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Resources for researchers: Statewatch
Analyses: 1999-ongoing and Statewatch
conference speeches
NB: SEMDOC
(Statewatch
European Monitoring and Documentation Centre) website is back online
ACTA: EU
countries sign unpopular anti-counterfeit treaty (euobserver, link)
ACTA PROTEST:
Thousands
march in Poland over Acta internet treaty (BBC News, link) "Thousands
of protesters have taken to Poland's streets over the signing
of an international treaty activists say amounts to internet
censorship." and Poland:
Netizens Protest Government's Plan to Sign ACTA Next Week (Global Voices, link).
See also:
If You Thought SOPA Was Bad, Just Wait Until You Meet ACTA (Forbes link with videos)
EU:
Informal Justice and Home Affairs Council 26-27 January, Copenhagen:
Discussion papers: No 1: A common
framework for genuine and practical solidarity towards Member
States facing particular pressures due to mixed migration flows (pdf) - No 2: Family
reunification in light of the Commission Green Paper: The right
to family reunification is a matter of considerable importance
in, especially (pdf) - No 3: Financing
of PNR-systems (pdf) - No 4: Brussels
I-Regulation: Access to Union courts in civil cases with third
country defendants (pdf) No 5: Criminal
sanctions and the proposal for a directive on insider dealing
and market manipulation (pdf) No 6: Transfer
of sentenced persons and social rehabilitation (pdf)
UK: Home Affairs Select Committee report: Rules
governing enforced removals from the UK (pdf) See also:
Dangerous deportation techniques may still be in use, MPs warn
- Home affairs select committee finds evidence of dangerous restraint
techniques, although UK Border Agency denies claim (Guardian, link)
EU: DATA PROTECTION BODIES CRITICISE COMMISSION LAW ENFORCEMENT
PROPOSALS: European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS):
Press release
(pdf) welcomes the General Data protection proposals but says
of proposed Directive on the exchange of personal data by law
enforcement agencies:
"the
EDPS strongly regrets the inadequate content of the specific
Directive on data protection in the area of police and justice.
Peter Hustinx states: The Commission has not lived up to
its promises to ensure a robust system for police and justice.
These are areas where the use of personal information inevitably
has an enormous impact on the lives of private individuals. It
is difficult to understand why the Commission has excluded this
area from what it intended to do, namely proposing a comprehensive
legislative framework. and:
"The
EDPS regrets in particular that: the Commission does not propose
stricter rules for the transfer of personal data outside the
EU, data protection authorities are not given mandatory powers
to effectively control the processing of personal data in this
area and the possibilities for the police to access data processed
in the private sector are not regulated."
The Article 29
Working Party on data protection (national data protection bodies)
takes a similar view: Press release (pdf): "Chairman
Kohnstamm however regrets the Commissions level of ambition
in the area of police and justice and underlines the need for
stronger provisions in this field."
EU: NEW DATA PROTECTION PROPOSALS: European Commission:
- Communication:
Safeguarding Privacy in a Connected World A European Data Protection
Framework for the 21st Century (pdf)
- General Regulation replacing 1995 Directive: Proposal
for a Regulation on the protection of individuals with regard
to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of
such data (General Data Protection Regulation) (pdf)
- New Directive
on the exchange of personal data by law enforcement agencies:
Proposal
for a Directive on the protection of individuals with regard
to the processing of personal data by competent authorities for
the purposes of prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution
of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties,
and the free movement of such data (pdf)
- Report on infamous 2008 law enforcement Directive: Report
from the Commission: based on Article 29 (2) of the Council Framework
Decision of 27 November 2008 on the protection of personal data
processed in the framework of police and judicial cooperation
in criminal matters (pdf). See: Statewatch: Observatory
on data protection in police and judicial matters (2005-2008)
and 2011 ongoing
- Impact Assessment for both proposals: Commission
Staff Working Paper: Impact Assessment: Accompanying the document
Regulation on the protection of individuals with regard to the
processing of personal data and on the free movement of such
data (General Data Protection Regulation) and Directive of the
European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of individuals
with regard to the processing of personal data by competent authorities
for the purposes of prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution
of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties,
and the free movement of such data (pdf)
- Annex to IA for both proposals: Annex (128 pages, pdf)
EU
pushes ahead with plans for greater law enforcement data access:At the meeting of the Working Party
on Information Exchange and Data Protection on 11th January,
a document from Europol outlining a "high level solution
definition" for the Information Exchange Platform for Law
Enforcement Agencies (IXP) was approved. This permits further
work to be undertaken on the IXP, prior to its implementation
in three phases, which will see progressively greater access
to (and convergence and harmonisation of) law enforcement databases
and computer systems across the EU.
EU: European Digital Rights (EDRI): EU
SURVEILLANCE: A summary of current EU surveillance and security
measures
(pdf). Excellent briefing.
EU: FRONTEX: Programme
of Work 2012
(pdf)
EU: European Parliament: Minutes: Delegation
of 24 November 2011, 25 November 2011 and 26 November 2011 Sicily,
Italy
(pdf), being discussed at the Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE)
on 25 January 2012.
EU:
Eurospooks
flourish as Euro flounders - UK may shun monetary cooperation
but eager to promote security and intelligence links
(Guardian's Defence
and Security blog, link) Article by Richard Norton-Taylor: "Deep
in the European undergrowth, Britain is engaged in discussions
on a wide range of security issues with a potentially huge impact
on civil rights and individual liberties. Measures designed to
combat terrorism, crime, and protect the EU from "natural
and man-made disasters", even "traffic accidents",
are featured on the agendas of a myriad of committees of unaccountable
officials. Their work is revealed in a series of classified EU
documents, littered with acronyms, reflecting the large number
of proposals designed to strengthen links between the national
security and intelligence agencies of EU member states."
The article cites
the following documents: Draft
working method for closer cooperation and coordination in the
field of EU security (pdf) and Strengthening
ties between CSDP and FSJ - Elements of a draft Road Map (from the European External
Action Service, pdf)
UK-EU: Statewatch Analysis: The Mother of all Opt-outs?
The UKs possible opt-out from prior third pillar measures
in June 2014
(pdf) by Steve Peers, Professor of Law, University of Essex:
"The Treaty of Lisbon offers the possibility that the
UK can decide, as of 1 June 2014, to opt-out of all EU policing
and criminal law measures adopted before the Treaty of Lisbon.
Since this possibility is attracting discussion as the deadline
date comes closer, this analysis looks in detail at the legal
framework and practical implications of any UK decision to adopt
such an opt-out.... the main practical impact of the block opt-out
would be to end the UK's access to policing databases and other
forms of exchange of police information, and to terminate the
UK's involvement in some aspects of criminal law judicial cooperation,
in particular the European Arrest Warrant and the transfer of
prisoners."
UP DATE: EU: CRIME STATISTICS: Measuring
Crime in the EU: Statistics Action Plan 2011- 2015 (COM 713, pdf): See:
EU Crime Survey including long list of questions: Proposal
for a Regulation on European statistics on safety from crime (pdf) and EU Crime Survey:
Proposal
for a Regulation on European statistics on safety from crime
- Summary table (pdf). Detailed discussion of the Council's position.
EU:
Commission
still seeking proof of the necessity of mandatory data retention
"An ongoing campaign by data protection
authorities and civil society organisations has attempted to
have the Data Retention Directive either severely amended or
repealed altogether. However, it seems that the statement of
Commissioner Malmström in a December 2010 speech to a consultation
workshop on the Directive remains true: "data retention
is here to stay". Moreover, judging from the tone of the
Commission's note, it is likely to continue to prioritise the
requirements of law enforcement authorities over the rights of
individuals." See:
Statewatch's Observatory (from 2004 and ongoing): The
surveillance of telecommunications in the EU
Council of Europe: The Consultative
Committee of the Convention for the Protection if individuals
with regard to automatic processing of personal data [ETS No.
108] (T-PD): Modernisation of Convention 108: new proposals (pdf)
EU-USA PNR SCHEME: "the Working Party notes (modest)
improvements in the draft agreement, but does not see its serious
concerns removed" Article 29 Working Party on data protection:
Letter
to the Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament (pdf)
EU: FISCAL CRISIS TREATY: Version 4: 19.1.12
- 16:00: Draft Treaty on stability, coordination and governance
in the Economic and Monetary Union (pdf)
UK-FRANCE: Children's Commissioner report: Landing
in Dover: The immigration process undertaken by unaccompanied
children arriving in Kent (pdf). See also: Child
trafficking victims bounced back to France within hours of arrival
in UK - Children's commissioner discovers trafficked minors were
sent straight back under 'gentleman's agreement' with France (Guardian, link)
EU: Statewatch's In
the News
Press reports from around the EU - 33 posts in January
FRANCE: Court
decision overturns government attempt to deny foreigners' access
to lawyers in transit zones
: On 30 November 2011, the NGO ANAFÉ (Association nationale
d'assistance aux frontières pour les étrangers)
was brought to court by the Ministry of Interior in an attempt
to halt the provision of free legal counselling to foreigners
held in transit zones at Roissy airport (Paris, France). A press
release has been issued denouncing the Ministry's attempt "to
conceal the obstacles preventing foreigners accessing their rights
in transit zones". The judge decided, on 4 January 2012,
that the Ministry's action was an impediment to ANAFÉ's
work.
UK:
Kettling protesters is lawful, appeal court rules - Metropolitan
police win appeal against high court ruling criticising violent
tactics at the G20 protest in 2009 (Guardian, link) and see: Full
text of the judgment (pdf)
UK: BORDER
CONTROLS: Home Affairs Select Committee report: UK
Border Controls (78 pages, pdf)
EU: Statewatch: Targeted issues:
- Observatory:
EU Internal
Security Strategy
- Observatory: Regulation
on access to EU documents: 2008 - 2011
- Observatory: European
Investigation Order
- Observatory: EU-PNR
(Passenger Name Record)
- Observatory: UK:
Government's Civil Liberties Programme
- Observatory: EU-USA
general agreement on data protection and the exchange of personal
data
-
Observatory: European
Security Research Programme (ESRP)
- Observatory: The surveillance of telecommunications
in the EU
- Full
contents of Statewatch News online with news, analysis
and documentation
- In the News carries
links to news coverage from across the EU
- What's New covers all new
items on the website
- Statewatch Sitemap
Top reports and services 2004-2011
See: Resources for researchers: Statewatch
Analyses: 1999-ongoing
Free access to two unique
resources on civil liberties in Europe: 1) The Statewatch
database with 27,000+ articles on civil liberties in
Europe. 2) SEMDOC website: Statewatch
European Monitoring and Documentation Centre on EU Justice
and Home Affairs policy. Download Press
Release
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
Statewatch Analysis:
Case
Law Summary: EU access to documents Regulation (142 pages, small pdf).
Prepared by Steve Peers
Professor of Law, University of Essex: "The following
summary sets out systematically the case law of the EU Courts
(the Court of Justice and the lower court, the General Court
previously known as the Court of First Instance) concerning
the EUs access to documents regulation (Reg. 1049/2001)."
UK: Statewatch
analysis: Six
months on: An update on the UK coalition governments commitment
to civil liberties (pdf) by Max Rowlands
Statewatch publishes
a follow-up to its June
2010 analysis
of the coalition government's commitment to civil liberties:
Within weeks of its formation in May 2010, the coalition government
announced with much fanfare its intention to restore the
rights of individuals in the face of encroaching state power.
An easy victory over Labours politically bankrupt National
Identity Scheme followed, but since then the governments
approach has been characterised by caution and pragmatism rather
than an unerring commitment to liberty.
EU: Major report
from Statewatch and the Transnational Institute:
NeoConOpticon
- The EU Security-Industrial Complex by Ben Hayes (pdf): 211,180 copies
downloaded. Executive
Summary
(pdf) and NeoConOpticon
blog
SPECIAL STATEWATCH
REPORT: The
Shape of Things to Come - the EU Future Group (Version.1.3) by Tony
Bunyan: 67,134 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
See: Tony Bunyan's column in
the Guardian: View
from the EU
UK: Statewatch
Analysis: Rolling
back the authoritarian state? An analysis of the coalition governments
commitment to civil liberties (pdf) by Max Rowlands
Statewatch analysis:
Intensive
surveillance of violent radicalisation extended to
embrace suspected radicals from across the political
spectrum: Targets include: Extreme right/left, Islamist,
nationalist, anti-globalisation etc (pdf) by Tony Bunyan.
EU: Statewatch
Analysis: The
proposed European Investigation Order: Assault on human rights
and national sovereignty (pdf) by Steve Peers, Professor of Law,
University of Essex: "the combined abolition of dual
criminality and territoriality requirements represents both a
fundamental threat to the rule of law in criminal law
matters which is required by Article 7 ECHR (legal certainty
of criminal offences) and Article 8 ECHR in this field (invasions
of privacy must be in accordance with the law) and an
attack on the national sovereignty of Member States, which
would in effect lose their power to define what acts are in fact
criminal if committed on the territory of their State."
European Commission:
Stockholm Programme: Statewatch Analysis: Action
Plan on the Stockholm Programme: A bit more freedom and justice
and a lot more security (pdf) by Tony Bunyan
Statewatch Analysis:
The
right to protest: Troublemakers and travelling
violent offenders [undefined] to be recorded on database and
targeted
by Tony Bunyan: "Since the onset of the EUs response
to the war on terrorism the prime targets have been
Muslim and migrant communities together with refugees and asylum-seekers.
Now there is an emerging picture across the EU that demonstrations
and the democratic right to protest are among the next to be
targeted to enforce internal security.
Statewatch Analysis:
EU
proposals to increase the financial transparency of charities
and non-profit organisations by Ben Hayes: "The Financial
Action Task Force (FATF) has strongly promoted the thesis that
terrorist organisations use laundered money for their activities,
and that charities are a potential conduit for terrorist organisations."
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: 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)
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