News online - current lead stories      You can now follow us on and    Top 20 stories for full contents see: Statewatch News online or What's New: lists all items on the website. Resources for researchers: Statewatch Analyses: 1999-ongoing and Statewatch conference speeches Statewatch: EU Justice and Home Affairs archive - documents from 1971 onwards NEW: Sign up to the Call for an Open Europe UK: Campaigners call for amendment to one-sided UK-US extradition treaty The UK was accused last night of being a "minor 51st state of America" as over 150 people packed into a hall in London to hear the stories of individuals facing extradition to the United States, two of whom have been detained for a total of 14 years despite never facing trial in the UK. In front of a screen bearing the slogan "British justice for British citizens", speakers urged the crowd to step up the campaign to amend the Extradition Act 2003, under which no prima facie evidence is required for extradition from the UK to the US to be approved. UK: First ever Big Society Audit warns of the need to bridge the "Big Society gap" and calls for government to work with voluntary sector The Audit highlights that the Big Society has failed to strengthen the voluntary sector over the last two years and that it will face an estimated £3.3 billion of cuts in public funding up to 2016. Small, local voluntary and community organisations struggle to gain Government contracts, and tendering practices appear to have an implicit bias toward private sector organisations. EU: MEPs water down ethics rules (european voice website, link) Parliament's leadership exempts hotel rooms costing less than €300 a night from transparency requirements. See also: Greens-EFA’s press releases: European Parliament transparency - Centre right MEPs vote to keep details of industry-funded jollies opaque (link) The European Parliament's bureau last night voted to overturn the essence of provisions in the MEP code of conduct aimed at ensuring full transparency when MEPs accept gifts in the form of travel, accommodation and subsistence expenses from third parties. The outcome, which was determined by a centre right majority on the EP's bureau, ignored the advice of the EP's ethics committee, which had recommended full transparency for such trips. EU: European Parliament: European Investigation Order: Orientation vote result on the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council regarding the European Investigation Order in criminal matters (pdf) EU: No compromise in sight on EU document secrecy (euobserver, link) Jakob Alvi, the Danish EU presidency spokesman, told EUobserver on Tuesday (22 May) that member states and the European Parliament rapporteur on the dossier, British center-left MEP Michael Cashman, remain poles apart after initial talks, set to continue on Wednesday. EU: Statewatch Analysis: The Revised Asylum Procedures Directive: Keeping Standards Low (pdf) by Steve Peers, Professor of Law, Law School, University of Essex. Offers a thorough legal analysis of the Council's current position on the revised asylum procedures directive and concludes: - The proposed Council draft would provide for a fairly modest increase in standards relating to asylum procedures with the most important improvements from the June 2011 revised proposal removed or watered down. - There are some disturbing reductions of current standards as regards (surreally) the possibility to consider an application as withdrawn even though it was never made (if it is not made as soon as possible), and the power to reintroduce a 'super-safe' third country rule allowing for no consideration of an asylum application at all - a manifest breach of the Geneva Convention, international human rights law, and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. - Member States would still be able to accelerate the consideration of a significant number of applications and in so doing could deny the applicant legal aid, access to the information used against him or her and a copy of the report of the interview during first-instance proceedings; and they could then prevent the applicant from staying on the territory during the appeal. The net result would be a grossly unfair procedure. EU: Statewatch Analysis: Access to EU documents: Article-by-Article commentary, ‘Red Lines’ for the negotiations, and the undemocratic recast procedure (pdf) by Steve Peers, Professor of Law, Law School, University of Essex. On 10 May 2012, the Danish Presidency of the Council put on the agenda of Coreper (the EU body consisting of Member States' representatives to the EU) a draft deal on the proposed Regulation on access to documents. This deal, if agreed, would constitute the Council's position for negotiations with the European Parliament (EP), which has joint decision-making powers on this proposal. This analysis examines the draft deal on an article-by-article basis and concludes: - The draft position of the Council constitutes a significant overall reduction in the level of access to documents. - In particular, the council's definition of a 'document' is of doubtful legality and would exclude massive numbers of documents from the scope of the rules. - The EP should not accept the Council proposal in its present form, or any variation thereof which would significantly reduce current standards. - In particular, the EP should make clear to the Council that it cannot in any circumstances accept the proposed definition of a 'document'. If the Council is adamant on including this definition, the EP should instantly veto the proposal. - The Commission's decision to present negotiations in the form of a 'recast' - a profoundly undemocratic and indeed surely illegal procedure - has prevented the EP from pressing for most of the changes it has unanimously voted for. - The EP and the Council should immediately denounce the pernicious and illegal Inter-institutional Agreement on the recasting of EU Acts. EU: A drop of fundamental rights in an ocean of unaccountability: Frontex in the process of implementing Article 26(a) (link). On 27 April, Frontex presented a tentative timeline in view of the establishment of the controversial Consultative Forum on Fundamental Rights which comes as a result of negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament in November 2011. [1] While European borders remain some of the most murderous in the world, details of the establishment process of this new body confirm the pre-eminence of the Management Board and Member States in the functioning of Frontex, and the leaving aside of any democratic oversight and independent monitoring mechanism. SPAIN: Less-lethal weapons and public order: Athletic Bilbao fan killed by a plastic bullet (link). An Athletico Bilbao football fan celebrating his team's win on 5 April 2012 became the latest victim of the Basque police force's use of plastic bullets. The death sparked fresh debate over the legitimacy of the practice. EU: REGULATION ON PUBLIC ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS: Council seeks to re-write the definition of a "document" after 19 years: Recast of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (first reading) - Preparation of informal trilogues (pdf). Since 1993 the definition of a "document" has been that a: "document shall mean any content whatever its medium" and this is in the current Regulation. However, the Council intends to keep this general definition (Article 3) but to add Article 3a: "Documents subject to this Regulation": which says a document becomes subject to this Regulation (ie: the whole Regulation) when: "it has been drawn up by an institution and either formally transmitted to one or more recipients, submitted for filing or registration, approved by the competent official, or otherwise completed for the purposes for which it was intended" (emphasis added) In simple terms a "document" is only really a "document" when it is finalised (all the drafts and discussion prior to this are not "documents") - this is the same definition, which was widely criticised, first put forward by the Commission in 2008. . The double-faced language of the Council position means also that while it appears in Article 12 that documents concerning legislative and non-legislative acts: "shall, subject to Articles 4 and 9, be made directly accessible to the public" they are still subject to the general rule in Article 3a above. It would thus negate Articles 15.1 and 15.3 para 5 of the Lisbon Treaty. Tony Bunyan, Statewatch Director, comments: " In 1997 the Amsterdam Treaty promised to "enshrine" the public's right of access to EU documents but in 2001 we only got half the cake. If the Council and the Commission get their way we will be left with just a few crumbs [small fragments]. Access to documents is the life-blood of a healthy, vibrant, democracy which encourages informed consent and dissent. Instead the Council wants an unaccountable democracy bereft of content and meaning." EU: REGULATION ON PUBLIC ACCESS TO DOCUMENT: Statewatch challenges Council secrecy on access to EU documents on the revision of the Regulation: Letter from the Council refusing access to three documents concerning the Council's discussions on revising the Regulation on access to EU documents (pdf) in response a: Confirmatory application by Tony Bunyan, on behalf of Statewatch (pdf) The Council had hidden three crucial documents and claimed that access could not be given because 1) It would "prejudice Council's capacity to conduct frank and candid discussions". In other words to meet in secret as a legislature under the so-called "space to think" (under Article 4.3 of the Regulation on acces to documents) see: The case for the repeal of Article 4.3 2) The Council then claims that there was an "absence of any element suggesting an overriding public interest" in dislcosure - it is hard to think of an issue on which the public's right to know what is being discussed manifestly outweighs the need for secrecy. 3) The Council concludes by saying that access may to given "after the the final adoption of the act" - subject still to Article 4.3 para 2. Tony Bunyan, Statewatch Director, comments: "The notion that the wish of a legislature to meet in secret (by failing to release the documents being discussed) outweighs the public interest of the citizens on such a fundamental issue, namely the right to know what is being discussed and proposed in a legislative process in order to know and allow for public debate, has no place in a democracy worthy of the name." EU: ACCESS TO EU DOCUMENTS: Presidency criticised: Even worse than the Commission: The Danish EU-presidency has failed to unite member states on new access rules for the EU-institutions. Sweden, Finland and possibly others will refuse to back a mandate to negotiate a new regulation (Wobbing.eu,link) "Its no secrecy that member states have different opinions on access rules. But now the split comes out in the open. Swedish minister of justice Beatrice Ask (conservative) has instructed the Swedish EU-ambassador not to endorse a negotiating mandate proposed by the Danish presidency. Minister Ask explains why in a comment to this website: ”If the mandate would give space for improved openness I would be the first to vote yes, but I believe that would be wishful thinking as things stand right now. The mandate will pull in the opposite direction, and there is even a risk that it is worse than the Commission's proposal from 2008.” See Statewatch's Observatory: Regulation on access to EU documents: 2008-ongoing EU: Visits campaign : Obstacles to the right to know: Migrant Camps in Europe : Open the doors ! We the right to know ! (link): "The reality of administrative detention of foreigners, a familiar instrument of European migration policies, is hidden from civil society and to the media. Such secrecy makes abuses and attacks on human rights both more likely and harder to combat [1]. European citizens have the right to know the consequences of the policies which are put in place in their names." EU-EAW: Council of the European Union: Replies to questionnaire on quantitative information on the practical operation of the European arrest warrant – Year 2011 (pdf). A strange report for the use of EAWs in 2011 which shows that only 5 out of 27 Member States have responded to the annual report. It shows that these five Member Sates have issued over 3,000 EAWs with Germany responsible for 70%. EU: Amnesty International and European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) Letter on behalf on 166 NGOs:Appeal to EU institutions: Ensure respect for asylum-seekers' right to liberty in recast reception conditions Directive and Dublin Regulation (pdf) and Not crossing red line: A negotiators' checklist on minimum detention safeguards (pdf) EU-ECJ: SCHENGEN BORDERS CODE: ECJ General Advocate’s opinion on sea surveillance and the Schengen Borders Code: reasserting the Parliament’s legislative role, re-opening the Frontex debate? (pdf): "The European Court of Justice’s General Advocate Paulo Mengozzi on 17 April 2012 recommended that the Council’s decision amending the Schengen Borders Code (SBC) for it to cover and regulate EU’s surveillance at sea external borders should be annulled. In July 2010, the European Parliament had lodged an action for annulment before the European Court of Justice against Council Decision 2010/252 supplementing the Schengen Borders Code. It was argued that the Decision was illegal because the followed procedure to adopt it (comitology procedure) was not appropriate given the impact the contested decision had on the SBC and on Frontex Regulation." EU: Updated: Statewatch European Monitoring and Documentation Centre (SEMDOC) Justice and Home Affairs "e-library" archive (1976 - 2000): Weekly Highlighted documents: Update including: - 9299/1/98 REV 1 - External frontier strategy - Guide for the application of risk analysis in combating smuggling in the field of general aviation under the 3rd pillar - 13269/98 ADD 1 - Comprehensive Action Plan for EU/Latin America Counter-Drugs Assistance, including interregional Cooperation with the Caribbean: Annexes: An extensive annex to document 13269/98 outlining the actions taken by the EU in Latin American and the Caribbean in an attempt to disrupt the production of drugs.Includes details on Member States involved, duration, and funding. See also 13269/2/98 REV 2 and 13269/3/98 REV 3. - 13310/98 - CIREFI Statistics for the second quarter of 1998: A 132-page document providing statistics from a wide number of Member States on "refused aliens"; "aliens illegally present"; "aliens who entered illegally"; "facilitators apprehended"; "facilitated aliens"; "removed aliens" - 14436/98 - System of reference codes precisely defining the signs of falsification revealed during the examination of false documents: A document demonstrating the way in which false documents were/are analysed and categorised. - 5045/99 - Electronic surveillance and video surveillance - Summary of replies to questionnaire 11073/97 ENFOPOL 194: "New technologies provide the public with additional security tools, whether used privately or by the police. As a follow-up to the Noordwijk seminar on crime prevention (Netherlands, 11 to 14 May 1998), the French delegation proposed that the Police Cooperation Working Party launch a debate on video and electronic surveillance, on the basis of a survey of legislation and practice in the Member States of the EU. Fourteen Member States replied to the questionnaire" - 14330/98 - Transparency: list of topics on which there could be open debates at meetings of the Council: The Presidency offers a rather limited list of topics on which the Council "could" have open debates in the name of transparency. Search JHA archive - EU Justice and Home Affairs documents from 1976-2000: (currently holds 5,846 documents) European Parliament: Updated: Draft Report on alleged transportation and illegal detention of prisoners in European countries by the CIA: follow-up of the European Parliament TDIP Committee report (pdf). Being presented in the LIBE Committee 8 May, deadline for amendments: 24 May. EUROPOL: LEGAL BASIS: Commission note on meeting with the LIBE Committee in the European Parliament: Summary report of discussions between the Directorate General for Home Affairs, with representatives of national parliaments and of the LIBE Committee on the revision of Europol legal basis (pdf) and see also: Commission document: Revision of Europol's legal basis (pdf) ECCHR-UN: European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights: ECCHR succeed in removing client from the UN Security Council 1267 Al-Qaida blacklist (pdf): "Berlin, 8 May 2012 - The United Nations Security Council 1267 Sanctions Committee yesterday formally announced the removal of one of ECCHR’s clients (Mr Kamel Darraji) from the Al-Qaida terrorism blacklist. He had been kept on the list (at the request of the Italian and US governments) for almost eight years, on the basis that he was allegedly “associated with” an Italian Al-Qaida terrorist cell – an allegation that Mr Darraji has consistently denied." EU-ACTA: European Parliament: LIBE Committee: Draft Opinion: on the compatibility of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Mexican States, the Kingdom of Morocco, New Zealand, the Republic of Singapore, the Swiss Confederation and the United States of America with the rights enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (pdf) EU-ACTA: European Commission written response on ACTA (pdf) to the Opinion of the European Data Protection Supervisor: European Data Protection Supervisor Opinion on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA, pdf) Press release: ACTA measures to enforce IP rights in the digital environment could threaten privacy and data protection if not properly implemented (link) European Parliament: Orientation Vote Result on the proposal to amend Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 in order to provide for common rules on temporary reintroduction of border control at internal borders in exceptional circumstances (pdf). "Orientation" is the adoption of the parliament's negotiating position with the Council in trilogues. EU-ACTA: Kroes Throws in Towel on ACTA (link) ECJ: ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS: Press release: General Court ruling on In ‘t Veld vs Council strengthens transparency in EU (pdf): "Sophie in ‘t Veld, MEP (ALDE, NL), welcomes today’s ruling of the General Court of the EU on her request for access to the opinion of the Council Legal Service on the so called EU-US 'Swift agreement' on the transfer of bank data. "I am pleased the Court largely supported our claim, and puts the interest of the citizen before institutional interests. The Council will have to publish the document, with the exception only of those parts that could reveal the directives that might reveal the strategic objectives pursued by the EU in the negotiations, or the specific content of the agreement envisaged. It is a step forward for transparency in Europe, that the General Court makes it clear that negotiations on international agreements are not automatically exempt from EU transparency rules". and European Court of Justice: Advocate General Opinion: Full-text: Sophie in ’t Veld v Council of the European Union (pdf) EU austerity is feeding racism, report says (euobserver, link): "EU austerity measures are helping to feed racism and intolerance, according to a report by the Strasbourg-based human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe." See: ECRI Annual Report (pdf) EU: European Commission: Security Research: Protecting Europe’s homeland and its future (pdf) and see: NeoConOpticon - The EU Security-Industrial Complex by Ben Hayes (pdf) EU-SIS II: European Commission: Proposal for a Council Regulation on migration from the Schengen Information System (SIS 1+) to the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) (recast) (pdf) EU: European Parliament: Orientation Vote Result: on the proposal for a regulation amending Council Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement (pdf): Vote on the EP's negotiating position before entering trilogue with the Council. And EIO: Draft Report: on the adoption of a Directive regarding the European Investigation Order in criminal matters (pdf) see: Statewatch: Analysis: Update The Proposed European Investigation Order EU: Revising the Access to documents Regulation saga - The beginning of the endgame - "Now is not the time to compromise on transparency" (Michael Cashman MEP) - Danish Council Presidency invokes "the space to think" - Council and Commission question the definition of a "document" - Council seeks to restrict access to legislative documents - "The outcome of the process now being embarked upon will determine the future of democratic accountability on the EU" (Tony Bunyan, Statewatch Director) 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 2004-2012 NEW: TNI - Statewatch: Counter-terrorism, 'policy laundering' and the FATF - legalising surveillance, regulating civil society 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 EU’s access to documents regulation (Reg. 1049/2001)." UK: Statewatch analysis: Six months on: An update on the UK coalition government’s 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 Labour’s politically bankrupt National Identity Scheme followed, but since then the government’s 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 government’s 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 EU’s 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) The Statewatch website Since its launch this website has had 11,433,884, user sessions and 59,466,620 "hits" (December 2011) In the year 2011 there were 1,198,831 user sessions and 10,288,301 "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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