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 EU: Major report from Statewatch and the Transnational Institute: NeoConOpticon - The EU Security-Industrial Complex by Ben Hayes (pdf):127,192 copies downloaded. Executive Summary (pdf) and NeoConOpticon blog European Parliament: Statewatch report: Surveillance of the sea external borders with the involvement of Frontex: the LIBE Committee opposes the adoption of the European Commission Draft Council decision MALTA: Grupp29: ‘Stop the criminalisation of art’ – Maltese authors and artists to government (Press release, pdf) and Letter to Minister (pdf): "The Maltese community of authors, artists and people working in the cultural field today called on the ministers of justice and culture to assume their political responsibility and stop the absurd criminal proceedings being taken against editor Mark Camilleri and author Alex Vella Gera. In letters of protest sent to Minister of Justice and Home Affairs Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, and Parliamentary Secretary for Culture Mario de Marco, Grupp29 – which unites 90 authors, artists and cultural workers - stressed that the two government members are politically responsible for the persecution of the author and editor, and for the direct assault on freedom of expression and artistic freedom." . See also: National Protest Against Censorship (Indymedia Malta, link) EU: Council of the European Union: Initiative for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the rights to interpretation and to translation in criminal proceedings - Draft letters to be sent to the Commission and to the European Parliament (pdf): "the Council regrets the adoption by the Commission of a new proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings. This adoption was unexpected after the debate during the Council meeting (Justice and Home Affairs) on 26 February 2010." Report on discussion in the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) (pdf). For background on this issue see News Online. EU-ISRAEL: Should the EU subsidise Israeli security? (European Voice, link) by Ben Hayes. "The inclusion of Israel in the European Security Research Programme undermines the EU's commitment to even-handedness in the Middle East." Belgium: Ministry of justice and prison service under fire for arbitrary refusal On 16 March 2010, the Brussels Conseil d'Etat issued an urgent injunction stopping the Ministry of Justice and the Prison Service from giving effect to their decision of 24 February 2010 denying prison teacher Luk Vervaet access to Belgian prisons for 'reasons of national security'. The injunction was the latest move in Vervaet's battle for fair treatment from the Belgian authorities, which has so far resulted in two court rulings in his favour. EU: European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS): EDPS issues Guidelines on Video-surveillance (Press release, pdf), Opinion (pdf) and FAQ (pdf) Italy: Amnesty International report argues that the "nomads plan" is the wrong answer: In January 2010, the Italian section of Amnesty International published a report entitled "The wrong answer", in which it argues that the "nomads plan" whose implementation is underway in Rome (as well as Milan and Naples) since May 2008 violates Roma and Sinti people's right to housing. It has opened the way to mass evictions of thousands of Roma from makeshift settlements, supposedly to move them into purpose-built camps with improved facilities on the city's outskirts, rather than permanent accommodation. The report highlights that the plan violates a number of international conventions and that the "nomad emergency" is based on a double fallacy: the term "nomad" means that the solutions offered will be for "nomads", and hence temporary or makeshift, and the term "emergency" conceals the discriminatory nature of the measures and allows authorities not to comply with a number of legal provisions by derogating them. The stories of three families are documented in the report. Amnesty International, La Risposta Sbagliata. Italia: Il "Piano Nomadi" viola il diritto all'alloggio dei Rom a Roma", January 2001 [pdf, in Italian, link]. Previous Statewatch coverage: Italy: Open-ended emergencies: deployment of soldiers in cities and summary treatment for Roma, November 2009, Italy: Institutionalising discrimination, Statewatch bulletin, vol. 18 no. 2, April- May 2008. DENMARK: Danish Rebellion Spokesman Convicted in Terror-Liberation Case (link): "Denmark’s Rebellion (Oprør) spokesman Patrick Mac Manus was found guilty today (March 15, 2010) in Copenhagen City Court for: “attempting to collect funds” for “terrorist organizations” Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP); and for “encouraging [hundreds of organizations] to collect funds” for the same. Judge Helle Hastrup, however, rendered a mild sentence of six months probation as opposed to 18 months imprisonment asked for by the prosecutor. Court costs of 110,000 Danish kroner (about $20,000) plus 25% tax are to be shared by the defendant and the state. She could have demanded that all court costs be paid by the defendant." EU countries sell tools of torture, says report (euobserver, link) and From words to deeds: Making the EU ban on the trade in "tools of torture" a reality (link to report by Anmesty International EU and Omega Research Foundation) ITALY: GENOA: G8 appeals: longer prison terms for demonstrators, more officers convicted Fighting anti-Muslim racism: an interview with A. Sivanandan (IRR News Service, link): IRR News spoke to one of the foremost analysts of racism and Black struggle as to how to meet the contemporary challenge of anti-Muslim racism. EU: LISBON TREATY: Proposal for a Regulation laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers (pdf). This proposal sets out proposed new common rules to govern what is now the 2nd tier of EU "non-legislative" decision-making covering implementing acts, where the Commission's decision-making will be controlled by delegates of Member States. This is distinct from the rules governing delegated acts, where the European Parliament and the Council will control the Commission's exercise of delegated powers, and where the details of that control will be set out in each individual EU legislative act that confers the power to adopt delegated acts upon the Commission. EU-JAPAN:Customs Cooperation: European Data Protection Supervisor: Opinion (pdf) The Electronic Police State (link): 51 states and their rankings, with last year’s ranking is shown in parenthesis: 1. North Korea (2); 2. China (1) 3. Belarus (3); 4. Russia (4); 5. United States of America (6); 6. United Kingdom (5). UK: Undercover policeman reveals how he infiltrated UK's violent activists (Observer, link) "For four years, Officer A lived a secret life among anti-racist activists as they fought brutal battles with the police and the BNP. Here he tells of the terrifying life he led, the psychological burden it placed on him and his growing fears that the work of his unit could threaten legitimate protest." Plus: Inside the lonely and violent world of the Yard's elite undercover unit (link) and see: Video (link) UK: Handcuff restraint of asylum seekers criticised (BBC News, link) and see: Report to the UK Border Agency on "outsourcing abuse" (link, pdf) EU: European Commission proposal: Proposal for a Directive on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings (pdf), Commission: Press release (pdf), Commission: Memo (pdf). See also: Plan to give suspects translation rights: Commission proposal would provide the right to interpretation during questioning and at trial (European Voice, link) and Defendants' rights caught up in EU institutional quarrel (euobserver, link): An EU diplomat commented: "The council regrets that the commission chose to table its own proposal, which unnecessarily duplicates our initiative and increases the procedural time needed for a result" Council of the European Union (27 governments): For full documentation see: News Online Updated: ACTA draft agreement: Joint statement: MEPs deplore Council's continued secrecy on ACTA (pdf) and see: Parliament threatens court action on anti-piracy treaty (euactiv, link): "The European Parliament defied the EU executive today (10 March), casting a vote against an agreement between the EU, the US and other major powers on combating online piracy and threatening to take legal action at the European Court of Justice.A strong majority of MEPs (663 against and 13 in favour) today voted against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), arguing that it flouts agreed EU laws on counterfeiting and piracy online." Background: Leaked ACTA draft reveals plans for internet clampdown - ISPs must snoop on subscribers or face being sued by content owners (Computerworld, link). Leaked Commission Note (pdf) and Leaked section of draft agreement (pdf): The EU (represented by the Commission) is taking part in negotiations on the drafting of an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). These negotiations were launched in 2007 amongst an initial group of interested parties and then continued with a broader group of participants; to date those include Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States. See also: European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) highly critical of proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA): Press Release (pdf) and Opinion: full-text (pdf). EU-USA: The Spanish Presidency wants to push for a strategic agreement between the EU and the USA in digital health-care (Spanish EU Council Presidency, link): "The Spanish Minister of Health and Social Policy, Trinidad Jiménez, met in Washington with her US counterpart, Kathleen Sebelius, and highlighted the desire of the Spanish Presidency of the European Union to push for a strategic bilateral agreement in digital healthcare. The aim is to create a scenario for clinical information exchange and technical interoperability between the project promoted by the Obama Administration and the European project." Draft question to the Council from Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert MEP (ALDE): Council pushing for healthcare records share with the US? (pdf) European Court of Justice: European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS): EDPS welcomes Court of Justice's ruling strengthening independent position of data protection authorities (Press release, pdf): European Commission supported by EDPS v German government: Full-text of judgment (pdf) and the Opinion of the Advocate General (pdf) who advised the opposite view. Belgium: Developments and issues regarding Belgian regularisation policy (CIRÉ) EU Security Research: BAE Systems awarded EU contract to develop organised crime database UK: Home Affairs Select Committee report: The National DNA Database (pdf): "It is currently impossible to say with certainty how many crimes are detected, let alone how many result in convictions, due at least in part to the matching of crime scene DNA to a personal profile already on the database, but it appears that it may be as little as 0.3%—and we note that the reason for retaining personal profiles on a database is so that the person can be linked to crimes he/she commits later... it should be easier for those wrongly arrested or who have volunteered their DNA to get their records removed from the database." Italy: Harassment against migrants and Roma people Italy: NGOs criticise Italian government stance on harm reduction drug policies Spain/France: In-depth reports on the situation in detention centres for foreigners UK: Home Office: What perceptions do the UK public have concerning the impact of counter-terrorism legislation implemented since 2000? (link) DUTCH PRISON FOR BELGIANS: Under the European Arrest Warrant and the and the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters of 29 May 2000: EU doc no: 6921/10, pdf): "1 February 2010 saw the entry into force of an agreement between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Belgium, under which the Netherlands puts at the disposal of Belgium a prison situated on Dutch territory (in Tilburg) for the purpose of enforcing Belgian sentences according to the rules of Belgian law." Full-text of agreement: Convention entre le Royaume des Pays-Bas et le Royaume de Belgique sur la mise à disposition d'un établissement pénitentiaire aux Pays-Bas en vue de l'exécution de peines privatives de liberté infligées en vertu de condamnations belges (pdf) EU: PRUM FRAMEWORK DECISION ON FINGERPRINTS: "Fishing expeditions" by large Member States leads to limits being imposed on automated searches for fingerprints on other states' national databases: In 2008 the Council of the European Union's Ad Hoc Group on Information Exchange urged restraint on the number of searches: "The varying scale of national databases, partly linked to population size, has led experts to doubt whether the databases of the less-populated States are able to deal with other States' searches. At times there are even concerns that databases may be damaged by overwhelming search volumes." (EU doc no: 14885/rev1/08, pdf). As this has not worked the Ad Hoc Group on Information Exchange has now laid down limits on the number of searches to be carried out: EU do no: 5860 rev1/10 (pdf). The big "offenders" would seem to be Germany, Spain and Italy (not figures given for the UK). EU Security Research: "NeoConOpticon" blog updated, see 1) BAE Systems awarded EU contract to develop organised crime database; 2) Droning on: more funding for covert EU unmanned aerial vehicle programme; 3) Governed by robots: ‘Border Security 2010' and ‘towards e-borders’ UK: Parliamentary Joint Human Rights Committee report: Annual Renewal of Control Orders Legislation 2010 (pdf): "We have serious concerns about the control order system. Evidence shows the devastating impact of control orders on the subject of the orders, their families and their communities." France/Algeria: Joint maritime surveillance and security operation EU: European Commission proposal to amend the Frontex Regulation: Proposal for a Regulation amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2004 establishing a European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (FRONTEX) (pdf) plus Impact Assessment (SEC 149, pdf) and Summary of IA (SEC 150, pdf) UK: Operation of police powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 and subsequent legislation: Arrests, outcomes and stops & searches Quarterly update to September 2009 (pdf). Of 201 people arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 in the year to September 2009, 42 were arrested for non-terrorist offences and 96 were released without charge. 200,444 people were stopped and searched. - 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 See: Tony Bunyan's column in the Guardian: View from the EU SPECIAL STATEWATCH REPORT: The Shape of Things to Come - the EU Future Group (Version.1.3) by Tony Bunyan: 51,774 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 9,429,177 user sessions and 43,282,029 "hits" (February 2010) In the year 2009 there were 1,263,573 user sessions with 7,305,161 "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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