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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