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the EU concerning the human rights situation in Iraq (pdf) EU: CUSTOMS INFORMATION SYSTEM: European Parliament report on: Report on the initiative of the French Republic with a view to adopting a Council decision on the use of information technology for customs purposes (pdf): "While the rapporteur understands the Member States' desire to construct an effective system for combating all forms of illegal trade he finds it regrettable that such measures should be decided in a hurry by the Member States prior to ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. This gives the impression that the Council of the European Union is consciously seeking to take key decisions before the European Parliament is in a position to be involved by codecision." (p46) EU: Europol: - Council Decision determining the list of third States and organisations with which Europol shall conclude agreements (pdf) - Council Decision adopting the implementing rules for Europol analysis work files (pdf) - Council Decision adopting the rules on the confidentiality of Europol information (pdf) NORTHERN IRELAND: Childhood in Transition Experiencing Marginalisation and Conflict in Northern Ireland (pdf) by Siobhán McAlister, Phil Scraton and Deena Haydon IRELAND: Irish Council for Civil Liberties: Submission on the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009 (pdf) Ireland-Poland: European prison crowding ruling could lead to similar case here (Irish Times, link) Italy: Petty offence, lethal punishment - Shocking death in custody in Rome EU-USA: Council Decision on the conclusion on behalf of the European Union of the Agreement on extradition between the European Union and the United States of America and the Agreement on mutual legal assistance between the European Union and the United States of America (Official Journal, pdf). See: Full text of the agreements (pdf) UK: CIA RENDITION: Proposals to outlaw extraordinary rendition in the UK drawn up - All party parliamentary group recommends criminalising the use of British facilities for extraordinary rendition flights (Guardian, link). See the full report: Closing the Gap (pdf) EU: LISBON TREATY: Full-text of the Lisbon Treaty (pdf) and justice and home affairs section: Title V (Articles 67- 89) (pdf) Analyses by Professor Steve Peers, University of Essex: - Statewatch Analysis: The “Third Pillar acquis” after the Treaty of Lisbon enters into force (pdf) - Statewatch Analysis: EU Lisbon Treaty Analysis no. 4: British and Irish opt-outs from EU Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) law (pdf) - Analysis: Can the Treaty of Lisbon be denounced after it enters into force? (pdf) See also: Preparatory work in view of the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon (EU doc no: 14928/09, pdf), Presidency report to the European Council on the European External Action Service (pdf) and Proposed Council working groups if Lisbon Treaty is adopted (pdf), Preliminary draft amendments to the Council's Rules of Procedure (pdf) and: EU: COSI - Standing Committee on Internal Security rescued from the debris of the EU Constitution plus: Standing Committee on Internal Security: Presidency note on the state of work on the draft Council Decision on setting up the Standing Committee on operational cooperation on internal security (COSI) (pdf) and Analysis: Cementing the European state: - new emphasis on internal security and operational cooperation at EU level  For full background analyses and documentation see Statewatch's Observatory on the Constitution and the Lisbon Treaty EU SUMMIT: Conclusions: 29-30 October (pdf). Includes the following on FRONTEX: "calls for the enhancement of the operational capacities of FRONTEX as well as progress in its development and invites the Commission to present proposals to that end early 2010. Such an enhancement could be based on the following elements: i) the preparation of clear common operational procedures containing clear rules of engagement for joint operations at sea, with due regard to ensuring protection for those in need who travel in mixed flows, in accordance with international law; ii) increased operational cooperation between FRONTEX and countries of origin and transit; iii) examination of the possibility of regular chartering financed by FRONTEX of joint return flights" EU: 'Right to internet' dies quietly in Brussels back room (euobserver, link) "In a major reversal of the parliament's position for much of the last year, MEPs in behind-closed-doors negotiations with the Council of Ministers, representing the member states, embraced new language in a compromise text that no longer requires that only judicial authorities be allowed to cut off internet access." CIA-ITALY: Rendition trial ends with Milan CIA chief given eight years (Guardian, link) Italian court convicts Robert Lady and 23 others in absentia - First prosecution for US abduction of suspects to torture states and EXCLUSIVE: Convicted CIA Spy Says "We Broke the Law" (ABC News, link) No Justice for Canadian Rendition Victim Maher Arar: Court Refuses to Hold US Officials Accountable for Complicity in Torture Abroad (link) See Statewatch's Observatory: The use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners and Documents UK-USA-CIA: Jet named in torture flight report is met by SAS at British airport (Mail Online, link): "A US plane that featured in a European Parliament report into the 'extraordinary rendition' of terror suspects was met by two SAS helicopters in a secret operation at one of Britain's biggest airports. The Gulfstream jet landed at Birmingham International Airport on Friday, October 2, having flown in from an undisclosed location, and was seen by a member of staff being met minutes later by the Special Forces regiment aircraft. Records show that the jet is owned by a subsidiary of L-3 Communications, a multi-billion-dollar defence corporation based in New York, whose clients include several American government departments, among them the Department of Homeland Security." See Statewatch Observatory: The use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners Britsh Journal of Criminology: Pre-crime and counter-terrorism: Imagining Future Crime in the "War on Terror" by Jude McCulloch and Sharon Pickering (link) and From the "old" to the "new" suspect community: Examining the Impacts of Recent UK Counter-Terrorist Legislation by Christina Pantazis and Simon Pemberton (link) ITALY: Italian security package documents: - Law 94/2009 of 15 July 2009 (published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale -Official Journal- on 24 July 2009) on "Measures in the field of public security" as it was approved - Non-EU minors and the right to education after law 94/2009 came into force, ASGI, 28 September 2009 - Report by lawyer Guido Savio, The discipline of expulsion and detention in CIEs, Florence, 18-19 September 2009 - The marriage of foreigners in Italy after law 94/2009 came into force, Walter Citti, ASGI, 10 August 2009. The website of the Associazione Studi Giuridici sull'Immigrazione (ASGI) has a page on the "Legal situation of foreigners after the entry into force of law 94/2009 on public security". It includes court decisions in which issues are raised as to whether the law is constitutional, circulars from the interior ministry as to how the law must be interpreted, and legal analysis of the implications of the new law, as well as some campaign documents. UK: Leeds Metropolitan University: Climate & Violence Workshop: Securing the State: Securing the Corporate Nexus and The Coming Militarization of Climate Change, 27 November 2009, 9:30am-5:00pm, The Rosebowl 408 (link) EU: CZECH REPUBLIC OPT-OUT: The European Council has agreed that the Czech Republic can opt-out of the Chater of Fundamental Rights if it signs the Lisbon Treaty - this means the Charter will only apply to EU, not national, legislation: Text of Protocol (pdf). This would mean that the Czech Republic, Poland and the UK would opt out of the Charter. For other opt-outs see: Statewatch Analysis: EU Lisbon Treaty: Analysis no 4: UK and Irish opt-outs from EU Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) law (pdf) prepared by Professor Steve Peers, University of Essex: The UK, Ireland (and Denmark): "have opt-outs from the entire area of EU Justice and Home Affairs law..." G6-USA: G6 to discuss ways to combat terrorism on 5 November 2009 (European Voice, link). See also: EU: G6 Interior Ministers + USA to meet in secret in future: The G6 meetings of Interior Ministers is comprised of France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland and the UK - the meetings in September 2008 and March 2009 were also attended by the US Secretary of Homeland Security. At the G6 meetings in March 2009 it was agreed that: "No formal conclusions would be issued after meetings." See: UK parliamentary answer on G6 meeting in Berlin in March 2009 (pdf) and see also: - "Behind Closed Doors: the meeting of the G6 Interior Ministers at Heiligendamm", House of Lords EU Committee report (pdf) - G6-G8-Prum: Behind closed doors: policy-making in secret intergovernmental and international fora (Statewatch) - G6: Berlin keen to use informal chats with EU's big six (euobserver, link) EU-UK: European Commission: Telecoms: Commission steps up UK legal action over privacy and personal data protection (Press release, pdf) UK: Spying on us doesn't protect democracy. It undermines it: By branding protesters and mainstream Muslim activists as extremists, the police are effectively criminalising dissent (Guardian, link) by Seamus Milne and Rebranding protest as extremismThe label 'domestic extremists' helps the police justify abusing anti-terror laws to target legitimate protest (Guardian, link) by Pennie Quinton - Full contents of Statewatch News online with news, analysis and documentation - In the News carries link to news coverage from across the EU - What's New covers all new items on the website Top reports 2004-2009 SPECIAL STATEWATCH REPORT: The Shape of Things to Come - the EU Future Group (Version.1.3) by Tony Bunyan: 45,215 copies downloaded. The report calls for a “meaningful and wide-ranging debate” before it is “too late” for privacy and civil liberties. The proposals set out by the shadowy "Future Group" set up by the Council of the European Union include a range of highly controversial measures including new technologies of surveillance, enhanced cooperation with the United States and harnessing the "digital tsunami". In the words of the EU Council presidency: "Every object the individual uses, every transaction they make and almost everywhere they go will create a detailed digital record. This will generate a wealth of information for public security organisations, and create huge opportunities for more effective and productive public security efforts." This major new report The Shape of Things to come (60 pages) examines the proposals of the Future Group and their effect on civil liberties. It shows how European governments and EU policy-makers are pursuing unfettered powers to access and gather masses of personal data on the everyday life of everyone – on the grounds that we can all be safe and secure from perceived “threats”. The Statewatch report calls for a “meaningful and wide-ranging debate” before it is “too late” for privacy and civil liberties. See also ongoing: Statewatch Observatory: The Stockhom Programme Statewatch publication: Border wars and asylum crimes by Frances Webber (38 pages, pdf - 4.685 copies downloaded: "When the pamphlet ‘Crimes of Arrival’ was written, in 1995, the title was a metaphor for the way the British government, in common with other European governments, treated migrants and especially, asylum seekers. Now, a decade on, that title describes a literal truth.... There is a frightening continuity between the treatment of asylum claimants and that of terrorist suspects. In the name of the defence of our way of life and our enlightenment values from attack by terrorists or by poor migrants, that way of life is being destroyed by creeping authoritarianism, and those values – amongst which the most important is the universality of human rights – betrayed." See also: Crimes of arrival: immigrants and asylum-seekers in the new Europe (12 pages, 1995, pdf). To order hard-copy see: Statewatch Publications EU: Major report on the: Criminalisation and victimisation of migrants in Europe (255 pages, pdf) directed by Salvatore Palidda: 16,909 downloads. EU: The dream of total data collection by Heiner Busch. Status quo and future plans for EU information systems Terrorist lists" still above the law by Ben Hayes EU: Secret trilogues and the democratic deficit by Tony Bunyan EU: Returns Directive: "Against the Outrageous Directive" speech given by Yasha Maccanico in EP Cementing the European state by Tony Bunyan, New emphasis on internal security and operational cooperation at EU level EU-SIS Schengen Infornation System Article 99 report by Ben Hayes Policing protests in Switzerland, Italy and Germany The surveillance of travel in the EU where everyone is a suspect by Tony Bunyan EU: Statewatch Report: Arming Big Brother: new research reveals the true costs of Europe's security-industrial complex by Ben Hayes (pdf, April 2006). The European Union is preparing to spend hundreds of million on new research into surveillance and control technologies, according to Arming Big Brother, a new report by the Transnational Institute (TNI) and Statewatch. Press release (English) Press release (Spanish, link) Copy of full report (English, pdf) Copy of full report (Spanish, pdf) Hard copies of Arming Big Brother can be obtained from: The Transnational Institute, please send an e-mail to: wilbert@tni.org with your request. EU: "Unaccountable Europe" by Tony Bunyan (Statewatch editor) in Special issue of Index on Censorship: "Big Brother Goes Global" (December 2005) Europe: Launch of the European Civil Liberties Network (link) - The ECLN was launched on 19 October 2005 as a long-term project to develop a platform for groups working on civil liberties issues across Europe. A collection of "Essays in defence of civil liberties and democracy" was published to mark the launch the ECLN Global surveillance: Global coalition launch report and international surveillance campaign: Statewatch, with partner organisations the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Focus on the Global South, Friends Committee (US) and the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (Canada) today publishes an in-depth report: "The emergence of a global infrastructure for registration and surveillance" (20 April, 2005). Statewatch report: Journalism, civil liberties and the war on terrorism (full-report/request printed copy) - Special report by the International Federation of Journalists and Statewatch including an analysis of current policy developments as well as a survey of 20 selected countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin Amercia, the Middle East and the USA (published World press freedom day, 1 May 2005) Statewatch analysis: The exceptional and draconian become the norm - G8 and EU counter-terrorism plans (updated 26 March 2005 pdf) Statewatch "Scoreboard" on EU counter-terrorism plans (pdf) agreed in the wake of the Madrid bombings. Our analysis shows that 27 out of the 57 EU proposals have little or nothing to do with tackling terrorism - they deal with crime in general and surveillance: Analysis in Spanish (March 2004) The road to "1984" Part II: Everyone in the EU will have to have their fingerprints taken to get a passport (February 2004) The Statewatch website Since its launch this website has had 8,746,098 user sessions and 39,907,279 "hits" (September 2009) In the year 2008 there were 1,232,435 user sessions with 9,896,072 "hits" Join Statewatch regular e-mail list for new stories: Join Statewatch news e-mail list Statewatch is registered under the Data Protection Act. Information supplied will be not be passed to third parties The Statewatch searchable database now holds more than 25,000 records (news, features, analyses and documentation): Search database If you use this site regularly, you are encouraged to make a donation to Statewatch to support future research. 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