Statewatch
News online: Archive
for year 2003
December 2003
EU issues updated list of "terrorist organisations
and persons": Lists
and documentation
UK: Committee of senior parliamentarians calls
for Britain's Guantanamo Bay to be scrapped as "a matter
of urgency": Story
and full-text of their report
Updated 18.12.03: EU: Commission "compromises" and agrees
on handing over passenger data to USA: Report
and documents
- EU-USA collusion heralds global imposition of the surveillance
of travel
- "The EU
cannot refuse its ally in the fight against terrorism" (EU Commissioner Bolkestein)
- The EU's Data Protection Article 29 Working Party: "declined
to adopt or approve the text, on the grounds that the transfer
of PNR to the US are in any case illegal and nothing should be
done to blur that fact"
"What is quite unforgivable is that the European Commission thinks that the EU-USA deal - with a state which has no data protection laws and no intention of adopting them - is a better basis for a global standard than the EU's data protection laws which have served as a model for many countries around the world." (Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor)
Building the new security regime: EU agrees to
exchange of classified documents on "crisis operations"
including justice and home affairs issues: Report
and documentation
Belgium: Four Belgian police officers guilty over
the death of Semira Adamu: Report
European
Security Strategy, drafted by Javier Solana and approved today
(12.12.03) by the European Council: "A
Secure Europe in a better world" (pdf) and the European
Council on European Security and Defence: Conclusions
(pdf)
Statewatch
European Monitor vol 3 no 6 published: monthly round-up of developments
in EU justice and home affairs policy: Monitor
EU driving licences to be renewed every 10 years
and new security features added each time: Report
Critical
Lawyers Group: Conference on "Justice in the 21st Century?"
7-8 February 2004, Canterbury, Kent: Details
Northern Ireland: McBride third judicial review:
Report
EU plan for wholesale security checking of every
traveller: Report
UK takes lead on surveillance of passengers: "security
and immigration risks" to be stopped from boarding: Report
November 2003
Guantanamo Bay: The legal black hole: Twenty-Seventh
F.A. Mann Lecture: 25 November 2003 By Johan Steyn [Lord Steyn
is a judicial member of the House of Lords - the UK's supreme
court]: Lecture (html) Lecture (pdf version)
UK: The Civil Contingencies Bill - Britain's "Patriot
Act", updated now with full-text of committee's report:
Report
Parliamentary
committee says: "Our democracy and civil liberties could
be in danger"
EU: Form of deal on handing over passenger data
to USA in doubt: Report
Ireland: Appeal for support of non-national parents
and their Irish citizen children: Report
and appeal
UK: Telephone tapping figures (1937-2002) - updated
to include latest published figures for 2002: UK:
Surveillance figures
Update: 27.11.03: Greece: The "Thessaloniki
5" hunger strike leads to release: Report
EU: Appeal to European Parliament Against Humiliating
Chartered Flights: Report
Latest
"compromise" proposals from Italian Presidency for
IGC (documents dated 25 November 2003): Observatory
on EU Constitution
Statewatch analysis: Cover-up! Proposed Regulation
on European Border Guard hides unaccountable, operational bodies:
Analysis
and documentation
UNHCR and Amnesty International criticise proposals
on asylum procedures to be discussed at the meeting of the EU
Justice and Home Affairs Council on 27 November in Brussels:
UNHCR calls for proposals to be withdrawn: UNHCR
Aide Memoire
UNHCR
press release
Text
of letter to Berlusconi
Amnesty International:
EU
Office backs UNHCR criticisms
see
also: Statewatch analysis: EU law on asylum procedures: An assault
on human rights? Analysis
(Updated 21 November) UK: Home Secretary launches ID card
scheme: Report
and documents
"After
a well reported, and alleged, disagreement in the Cabinet over
ID cards we get a government statement which is based on fear
and racism. Identity cards are necessary to defeat terrorism
and immigration"
This story updated 20 November: report on the medical
condition of the "Five": Greece: The "Thessaloniki
5" on hunger strike transferred to high security prison:
Report
Spain:
Immigrant
minors to be interned and deported: Report
(Updated
19.11.03) Statewatch
analysis: EU law on asylum procedures: An assault on human rights?
Analysis
The Council
is nearing the deadline of December 2003 set by EU leaders for
agreement on a proposed Directive on asylum procedures. This
Directive, along with a parallel proposal on the definition of
'refugee' and subsidiary protection status, is at the heart of
refugee law. However, there are disturbing developments in the
final months of negotiations on the Directive. It appears that
the Council is likely to agree a Directive which in many respects
will fall below the minimum standards set by human rights law,
with Member States not merely permitted and encouraged to lower
their existing standards but in one area even required to lower
those standards.
Greece: The "Thessaloniki 5" on hunger
strike transferred to high security prison: Report
EU: European Commission proposes a new permanent
state agency: European Agency of Operational Cooperation at the
External Borders", which will also deal with repatriation
from within the EU: Full-text (pdf). Its "Objectives"
begin with the phrase that a:
"a high and uniform level of control and surveillance, [are] an essential prerequisite for an area of freedom, security and justice"
EU: MEP tables formal complaint on transfer of
personal data to USA: Report
USA deliberately undermining the International
Criminal Court: Report
EU - Mandatory retention of telecommunications
data would be unlawful - Legal opinion says that under the ECHR
mandatory data retention is disproportionate, contrary to the
rule of law and cannot be said to be necessary in a democratic
society: Report
and documentation
October 2003
Top story of the month:
Statewatch
submission to the EU Network of Independent Experts on fundamental
rights raises 22 major civil liberties concerns: Statewatch
submission
"Left
unchecked basic freedoms and democratic standards - freedom of
movement, freedom of expression and the right to protest, freedom
from surveillance in everyday life, accountability, scrutiny
and data protection - will be whittled away one by one threatening
the very democracy being defended by the "war on terrorism"
"
UK: Amnesty International
says decision on ten people held in Belmarsh Prison "amounts
to perversion of justice": Report
EU: Environmental groups welcome new proposals
on access to documents and justice and public participation but
oppose attempts to vet which groups will have these rights: Report
Finland: Outrage over three asylum seekers - two
of them children - given forcible injections: Report
EU: "health cards" and 10 year driving
licences pose privacy questions: Report
Statewatch submission to the EU Network of Independent
Experts on fundamental rights raises 22 major civil liberties
concerns: Statewatch
submission
"Left
unchecked basic freedoms and democratic standards - freedom of
movement, freedom of expression and the right to protest, freedom
from surveillance in everyday life, accountability, scrutiny
and data protection - will be whittled away one by one threatening
the very democracy being defended by the "war on terrorism"
"
EU: New "G5" group of Interior Ministers
meet for second time in France: Report
Justice and home affairs: Conclusions of EU Summit
on 16-17 October 2003: Report
UK: Government trying to slip through "voluntary"
data retention rejected by consultation process: Report
and documentation
- government leaves the communications
industry open to legal challenge if they retain traffic data
for the purpose of "national security" and then pass
it over for other purposes, for example, for crime, public order
or taxation
National Security and Open Government: Striking
the right balance - nine essays looking at freedom of information
post 11 September: Book
and essays
EU: Commission proposals for EC participation in
UN Convention and Protocols on transnational crime, "smuggling"
of migrants and trafficking: Texts
and explanatory Notes
EU Parliament wants to halt air passenger data
transfer to USA: Report
and Resolution
but EU Commissioner, Mr Bolkestein hoping for "deal"
derogating from EU data protection standards to allow USA access
Canadian parliamentary report ridicules ID cards
as pointless, costly and dangerous - findings may devastate UK
government plans for an ID card: Privacy
International press release
European airlines are handing PNR data over to
US Customs - Evidence from Spain: Report
& documents
- full documentation
of all the data collected and passed over for one return flight
by one passenger
- full list of the 43 categories of personal data demanded by
USA
UK: Public consultation on proposed changes to
publicly funded immigration and asylum work: ILPA's response:
Report
Casualties in the so-called "war on terrorism":
Report
- USA: Pakistani working in USA has visa revoked for no reason
- Canada: Government settles out of court for false accusation
of terrorist links
- Spain: Migrants sue over wrongful arrests
- UK: Algerian pilot suing US government
- CIA: UK citizen held for four weeks in Gambia
EU tells USA to stop making new requests to airlines
for personal passenger data: Report
and letter
Head
of Interpol highlights abuses in war on terror: Report
Unprecedented complaint by the Europol Management
Board about informal requests for action by Council working parties
by-passing legislative processes: Report
IGC Launch: European NGOs Publish Concerns Over
Justice and Home Affairs and Fundamental Rights Provisions in
Draft Constitution: Press
release and submission
September 2003
Top story of the month: Biometrics - EU takes another
step down the road to 1984: Report
- biometric documents
for visas and resident third country nationals to be introduced
by 2005
- biometric passports/documents for EU citizens to follow
- "compulsory" fingerprints and facial images
- data and personal information to be held on national and EU-wide
databases
- admission that powers of data protection authorities vary and
are "under-resourced"
- no guarantees that data will not be made available to non-EU
states (eg: USA)
Ireland: Government is told for the third time
to allow people a lawyer when in police questioning: ICCL
Report
European Parliament report opposes giving passenger
data to USA without strict data protection safeguards - and says
if these are not met by 1 December all data transfers should
stop: Report
Biometrics - EU takes another step down the road
to 1984: Report
- biometric documents
for visas and resident third country nationals to be introduced
by 2005
- biometric passports/documents for EU citizens to follow
- "compulsory" fingerprints and facial images
- data and personal information to be held on national and EU-wide
databases
- admission that powers of data protection authorities vary and
are "under-resourced"
- no guarantees that data will not be made available to non-EU
states (eg: USA)
European Ombudsman calls for new Constitution to
set up a system of non-judicial remedies: Report
European
Parliament: Public hearing: Tuesday, 30 September 2003, 14.30
- 19.00 p.m.European Parliament - Room PHS 4B 01: Guantanamo:
The Right to a Fair Trial: Guantanamo
hearing programme (pdf)
"Migration,
development and the EU security agenda" paper by Ben Hayes
& Tony Bunyan: Paper
European Commission tells USA that demands for
access to data on airline passengers breaches EU Data Protection
Directive - but hints at a deal that would "fudge"
the issue (update 18.9.03): Report
and documentation
"The
debate in Europe over the US demand for access to personal information
on air passengers travelling from the EU has rightly centred
on data protection issues. However, the issue of how the information
could be used to potentially infringe peoples' civil liberties
has been missing from the discussion. Everyone flying to the
USA, and flying within the USA, will automatically be "profiled"
under the proposed Computer Assisted Passenger Profiling System
(CAPPS II). Their "profile" will be determined after
checks against a series of "watch-lists", which although
said to be directed at terrorism go much wider in practice.
Data
protection covers what information is passed over, who it is
passed on to, how long it is kept for and whether a person can
see and correct data held on them. Civil liberties deals with
how that data is used against people - whether they are questioned,
searched, detained or placed under surveillance. In a democratic
society the two are indivisible."
Privacy International report warns of an escalation
of internet restrictions: Report
Data protection: International Conference of Data
Protection and Privacy Commissioners adopt series of resolutions
calling for global standards: Report
and documentation
EU issues updated list of "terrorist organisations
and persons" (12.9.03): Report
and lists
EU: Informal meeting of Justice and Home Affairs
Council in Rome, 12-13 September 2003: Report
USA delays demand for mandatory "machine-readable"
passports: Report
UK: Anti-terrorist law used against arms fair protestors:
Report
EU: The story of Tampere - an undemocratic
process excluding civil society: Statewatch
briefing
Update: Northern Ireland: Government
under fire over murdered teenager: Peter McBride's sister standing
in parliamentary by election: Report
Updated 5 September: European Commission
tells USA that demands for access to data on airline passengers
breaches EU Data Protection Directive - correspondence reveals
that USA is also asking for "Advance Passenger Information"
to vet those flying: Report
UK: Special Branch more than doubles
in size: Special
report
Analysis
by Tony Bunyan on the Special Branchs role in conducting surveillance
for MI5 and on public order
Statewatch:
Annotated texts of EU Constitution: Analyses
A unique series
of annotated texts of the proposed EU Constitution have been
prepared for Statewatch by Professor Steve Peers, University
of Essex. Each of the texts is annotated to compare the current
Treaties, practice and case law to the proposed Constitution
- and in the case of decision-making the present division of
powers to those proposed (including new powers).
August 2003
Top story of the month: Italian Presidency proposes that officers
in plainclothes drive unmarked police cars across the
EU to deport migrants: "any possible legitimate "measure"
[may be used] to prevent or terminate acts of resistance"
and does
the EU care more about cattle than people?" Report
and documentation
Dutch government attacks Italian Presidency plan
to combat protests: Report
Belgium: Woman in 'repatriation' blunder: Report
Leaving a 'Stain Upon the Silence' : critical criminology
and the politics of dissent: Paper by Paddy Hillyard, Joe Sim,
Steve Tombs and Dave Whyte: Paper
Italian EU Council Presidency: Plan to put protestors
under surveillance and deny entry to suspected troublemakers:
Special
Report
"Counter-terrorism", Human Security and
Globalisation - from Welfare to Warfare State? Paper by Jude
McCulloch: Paper
"The war on terror and the suppression of
dissent" paper by Reece Walters: Paper
"Streets of Terror: Marginalisation, criminalisation
and authoritarian renewal" paper by Phil Scraton: Paper
Italy: Everyone is equal before the law, ... but
some are more equal than others: Berlusconi and the law: Report
Northern Ireland: Human Rights minister under fire
over murdered teenager: Report
EU: Mass deportations by charter flight - enforcement
and resistance: Report
Collective expulsion
of aliens is prohibited (4th
Protocol (Article 4) to the European Convention on Human Rights)
Statewatch
Special Report no 3: Losing the "war on drugs" - crisis
and contradiction in international drug policy: Analysis
Afghanistan: UNHCR imposing compulsory iris-scans
on returning refugees over six years old: Report
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: "Article 16
(1) No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference
with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence"
German
police raid border camp and arrest 250 activists: Report
Special:
Italian Presidency
proposes that officers in plainclothes drive unmarked police
cars across the EU to deport migrants: "any possible
legitimate "measure" [may be used] to prevent or terminate
acts of resistance" and does the EU care more about cattle
than people? Report
and documentation
ACLU
Files First-Ever Challenge to USA PATRIOT Act, Citing Radical
Expansion of FBI Powers: ACLU
case (link)
Statewatch Special Report no 2: The New UK-US
Extradition Treaty -
removes or
restricts key protections for defendants - signed and adopted
without any parliamentary scrutiny: Report and documentation
July 2003
Top story of the month: "Nothing is true, nor is it a lie?"
by Nieves Garcia Benito. A powerful and moving essay on
the indifference of Europe to dead migrants whose lives end on
Spain's beaches: "Nothing
is true, nor is it a lie?"
EU: The other asylum statistics - Governments count
the numbers coming in. But who counts the numbers that do not
make it? Report
UK: Citizenship ceremony - oath of allegiance to
"Queen and Country": Report
British Airways eject passenger on flight to London
from USA because he was wearing a badge saying "Suspected
Terrorist" and his partner was refused too because she was
"associated" with him, see story on: "Suspected
Terrorist" (link)
Greece: The "Soloniki 8" and Simon Chapman:
Report
Identity cards in the UK - a lesson from history:
Report
UK parliament Select Committee issues critical
report on EU-US agreements on extradition and mutual legal assistance:
Report
"Nothing is true, nor is it a lie?" by Nieves Garcia Benito. A powerful and moving essay on the indifference
of Europe to dead migrants whose lives end on Spain's beaches
(Special report): "Nothing is true, nor is it
a lie?"
Updated: 21 July 2003: The Convention as submitted to the EU
Presidency, dated: 18 July 2003
UK-Israel: Tip off from UK intelligence services
leads to arrest and release of wrong man: Report
EU: ECHR Protocol on absolute ban on the death
penalty comes into force: Report
The European arrest warrant from the perspective
of a German defence attorney,
speech by
Wolfgang Kaleck, defence attorney, Berlin: Report
EU: French government demands the Schengen police
cooperation "timetable" is updated and calls on Schengen
states to "disassociate" themselves from draft prepared
by the Council General Secretariat: Report
G8:
injured activist
released from hospital after one month - new video evidence demonstrates
police negligence: Report
EU: Italian Presidency wants to make national football
bans EU-wide: Report
Draft EU Convention: Updated versions as at 8 July
2003: Report
and texts
Switzerland's data protection commissioner says
the US war on terror is undermining personal privacy: Report
EU airlines allowing access to all personal details
on passengers by US authorities (revised 8.7.03): Report
EU-USA agreements on extradition and mutual legal
assistance held up over "written instruments" - US
Senate to have full documentation while EU parliaments not even
to be consulted: Report
ECHR finds against the UK government - Pat Finucane's
rights under Article 2 violated: The European Court of Human
Rights concludes that government: "failed to provide
a prompt and effective investigation into the allegations of
collusion by security personnel": Press releases
from Finucane family and human rights groups
June 2003
EU issues updated list of "terrorist organisations
and persons":
Lists
UNHCR: Updated "3-prong" approach to
"processing centres" in EU and "regions"
of origin: Report
Germany: Introduction of biometric features worries
privacy rights advocates: Report
UK: Legal challenge to mass detention of peace
campaigners: Report
UK asylum proposals: Removing asylum seekers to
processing centres outside the UK would be unlawful: Report
EU annual reports on access to documents - still
a very long way to go: Report
- less than 50%
of Council documents available to citizens
- European Commission's register of documents "a disgrace"
- speech by Tony Bunyan to the European Parliament
"It is ten years since the Code on access to Council
and Commission documents was introduced in 1993 and it is six
years since Article 255 in the Amsterdam Treaty allegedly "enshrined"
the citizens' right of access. Yet even now less than 50% of
the contents of documents on the Council's public register have
been released and the Commission's public register is absolutely
useless. How much longer are we going to have to wait for freedom
of information in the EU?"
UK: Civil Contingencies Bill: Emergency Powers
- ancient arbitrary powers preserved: Royal perogative and Privy
Council to authorise emergency powers and scope of new law extended
to protect the government, the state and financial institutions: Report
and documents
EU Summit: Agreement on "harmonised"
biometric identification linked to EU databases: Report
EU
Summit Conclusions (20.6.03): Conclusions
(link)
Documents from the EU Council in Greece: i) Text of the Convention on the future of Europe as presented to the EU Council: Text (pdf) and ii) the paper by Javier Solana, EU High Representative for CFSP, on Security Strategies "A SECURE EUROPE IN A BETTER WORLD", presented today (20.6.03) to the European Council in Thessalonika: Text (pdf)
Updated
20 June with Annotated Agenda: EU Summit in Greece: 19-20 June: Documents
Weekly deaths at European borders - fatal realities
of Fortress Europe: Release and list of deaths
UK: Intelligence and security annual report full
of the usual *** (deleted text): Report
EU working party on data protection highly critical
of proposed deal on US access to passenger data: Report
Italy: Journalists strike over threat to "press
freedom": Report
EU Summit in Thessaloniki, 19-20 June 2003: Legal
help team set up: Report
Updated
16 June 2003: EU
buffer states and UNHCR “processing” centres and "safe
havens": Report
- 20 “neighbour” states to create new “buffer”
zone
- readmission agreements unilateralist and inhumane
- UNHCR plans for "safe havens" in region of origin
and "processing" centres in EU
- all refugees and asylum-seekers to be immediately sent to EU
“closed reception centres” for “processing”
Updated: 13 June 2003: Revised Part I and Part III - Draft
EU Convention: Full documentation Vols I & II and
explanatory reports on amendments: Report
EU cements deal with NATO on exchange of documents:
Report
EU: Major commercial associations express strong
concerns about plans for data retention: Report
Spain: Immigration law reform and efforts to involve
airlines and civil society in the surveillance of migrants: Report
Netherlands: Acquittal for alleged terrorists:
Report
G8 Summit: Police raid targets media activists
and l'Usine Cultural Centre: Report
European Parliament: Public Hearing: EU transparency
- access to documents: does it work? Programme
EU: JHA Council to authorise signing of EU-USA
agreements on extradition and mutual legal assistance - European
Parliament adopts highly critical report and Amnesty International
say extradition agreement flawed: Report
European Commission publishes two Communications
(3 June 2003):
a) Towards more accessible, equitable and managed asylum system:
COM
(2003) 315
(pdf) COM
(2003) 315
(Word)
b) On the development of a common policy on illegal immigration,
smuggling and trafficking of human beings, external borders and
the return of illegal immigrants: COM (2003) 323 (pdf)
May 2003
Updated: 13 June 2003: Draft EU Convention: Full documentation
Vols I & II and explanatory reports on amendments: Report
Amnesty International Report 2003 - "No shortcut
to genuine security": Report
Ireland - Court threat for state over privacy:
Report
Draft EU Convention Volume 1 published: Full-text
Readmission agreements
and EC external migration law: Statewatch analysis
"The EU's approach to readmission agreements involves insisting that more and more non-EU countries sign up to broad readmission obligations to the EU with little or nothing in return. EU policy has been backed up by harsher and harsher rhetoric and threats against third countries as the EU becomes more and more unilateralist and focused solely on migration control. These policies are unbalanced, inhumane, and internally contradictory" -- with 15 primary documents full-text
Spain: Legal action against policing of demonstrations:
Report
USA: ACLU Releases Report on Suppression of Dissent
in a Post 9/11 America: Press release
Greece: 17 November in the dock - Unjust justice
in Athens: Article
UK: Privacy International launch campaign for consumers
to obtain their records from telecommunications companies: Report
G8: Decisions from the Justice and Home Affairs
Ministers meeting in Paris on 5 May 2002: Report
EU: Council capitulates and releases draft EU-US
agreements: Report
and full documentation
- pressure from
civil society and parliaments leads to release of draft agreements
- UK parliament demands six weeks to scrutinise agreements
- drafts confirm that references to the International Criminal
Court (ICC) are excluded
- application of EU data protection standards are "precluded"
- FBI and other US agencies to operate in EU in joint investigation
teams with full powers of search, surveillance and arrest
Europol annual report and work programme for 2004:
Report
Comment by A Sivanandan, founding editor of Race
& Class: "We
the (only) people" (link)
EU: Campaign launched against the illegal transfer
of European travellers' data to the USA: Report
Virgin and Easyjet open to legal challenge? Report
Northern Ireland: Special Branch 'spying' on Sinn
Fein candidate: Report
April 2003
EU: Legal teams set up for G8, Evian and EU Summit
in Thessaloniki: Report
and contacts
Transparency in the European Union still problematic:
Report
EU: Experts on Fundamental Rights highly critical
of EU response to 11 September: Report
Spain: Draft law to criminalise public
opposition to war: Report
UK: The worst law yet: the Nationality,
Immigration and Asylum Act 2002: Analysis
Proposals being discussed by the Convention on
the Future of Europe will lead to the creation of an EU Interior
Ministry - the maintenance of law and order, internal security
and external borders: Analysis (pdf)
EU: Exchanging information on terrorists
or protestors? Report
Northern Ireland: Stevens' Interim Report on collusion
- leading to murder and injury - between loyalist para-military
groups, the Special Branch and the British Army's Force Research
Unit: Report
EU Convention on the future of Europe: Leading
NGOs call for major amendments on the "democratic life"
of the EU: Report
and submission
UK asylum plan for "safe havens": Full-text
of proposal and reactions
Exclusive: EU-USA agreements - the drafts on the table:
Full
report and documentation
- two agreements on extradition and mutual legal assistance being
negotiated in secret
- extradition to USA to apply to any suspected offences
bringing just a one year sentence
- USA successfully opposed any reference to the International
Criminal Court or to Special Courts (Military Tribunals)
- "A broad, categorical,
or systematic application of data protection principles to refuse
cooperation is.. precluded"
- FBI
and other US agencies to operate in EU in joint investigation
teams with full powers of search, surveillance and arrest
EU-USA and UK-USA: Full report and documentation
UK parliament Committee refuses to scrutinise agreements in secret
UK agrees new treaty with USA on extradition
UK and USA prepare for "simultaneous attacks"
International Federation of Journalists
says attacks on journalists in Iraq are "Crimes of War"
that must be punished: Report
Northern Ireland: Research finds new baton rounds
more dangerous: Report
Statewatch openness case leads to landmark decision
- Council agrees to keep copies of all documents and to list
them in "Outcomes" (Minutes): Report
Change to Belgian law on war crimes lets Bush snr
off and Sharon: Report
Leading
NGOs submit amendments on justice and home affairs to the Convention:
Submission
Switzerland:
From 1 April 2003 Swiss Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will
have to keep a log for six months of all e-mails sent by their
customers: Report
March 2003
Proposal to change Belgian law on war crimes would
let Bush snr off but not Sharon: Report
The "war on terrorism" - "Not in
our name": Speech
EU: Spain proposes data on all airline passengers
to be sent to law enforcement agencies and for extra checks on
all foreign nationals entering the EU: Special Report
Asylum in the EU: the beginning of the
end? Report
and analysis
Spain: Secret military telecommunications interception
stations in Madrid, Conil de la Frontera, Gibraltar and Rota:
Report
UK: Some reactions to the war: Baton
attacks on Bangaladeshi schoolkids marks "day of shame"
and Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission condemns war: Report
European Parliament: Hearing on: Data protection
since 11 September 2001 - what strategy for Europe?: Report
EU-US negotiations to start on US access to container
ports: Report
U.S. sends stern warning to Belgium on war crimes
case: Report
EU delegations' offices bugged in Brussels HQ:
Report
Globalism's imperial war, by A. Sivanandan: Article
Massive majority in European Parliament against
deal with US on access to passenger data: Full report, resolution
and amendments and verbatim debate
UK: Home Office consults on data retention and
access to communications data: Report
European Parliament resolution on airline passenger
data gains wide support: Report
European rights court condemns Turkey in Ocalan
case: Report
EU: Mediterranean joint patrols fail to stop migrants:
Report
European Journalists support Irish fight to maintain
open government: Report
UK: Terror policing brings many arrests but few
charges - survey by the Institute of Race Relations: Report
European Parliament committee to hold emergency
session on the transfer of personal data to USA: Report
EU suspends negotiations with USA on judicial agreement:
Report
Gothenburg, June 2001: report on the trials: Report
Direct access to personal details of EU passengers:
How US Customs bounced the European Commission into a quick decision:
Report
EU: Majority of governments introducing data retention
of communications: Report
- nine states
adopting data retention laws so far
- ten out of 15 governments favour a "harmonsing" EU
measure on data retention
- Ireland heads the table with data retention for 3 years
EU data protection chair calls for US access to
passenger details to be postponed: Report
February 2003
EU Working
Party on data protection report on passenger data access by USA:
Report
"it does
not seem acceptable that a unilateral decision taken by a third
country for reasons of its own public interest should lead to
the routine and wholesale transfer of data protected under the
directive"
US Customs to have direct access to EU airlines
reservations databases: Report
Expulsion from Belgium and Schengen bans for anti-war
protestors: Report
European Commission caves in to US demands for
airline and shipping passenger lists: Report
European Commission Green Paper on safeguards for
suspects: Full-text
EU accession treaty:
full-text and analysis of key Articles: Report
USA:
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) slates proposed Domestic
Security Enhancement Act of 2003: Text
and Report
EU-US: US demands EU airlines and ships provide
passengers list - UK is first EU government to back US scheme:
Report
EU: Sri Lanka readmission
agreement: Full-text
UK: Army on patrol in London: Police statement
European Ombudsman: Council tells student that
legal opinion on openness should stay secret: Report
EU-Ecuador: Proposed addition of Ecuador to visa
"blacklist": Report
UK: "Draconian" legislation to criminalise
live music: Report
EU member states by-pass Commission to give US
access to containers at ports:
US Customs Department moved from US Treasury to Homeland Security
Department and US Customs agents to be based in EU ports: Report
EU:
The Convention
on the future of Europe: draft
Articles 1-16 and the Trumpf/Piris report: Report
Germany: Human Rights Activist attacked by civil
police in Jena: Report
Italy: Interior minister links terrorism and activists´
"widespread political illegality": Report
European Digital Rights (EDRI) launch newsletter:
Report
January 2003
UK: Surveillance of communications goes through
the roof - doubling under the Labour government: Special
Report
France: Outrage over deaths of migrants being deported:
Report
Spain: CEAR lawyer detained for assisting Iraqi
refugees: Report
France: Argentine migrant dies during deportation,
full report: Report
Netherlands: ID checks to be introduced: Report
Diamandouros wins European Ombudsman election:
Report
Europe: Analysis - Deaths during forced deportation:
Case details of nine deaths during forced deportations in Switzerland,
Germany, Belgium, Hungary, France, Austria and the UK (IRR News
Service): Link
UK: Massive backlash against government ID card
proposals: Report
France: Malian TV crew protest deportation scuffle:
Report
Netherlands: Petition to end pre-trial detention
of three alleged terrorists denied: Report
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