What's New
on the
Statewatch website - archive: 2005
December 2005
UK: Terrorism
Bill - as amended - 20 December 2005 in Committee in the House of Lords
Germany: Refugee
from Cameroon threatened with imprisonment for resisting travel
restrictions imposed on asylum seekers. Synopsis:
The German self-organised refugee group The Voice and
the Göttinger Arbeitskreis zur Unterstützung von
Asylsuchenden e.V. is asking for support in their campaign
to stop the imprisonment of Cornelius Yufanyi for fighting for
his right to free movement.
UK-Greece: MI6
Athens station chief named (Cryptome, link) and MI6
officer linked to abductions in Athens hunt for Tube bombers (Guardian, link) and
Greece
urged to investigate MI6 torture link Athens MI6 station chief linked to abduction
and beating of 28 migrants from Pakistan. See also Athens
News
(link)
EU: Austrian Presidency draft Agendas for the three
Justice and Home Affairs Ministers' Councils (see pages 22-28. pdf).
Austrian
and Finnish Presidencies of the Council of the European Union:Programme
for 2006
(see pages 40-45, pdf) - this includes the heading "Strengthening
freedom" which is all about asylum, refugees and border
controls, whose "freedom" it might be asked.
EU-wide
warrant over 'CIA kidnap' (BBC, link) Abu Omar was allegedly kidnapped
from a Milan street An Italian court has issued Europe-wide arrest
warrants for 22 suspected CIA agents accused of helping to kidnap
a Muslim cleric in Milan in 2003.
Signals
intelligence and human rights: the ECHELON report prepared by Duncan Campbell for the
Electronic Privacy Information Center (June 2000, link)
US-EU: The US Senate voted yesterday (16 December 2005) to refuse
to renew the Patriot Act, see Reuters (link) The reason was
concerns over the lack of judicial control and congressional
oversight - two crucial safeguards which the European Parliament
agreed to remove from the EU Directive on mandatory data retention
this week, see: Statewatch's Observatory on the
surveillance of telecommunications in the EU
EU: "Unaccountable
Europe" by Tony Bunyan
(Statewatch editor) in Special issue of Index on Censorship: "Big Brother Goes
Global"
EU: European
Parliament to set up committee to look into CIA detention centres
Bush
Secretly Lifted Some Limits on Spying in U.S. After 9/11, Officials
Say (Cryptome, link)
Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments: "Whether these US transit flights are for "criminals", "inadmissible aliens" or for rendition the same questions arise. Do EU governments know how many times their airports have been used for "transit" by US government flights? Which airports are used? How many people have been moved in this way? How many "criminals" and how many "inadmissible aliens"? If they do then why are the facts and figures not available? And if they do not know, why not?
If EU governments do not know who is being moved and where by foreign agencies using their airports then they are grossly irresponsible. To "aid and abet" the movement of people in an inhuman or degrading way or to be tortured is a crime."
Belarus:
Lukashenko signs new amendments to the Criminal Code: Members
of independent human rights NGOs at risk (link). The Observatory for the Protection
of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International
Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation
Against Torture (OMCT), expresses its deepest concern at the
signature by President A. Lukashenko of amendments to the Belarusian
Criminal Code, which strengthen penal responsibility concerning
“acts against people and public security”.
EU:
"Today we have seen another nail driven into democracy's
coffin": European Parliament, 14 December 2005:
The EP today voted in favour of "deal" on mandatory
data retention agreed in secret meetings between the Council
(EU governments) and the "grand coalition" of the PPE
(conservative group) and the PSE (socialist group). The measure
was "fast-tracked" through the parliament on 1st reading.
The vote was 378 votes in favour, 197 against and 30 abstentions.
The GUE, Greens and UEN groups and some members from the ALDE
group voted against the directive in the final vote. The rapporteur,
Alexander Nuno Alvaro (ALDE, DE) withdrew his name from the report.
Amendments
adopted by EP
(pdf) For documents and background please see: Statewatch analysis:
"The
European Parliament and data retention: Chronicle of a 'sell-out'
foretold?" (pdf) by Professor Steve Peers, Open
Letter from civil society groups to the European Parliament calling
on MEPs to reject Data Retention, UK-EU:
Data
retention and police access in the UK - a warning for Europe and for full background, see Statewatch's Observatory
on the surveillance of telecommunications in the EU
Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments:
"The European Parliament has failed on almost every count
to protect fundamental rights and privacy. The two big parties
in the parliament believe more in "inter-institutional loyalty"
to the Council (the EU governments) than to the people who elected
them.
The way this measure was passed is a democratic travesty - rushed through with deals negotiated in secret and not in open committee. When civil society and national parliaments have no chance to find out what is happening, when the proper co-decision timetable is discarded, there is little chance to intervene. Such a procedure diminishes respect for the European Parliament and lacks any legitimacy whatsoever.
Mandatory data retention will place all the communications of everyone under surveillance. In 2002 the same grand coalition steam-rolled through the Directive on privacy in telecommunications opening the door to state agencies. In December 2004 the mandatory taking of finger-prints for passports was agreed and in April 2004 an EU PNR (passenger name record) for everyone flying in and out too. The asylum procedure directive - which is a disgrace to any notion of humanity and the rule of law - was formally adopted last week. The cost of the "war on terrorism" to democratic standards is mounting as each year goes by. Today we have seen another nail driven into democracy's coffin"
EU
Presidencies of the Council of the European Union: 2006-2018
Northern
Ireland (Offences) Bill: Groups
oppose proposed legislation: Joint statement from Justice for
the Forgotten, Relatives for Justice and the Pat Finucane Centre Full-text
of NI (Offences) Bill (pdf) Explantory
Note
(pdf)
Europe: Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s
(PACE) Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Paris 13
December. The rapporteur and Chair of the Committee, Dick Marty,
Council
of Europe statement on detention centres (full-text). "Legal proceedings in progress in certain
countries seemed to indicate that individuals had been abducted
and transferred to other countries without respect for any legal
standards."
EU: Opinion
of the Meijers Committee on the recently adopted asylum procedure
directive
(pdf) This has been sent to the members of the Committee on Civil
Liberties (LIBE) in the European Parliament, requesting them
to start a 230 annulment procedure. Aslyum
Procedures Directive (OJ, pdf)
UK: Armed
Forces Bill
(full-text) - including discipline and charges. House of Commons
Research Library: Background
to the Bill
plus Analysis
of the Bill.
The Constitutional Affairs Committee has also pprodcued a report
on the role of the Advocate-General
CIA rendition: MI6
and CIA 'sent student to Morocco to be tortured' - An Ethiopian claims
that his confession to al-Qaeda bomb plot was signed after beatings,
reports David Rose in New York, 11 December 2005 (Observer, link)
Soviet
air bases in Poland are labelled secret CIA sites (Guardian, link) Poland
launches investigation into CIA's secret 'anti-terror' prisons (Independent on Sunday,
link)
EU: Data Protection Commissioners join with civil society: Open
Letter from civil society groups to the European Parliament calling
on MEPs to reject mandatory data retention
Harold Pinter – Nobel
Lecture: Art,
Truth & Politics (link)
EU: Mandatory data retention: Latest (revised)
set of Council amendments (EU doc no: 15449/05, 6.12.05, pdf)
Commission
Declaration to be Annexed (EU doc no: 15449/05 ADD 1, 7.12.05).
The former document includes the observation that: "The
Presidency concluded that, provided that the European Parliament
agreed amendments to the Commission proposal in the exact
form as set out in Annex I and that the Commission would
amend its proposal accordingly, the Council would be in a position
to adopt the proposed Directive in the form of the text thus
amended." (emphasis added)
In other words the European Parliament is not to be allowed to change a "dot or comma" of the text.
The parliament will vote on 12 December at its plenary session under a "fast-track" 1st reading procedure. The "exact" amendments accepted in secret negotiations by the two largest groups in the parliament, the PPE (conservative) and PSE (socialist), will be voted through unless an amendment is passed. There is the Green/EFA group table rejection amendment (link) and another from Charlotte Cederschiold MEP (PPE) seeking to re-introduce the reimbursement of costs for the telecommunications industry (backed by 37 MEPs). Whether Mr Alvaro (ALDE, liberal group) will keep his name on a report which bears little resemblance to his draft report remains to be seen. See Statewatch analysis: "The European Parliament and data retention: Chronicle of a 'sell-out' foretold?" (pdf) by Professor Steve Peers.
UK: House of Lords - the Lords of Appeal unanimously reject the
use of evidence obtained through the use of torture.Full
text of Torture judgment (pdf)
European Roma Rights Centre report: Always somewhere
else: Anti-Gypsyism in France, Country Report Series,
No. 15 November 2005 (link)
Der Speigel article: The
CIA in Europe (link)
EU: Statewatch analysis: "The European
Parliament and data retention: Chronicle of a 'sell-out' foretold?" (pdf) by Professor Steve
Peers. Concludes:
If the EP accepts the Council's current position without amendments, it will have 'sold out' its civil liberties principles. More data will be included than the EP had wished, and access to it will be essentially unregulated by EC law - the opposite of the EP's intentions. Data will be retained for up to double the period that the EP wanted, and indeed Member States will be unconstrained in requesting (and probably getting authorisation for) longer periods of retention... Taking the Council's version of the Directive, it is difficult to see what absolute constraints concerning data retention would be placed upon Member States by EC law at all. In principle, Member States could insist on (or at least request) the retention of any type of data for any type of security purpose for any period at all.
There would, in effect, be nothing to show from a human rights point of view regarding the core data protection issues, following the application of the co-decision process to this legislation. The European Parliament now has to decide whether it has the courage of its civil liberties convictions or not.
Adopting this Directive would cause an irreversible shift in civil liberties within the European Union. It will adversely affect consumer rights throughout Europe. And it will generate an unprecedented obstacle to the global competitiveness of European industry.
For full background, see Statewatch's Observatory on the surveillance of telecommunications in the EU
UK: First
trial for demonstrating illegally near Parliament (link). The first trial resulting from
the new anti-protest zone around Parliament under the Serious
Organised Crime and Police Act will take place tomorrow (Wednesday
7 December). Maya Evans, 25 years-old, was arrested on 25 October
2005 under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA)
for taking part in an unauthorised bell-ringing and name-reading
ceremony in Whitehall to mark the first anniversary of last year's
Lancet survey on war-related deaths in Iraq.
EU: "Terrorist" list updated 29 November 2005 - see
latest news on Statewatch's Observatory on the terrorist lists
UK: Joint
Human Rights Committee issues damning report on UK terrorism
Bill (pdf) The Committee
considers that the definition of “terrorism” needs
to be changed for the purposes of many of these measures if they
are to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights. See
also evidence
submitted to the joint Committee.
EU-US: “Torture
By Proxy, International and Domestic Law Applicable to Extraordinary
Renditions” (report by Center for Human Rights and
Global Justice, New York University, pdf) Outlines how Extraordinary
Rendition violates international human rights, humanitarian,
refugee and criminal law. It also identifies the responsibilities
of States to not collude in the practice of Extraordinary Rendition
by other States. "States are on notice that Extraordinary
Renditions have been carried out in Europe," warns Professor
Meg Satterthwaite, Director of CHRGJ. "Under human rights
law, they must now take steps to end cooperation with these wrongful
acts."
European Commission: "Recommendation" and "Code
of Conduct" for non-profit organisations. In another response
to the "war on terrorism" the proposal calls for the
compulsory registration of all non-profit groups in the EU: European
Commission proposal calls for the compulsory registration of
NGOs
The proposal is being considered by the Council's (25 EU governments)
"Joint meeting of Financial Attaches and Counter-Terrorism
Focal Points", its first thoughts are in: EU
doc no: 14694/05
EU: Two reports from the UK House of Lords Select Committee on
the European Union: 1) Human Rights
Proofing EU Legislation (pdf) and 2) Scrutiny of
Subsidiarity: Follow up Report (pdf)
EU: Viewpoint
by Tony Bunyan: More openness or just a drop in the ocean? The
need for Freedom of Information in the EU. See also: Brussels,
6 December: Press
Seminar The European Ombudsman: 10 years, 20,000 complaints —
too many? "A more open and accountable EU administration
- the next steps for the Commission, the Parliament and the Ombudsman"
EU: Mandatory data retention:
Council
agreed position on mandatory retention of communications data (dated 2.12.05, pdf)
The European Commission has accepted these changes to its draft
Directive. The European Parliament has to adopt exactly the same
amendments at its plenary session 12-15 December - the deadline
for amendments is 7 December. Posted 3.12.05.
EU: Mandatory data retention: Latest documents and news, 2 December
2005:
1. Draft
Council text of the Directive (doc 15101/05, 1.12.05)
2. Extensive
list of Member State Reservations on the draft text in 15101/05 (doc 15101 ADD 1, 1.12.05)
3. Note
from Presidency setting out four areas for decision of Council
on its position (doc: 15220/05, 1.12.05)
Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments:
"This is turning into a democratic fiasco. The Council has a long list of reservations by member states and four substantive issues where it disagrees with the European Parliament. The European Parliament rapporteurs have had three secret trialoges with the Council and the Commission - now the PPE (conservative group) and the PSE (socialist group) appear to be carrying out their own negotiations with the Council with the aim of rushing through the measure before Xmas under the "fast-track" procedure (intended for non-controverisal measures).
It is quite impossible for anyone, outside of a handful of people, to follow what is going on. If national parliaments and civil society cannot track the decision-making procedure they are unable to make their views known. This is compounded by a virtual media silence leaving the people of Europe in ignorance about the decision to place under surveillance everyone's communications.
A decision taken in this fashion will utterly lack legitimacy."
EU: European Commission proposals on: 1) Priority
actions for responding to the challenges of migration: First
follow-up to Hampton Court (pdf) and 2) Green
Paper: On the future of the European Migration Network (pdf)
EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council 1-2 December 2005:
JHA Press release for 1 December 2005 (pdf)
"A"
Point agenda
(adopted without debate)
"B"
Point Agenda
(pdf)
Background
Note
(pdf)
"A" Point agenda includes: Code of Conduct : Non-Profit Sector (pdf) Documents on the main agenda include:
1. The
European Union Strategy for Combating Radicalisation and Recruitment
to Terrorism"
2. The
European Union Counter-Terrorism Strategy (pdf)
3.A
Strategy for the External Dimension of JHA : Global Freedom,
Security and Justice global strategy (pdf)
Plus three press releases (converted from documents) put out 1 December on terrorism (see also EU Counter-Terrorism Strategy above): a. Terrorism: Scoreboard b. Implementation of terrorism Action Plan c. "Radicalism" and recruitment
Also adopted as "A" Points the controversial Directive on asylum procedures (pdf) plus additional document: 14579/05 This includes the proposal to designate countries as "safe" to send people back to, see: EU divided over list of “safe countries of origin” – Statewatch calls for the list to be scrapped
November 2005
EU biometric ID Card: European Association for Human Rights (AEDH)
statement: Biometry
and electronic ID card : Big Brother is watching you (pdf) Biométrie
et carte d’identité électronique : Big Brother
is watching you (French, pdf) Biométrie
et carte d’identité électronique : Big Brother
is watching you (Spanish, pdf) and
Biometric EU Identity Cards: Belgium government enters reservation on fingerprinting and RFID chips (EU doc no: 14622/05, with full-text of the Council Conclusions due to be adopted on 1 December at the Justice and Home Affairs Council)
The
Origins of the National Security Agency (NSA), 1940-1952, link
EU: European Arrest Warrant (EAW): Interesting note in
the Outcome of Proceedings of the Article 36 Committee on 15-16
November 2005: "Cyprus: The Committee took note of the
information provided by Cyprus on the decision by the Supreme
Court of Cyprus to prohibit surrender by its nationals pending
the amendment to its Constitution. The Council Legal Service
informed the Committee that the Council had decided to intervene
in a case pending before the Court of Justice concerning the
Framework Decision on the European Arrest Warrant. It also noted
that only Hungary and the Czech Republic (of the 10 new Member
States; of the other 15, 12 had done so) had decided to permit
requests for preliminary rulings under Article 35 TEU and asked
these delegations to inform the Council of the reasons why they
had not used this opportunity. Were there any impediments?"
Germany:
State
spying on journalists
EU: Mandatory data retention, Council position
as at 29 November 2005
EU: Visa Information System (VIS):
a. "Roll-out"
plan for priority countries (pdf)
b. European
Commission Communication on access to VIS (pdf)
It should be noted that the "collison" of chips (ie:
the EU visa chip with national passport chips) has yet to be
resolved, see: EU:
Biometric visa policy unworkable and EU
Data protection working party criticise proposals on VIS and Statewatch
analysis on linkage between SIS II and VIS
EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council on 1-2 December:
1. The
European Union Strategy for Combating Radicalisation and Recruitment
to Terrorism"
2. The
European Union Counter-Terrorism Strategy (pdf)
3.A
Strategy for the External Dimension of JHA : Global Freedom,
Security and Justice global strategy (pdf)
EU: Mandatory
data retention: Report from the European Parliament Committee
on Civil Liberties as amended (see below) dated 28 November 2005
EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council, 1-2 December 2005: Background
Note
(pdf)
EU-UK: Report
from the Home Affairs Select Committee on the European Evidence
Warrant (pdf)
EU: Data retention a step closer - privacy sell out
as EP committee approves "compromises" reached in secret
meetings (provisional
EP report). An alliance between PPE (conservative) and PSE (socialist)
MEPs on the European Parliament's civil liberties committee has
adopted a series of amendments to the Alvaro report on data retention,
overturning earlier opposition to the proposals and demands to
restrict them. The "compromise" amendments, which pave
the way for the mandatory retention of everyone's telephone and
internet usage records for one year, follow secret "trialogue"
meetings between representatives of the EP and the Council (representing
the member state governments) and unprecedented pressure on MEPs
from the UK presidency. The vote was 33 to 8 in favour of the
PPE-PSE amendments, with 5 abstentions, green and left MEPs voting
against (see Green group press release). The report may now be
fast tracked through the December plenary session of the EP (scheduled
for the week beginning Monday 12 December).
For full background, see Statewatch's Observatory on the surveillance of telecommunications in the EU
Russia:
Russian
MPs act to 'curb' NGOs (BBC, link). In a 370-18 vote, the State Duma
approved in the first reading the bill that would require all
NGOs to re-register with a state commission.
It is interesting that the EU is also discussing similar proposals, a Commission paper on "Transparency" says they are considering: "compulsory registration of interest groups represented in consultative bodies and/or compulsory registration for all lobbyists." (emphasis added: "Lobbyists" include multinational lobbying and NGOs/voluntary groups) see: European Transparency Initiative (pdf). This is in the context of a proposed new Code of Conduct for non-profit groups who, it is claimed (though no evidence has been presented) could be used to channel funds for terrorist groups. See also the Council's latest thoughts: Code of Conduct : Non-Profit Sector (pdf)
Spain:
Analysis: Spanish
anti-terrorist policy, with the wind blowing in its favour (pdf)
EU: EU
to query US 'secret prisons' (BBC, 23.11.05) on CIA "rendition"
flights in and over EU countries: Malta (link) Spain (BBC, link), UK (Guardian, link), US
detention centres in EU (Council of Europe, link) and US
detention centres (UPI, link) and euractiv (link)
EU:
Opinion of the Advocate-General on the European Parliament's
case on EU-US PNR before the Court of Justice: Press
release
(pdf) Full-text
of Opinion
(French, 4.52MB, pdf). For background and documentation See Statewatch's
Observatory
exchange of passenger data with the USA
Advocate general backs Parliament challenge on passenger records (euractiv, link) EU-US air data accord under legal threat (eupolitix, links)
UK: Health
on-line: public attitudes to data sharing in the Scottish NHS by the Scottish Consumer
Council. Interesting report as most people do not realise that
a national NHS database is being set up containing all patient's
personal records. It is being created on the basis that people
have to "opt-out" (presuming they know what is happening)
rather than positive consent by "opting-in".
UK: Submission on Parliamentary supervision
of terrorism legislation from Dr Chris Pounder (Editor of Data
Protection and Privacy Practice) to the Home Affairs Select Committee
EU: Transparency in the Council of the European Union: following
the Special Report from the European Ombudsman the Council Presidency
has put forward an "Options" Note: Transparency in the Council Option 1 would require
changes in the Council's Rules of Procedure while Option 2 would
simply tinker within the existing Rules. The accompanying Summary
is misleading as it suggests that it is the norm for all preparatory
documents to be released when a legal act is adopted - in fact
great swathes of documents are refused under the exceptions (Art
4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4. and 4.5 of Regulation 1049/01). See also:
European
Ombudsman finds Council has given no valid reasons for continuing
to legislate behind closed doors (press release) Full-text
of the Special Report from the European Ombudsman (pdf)
UK: Identity
cards in Britain: past experience and policy implications
by Jon Agar in History and Policy (link)
Russia: UK Human rights lawyer deported - On 15 November Professor
Bill Bowring was refused entry and sent back to London without
any explanation. He had visited Russia many times before and
on this occasion was going to observe the trial of a journalist.
Bill Bowring is Academic Coordinator of the European Human Rights
Advocacy Centre (EHRAC) which takes cases to the European Court
of Human Rights. Letter
to the Russian Ambassador from the Bar Human Rights Committee
of England and Wales (pdf) Letter from
the UK embassy in Moscow (pdf)
EU:
European Ombudsman issues critical report against the Council
of the European Union which tried to hide documents from applicant:
Press
release
(pdf) Full-text
of decision
(link). Having first denied the existence of more documents than
admitted the Council claimed that due to a "clerical error"
ten other documents not been located.
EU: EU
governments to write to US (euobserver, link) on CIA "rendition"
flights in and over EU countries: Malta (link) Spain (BBC, link), UK (Guardian, link), US
detention centres in EU (Council of Europe, link) and US
detention centres (UPI, link) and euractiv (link)
EU:
Mandatory
data retention - the shifting sands of "compromises"
reached out of public view See
for full background and documentation: Statewatch's Observatory
on the surveillance of telecommunications in the EU
"The
authoritarian within: Reflections on power, knowldge and resistance", Phil Scraton,
Inaugural Professorial Lecture, Queen’s University, Belfast,
9 June 2005
Netherlands: Local
political activist shot dead in Nijmegen
EU: Mandatory data retention: European Parliament rapporteurs
agree list of "compromise" amendments: "Compromise
amendments" (19 pages, pdf) - this has been whittled down
from the: Full
list of amendments (167 pages, pdf). The parliament's new list of
amendments were the basis for a "trilogue" (closed
meeting between rapporteurs, Council and Commission) on 15 November.
If a common set of "compromise" amendments can be agreed
between the parliament and the Council they will be "fast-tracked"
through to the plenary session on 14-15 December for adoption.
See for full background and documentation: Statewatch's Observatory
on the surveillance of telecommunications in the EU
Meanwhile the UK Select Committee on European Scrutiny in the House of Commons put out a Report (pdf) on 8 November which says that the proposal is still under scrutiny awaiting further information from the Home Office Minister. It notes: "No date set" for the proposal to be discussed in Council. In Brussels the UK Presidency of the Council hopes to get agreement before the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 1-2 December and for the measure to be adopted before Christmas. How national parliaments are meant to keep under meaningful scrutiny a proposal whose content is changing day by day is a mystery.
EU: Biometric
EU ID Cards to be introduced "by the back door" (EU
doc no: 14351/05). The UK Council Presidency set up an "ad-hoc
group of experts" which has drawn up a set of "Conclusions"
to be adopted at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 1-2
December. "Conclusions" are "soft-law", non-binding,
and not subject to any national or European parliamentary scrutiny.
Thus working on an "intergovernmental basis" it will
be agreed that face and fingerprint biometric will be taken and
incorporated in a radio frequency chip, and that the standards
agreed for EU passports will "apply without modification".
"Minimum standards" say that applicants have to "appear
in person" and their identity verified against "existing
databases". Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments:
"This is no way to bring in such a far-reaching policy, one which will affect millions of people. It is particularly objectionable that the Council are using a '"proper" EC committee to draw up the text of these Conclusions, without being accountable under the normal rules for these committees and exceeding the committee's powers as set out in legislation.
This method of decision-making (soft-law) is becoming all to common, it was also used to develop the technical requirements (scope and function) for VIS and SIS II. By-passing national and European parliamentary scrutiny, let alone civil society, has no place in a democracy"
EU: Draft
Council Conclusions on Migration and External Relations (pdf)
EU: Mandatory data retention: Protecting Privacy
in the Information Society - Communications Data Retention policies
are invasive, illegal, illusory and illegitimate (pdf). Appeal by Privacy
International and European Digital Rights (EDRI) to members of
the European Parliament. See for full background and documentation:
Statewatch's Observatory on the surveillance of telecommunications
in the EU
UK: ID cards: Report
from the House of Commons Select Committee on Delegated Powers concludes that the powers
being sought are "inappropriate". See commentary on
Out-law (link)
UK: Terrorism
Bill - as amended - 9 November 2005 (after government defeat on period of
detention)
France: Statement
opposing the state of emergency and Statement by the
immigrant movement MIB on the situation in France
EU: Mandatory retention of telecommunications data: Latest
Council negotiating position (8.11.05) The first "trilogue"
between the Council and the European Parliament (EP) will take
place on 10 November: A timetable has been circulated to MEPs
which would allow a "compromise" to be reached with
the Council and for the measure to be agreed at 1st reading ("fast-track")
at the plenary session on 14-15 December. Comparative chart showing
Commission draft Directive, the Council's view and EP amendments:
Chart (pdf) See for full background
and documentation: Statewatch's Observatory on the
surveillance of telecommunications in the EU
UK: Terrorism Bill - Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, said on
7 November in an article for the Evening Standard newspaper
that one of the main reasons the police want to hold suspects
for 90 days is because of :
"the immense time taken to decode super-encrypted hard drives on computers without a key"
See item below which refutes this claim.
UK: Two top establishment figures, Lord Brown (the Intelligence
Services Commissioner) and the Rt Hon Sir Swinton Thomas (Interception
of Communications Commissioner), have both - in their annual
reports published last week - thrown doubt on the police and
government's argument for holding terrorist suspects for 90 days.
One of the main arguments put forward is that people need to
be detained for questioning (without charge) for more than 14
days because of the difficulty and complexity of decryption.
Extraordinarily both reports use exactly the same words
on the question of encryption in Part III of the Regulation of
Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) which is not yet in force:
"the use of information security and encryption products by terrorist and criminal suspects is not, I understand, as widespread as had been expected when RIPA was approved by Parliament in the year 2000. Equally the Government's investment in the National Technical Assistance Centre - a Home Office managed facility to undertake complex data processing - is enabling law enforcement agencies to understand, as far as is necessary, protected electronic data"
EU: Comments
on the Draft Council Framework Decision on the European enforcement
order and the transfer of sentenced persons between Member States
of the EU
(Initiative of Austria, Finland, Sweden) from the Permanente
commissie van deskundigen in internationaal vreemdelingen - vluchtelingen-
en strafrecht (The Standing Committee of experts in international
immigration, refugee and criminal law - The "Meijers Committee")
EU: Mandatory
data retention: Amendments proposed to the Council's draft Directive
for the Committee on Civil Liberties in the European Parliament See for full background
and documentation: Statewatch's Observatory on the
surveillance of telecommunications in the EU
UK: Telephone and communication interception reaches new high
- now three times more than when the Labour government came to
powe in 1997: Statewatch's Observatory on: Telephone
tapping and mail-opening figures 1937- 2004
It
is interesting to compare the UK figures with those for the USA,
see: The
Centre for Democracy and Technology (USA) The comparable figures
showed that in 2003 there were more interception warrants issued
in the UK than the whole of the USA. Figures for warrants issued
by the UK Foreign Office (for the Secret Intelligence Service,
MI6 and for GCHQ) were olny published 1980-1984.
UK:
Report
of the Interception Commissioner for 2004 (pdf)
UK: Report
of the Intelligence Services Commissioner for 2004 (pdf)
Statewatch has launched an Observatory on
the
surveillance of telecommunications in the EU - under mandatory data
retention a record will be kept of everyone's phone-calls, e-mails,
mobile phone calls (including location) and internet usage. The
Council (the 25 EU governments) are proposing the data can be
accessed by law enforcement agencies for any suspected crime,
however minor. The proposal is now being discussed in the European
Parliament.
UK:
Statement
from the families of the men who have been detained pending deportation
to countries where they are certain to be tortured and even killed and Letter
from the families to Tony Blair, the Prime Minister
UK-EU: Data
retention and police access in the UK - a warning for Europe
UK:
Racial
violence after 7 July - week 17 (IRR News Service)
The
right to know or the right to try and find out? The need for
an EU freedom of information law, by Ben Hayes (pdf)
Poland
and Romania marked as likely locations for CIA camps (link to euobserver)
EU:
Mandatory data retention:
1. Critical
Opinion of the Article 29 Working Party on Data Protection (pdf)
2. The Council's latest draft positions on its Framework Decision
and the Commission's draft Directive (doc no: (13789/05, dated 28.10.05) - effectively
the Council's negotiating position
3. Background: Statewatch's:
Annotated Guide to the issues and documentation
4. Context: While
Europe sleeps.....
Cyprus: Protestors
heckle Le Pen and journalists attending speech (link)
Ireland:
Immigration-related
detention in Ireland A research report for the Irish Refugee Council
Irish Penal Reform Trust and Immigrant Council of Ireland (link)
EU:
Mandatory data retention: In November the European Parliament
will be deciding its position on the European Commission's proposal
for a Directive on data retention - which would log everyone's
communications (phone, fax, mobiles including location, e-mails
and internet usage) and give access law enforcement agencies
for the foreseeable future. The UK Council Presidency (representing
the 25 EU governments) is demanding that the parliament rush
through the measure by the end of November under the 1st reading
procedure ("fast-tracking" intended for uncontroversial
measures). Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor comments:
"The
Council has failed to convince many of us of the need for this
measure. But it is good that on such a momentus issue - placing
all the communications of everyone under surveillance - that
the European Parliament has the full powers of co-decision.
If the security and intelligence
agencies - who are at the forefront in stopping terrorist attacks
- need access to the telecommunications data to be retained it
is very hard to believe that EU governments would have taken
over four years to come up with a proposal which will not come
into effect for at least two further years. If this is the case
they would be guilty of gross negligence and failure to protect
the people of Europe. However, if additional powers are needed
they should be strictly limited to dealing with terrorism and
related offences."
In the interests of ensuring an informed debate here is a: Statewatch: Annotated guide to the issues and documentation on: Mandatory data retention in the EU and the Annotated Guide as a pdf (with live links)
October 2005
EU:
Two overviews on civil liberties, security and democracy: While
Europe sleeps: under the "war on terrorism" a veneer
of democracy is legitimating the creation of a coercive (and
surveillance) state by Tony Bunyan and There is no “balance”
between security and civil liberties – just less of each by Ben Hayes
EU:
Europol
2005 Organised crime report - public version (pdf)
Why
Muslims reject British values: As ministers accuse Muslims of failing
to integrate into mainstream society, a leading black intellectual
and anti-racist campaigner calls on Tony Blair's government to
face up to the reality of continued racism in Britain, by A.
Sivanandan, Director of the Institute of Race Relations (link
to Observer)
UK:
Information
Commissioner's report on the ID Card Bill (pdf)
UK:
The Home Office Research Unit has published two reports: 1) Racist
incidents: progress since the Lawrence Inquiry (pdf) and 2) Assessing
the impact of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry (pdf)
Netherlands:
Eleven
people die in blaze at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport detention
centre
(link)
"Essays
on civil liberties and democracy in Europe": A collection
of sixteen Essays were specially written for the launch of the
European
Civil Liberties Network (ECLN) on 19 October. They include:
“The Rules of the Game”? A. Sivanandan, Director of the Institute of Race Relations
The “War on Terror”: lessons
from Ireland Paddy
Hillyard, Professor of Sociology, Queens University, Belfast
Why
Terror and Tolerance are the Greatest Test of Modern Journalism Aidan White, Secretary-General European
Federation of Journalists
Lex Vigilatoria – Towards a control system without a state? Thomas Mathiesen, Professor of the Sociology of Law, Oslo University, Norway
Checking and balancing polity-building in the European Union Deirdre Curtin, Professor of European and International Governance, Utrecht School of Governance, Utrecht, Netherlands
Lampedusa - a test case for the subcontracting of EU border controls Lorenzo Trucco, President of A.S.G.I. (Associazione Studi Giuridici sull’Immigrazione)
Spain:
"Transparency
and silence" report on freedom of information throws up
alarming results
EU:
Schengen Information System II (SIS II). Peter Hustinx, the European
Data Protection Supervisor has issued his opinion on the proposals
for SIS II (the second-generation Schengen Information System).
Echoing the last week's opinion from the Schengen Joint Supervisory
Authority, Mr. Hustinx criticised the absence of both an explanatory
memorandum and impact assessment study, the complexity of the
legal framework and the lack of clarity regarding competences.
Mr. Hustinx also has serious reservations about the incorporation
of biometrics into SIS II: EDPS Opinion (pdf)
See also: Joint Supervisory Authority (JSA) on the Schengen Information System issues critical report on SIS II proposals and Statewatch analyses: Legislative proposals on SIS II (Professor Steve Peers) and SIS II fait accompli? Construction of EU's Big Brother database underway (pdf)
EU: Reports from the Article 29 Working Party on Data Protection:
Standards
for security features and biometrics in passports (pdf) and Data
Protection Issues Related to RFID Technology (Radio Frequency ID,
pdf)
Amnesty International press
release: Spain/Morocco:
The authorities must be held accountable for the violation of
migrants' rights (link)
EU:
Journalists
Warn of Threats to Press Freedom in European Union Debate over
anti-Terrorism Policy (link to press statement from the European Federation
of Journalists)
UK:
Terrorism
Bill - as revised - dated 12 October 2005 (pdf). Amnesty
International briefing (link) Liberty
briefing for the 2nd reading (link)
UK:
The head of MI5 (the UK's internal security service), Dame Eliza
Manningham-Buller, has submitted a statement to the Court of
Appeal in the House of Lords on the use of intelligence from
a third state which may have been obtained by the use of torture,
inhuman or degrading treatment: Submission by head of MI5 (pdf). The statement
includes: "it may be apparent to the Agencies that the
intelligence has been obtained from individuals in detention
("detainee reporting")". See also: Four
facing deportation on security claims given bail (Guardian, link)
UK: House of Lords
Constitution Committee has published a critical report on the
ID Card Bill
(pdf) In the report, Liberal Democrat Lord Holme of Cheltenham
said: "Contrary to the government's assertions, the committee
reaffirms that the bill fundamentally alters the relationship
between citizens and the state." The Joint Committee on
Human Rights (Houses of Commons and Lords) has also published
its report on scrutiny which includes strong reservations about
the ID Card Bill: Scrutiny
report
(pdf)
UK: Identity Card Bill as sent from the House of
Commons to the House of Lords (19.10.05): Full-text (pdf) In the final vote
in the House of Commons the Labour government's overall majority
of 66 was slashed to just 25 on the Identity Card Bill. Twenty-five
Labour MPs voted to oppose the Bill giving a final vote of: 309
to 284.
Working
with the media: New IRR Guide (link,pdf) The Institute of Race Relations
has published a new 19-page guide for anti-racist campaigners
and refugee rights activists on working with the media. The guide
can be downloaded at: (pdf file, 697kb)
European Commission: Fighting trafficking
in human beings - an integrated approach and proposals for an
action plan
(pdf)
EU-SIS: Joint
Supervisory Authority (JSA) on the Schengen Information System
issues critical report on SIS II proposals [1] In a detailed opinion
on the Commission proposals the JSA has criticised the planned
"open-ended legal structure", suggesting it is "sometimes
be unclear what is [to be] regulated by which instrument."
Neither is the JSB clear what exactly the purpose of SIS II is,
meaning "the legal basis fails to comply with one of the
key principles of data protection; namely, that the purpose of
processing must be specified and explicit". It is also unclear
"from the proposals who will be responsible for the SIS
II" and what roles there will be for European and national
data protection supervisors. See also EU Statewatch analyses:
Legislative
proposals on SIS II [2] (Professor Steve Peers) and SIS
II fait accompli? Construction of EU's Big Brother database underway [3] (pdf)
The European Civil Liberties Network (ECLN) was
launched in Brussels on Wednesday, 19 October 2005. The launch
was marked by the publication of a collection of fourteen essays
especially written for the occasion. Contributors include A.
Sivanandan, Paddy Hillyard, Phil Scraton, Tony Bunyan, Deirdre
Curtin, Thomas Mathiesen, Heiner Busch, Aidan White, Liz Fekete,
Lorenzo Trucco and Ben Hayes: Essays for civil liberties
and democratic standards in Europe (link) Tony Bunyan, joint coordinator
of the ECLN, called on groups and individuals to support the
ECLN: “if the everincreasing demands of law enforcement
continue to go unchallenged in the name of the “war on terror”,
the face of liberty and democracy in Europe will be changed for
ever”: press
release
See also ECLN
website and noticeboard (link)
Italy: ALCEI - Electronic Frontiers
Italy - The repression of civil rights with the pretext of terrorism
European Commission publishes Proposal
on the "principle of availability" (pdf)
European Civil Liberties Network (ECLN)
to be launched on Wednesday, 19 October 2005:
"We are living at a moment in history when civil liberties and democracy are under attack as never before and the need for a collective response to counter these threats has never been greater.
We share common objectives of seeking to create a European society based on freedom and equality, of fundamental civil liberties and personal and political freedoms, of free movement and freedom of information, and equal rights for minorities. This entails defending, extending and deepening the democratic culture - a concept not limited to political parties and elections but embracing wider values of pluralism, diversity and tolerance. And we share too a common opposition to racism, fascism, sexism and homophobia.
The defence of civil liberties and democracy also requires that positive demands are placed on the agenda. For example, respect and rights for all people, cultures and their histories, for the presumption of innocence and freedom from surveillance and the freedom to protest and demonstrate.
To these ends the European Civil Liberties Network (ECLN) has been established."
Press launch in Brussels and Workshop
for NGO's and researchers (pdf)
ECLN
website and Noticeboard (link)
USA:
CIA
sets up internal "clandestine service (link)
EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council, 12 October
2005, Luxembourg: Press release (pdf) Background
Note
(pdf) Main
"B" Point agenda (pdf) "A"
Point agenda
(adopted without any discussion)
It's
anti-racism that was failed, not multiculturalism that failed by A. Sivanandan, Director
of the Institute of Race Relations (IRR News Service, link)
EU:
The Justice and Home Affairs Council (12 October) is discussing:
July
13 JHA Council Declaration: Updated follow-up (dated 10.10.05) which
is a useful summary of anti-terrorist measures planned - and
contains a number that are little or nothing to do with combating
terrorism.
An associated document on "New Ideas" was drawn up later and they are not included in the Declaration. This contains: 1) A proposal to extend the members of the Prum Treaty (Germany); 2) A proposal to look at recording the entry and exit of third country nationals (Italy); and 3) "developing a common approach to the expulsion of terrorist suspects" (Italy): "New Ideas" on Counter-Terrorism from the July JHA Council: Next Steps (pdf)
EU: Data retention: Council to agree to drop its
proposal on mandatory data retention - because of its incorrect
legal basis and let the Commission proposal go forward, but want
the European Parliament to put it through at "first reading":
Council
doc. no: 13036/05 (10.10.05) Current Council draft: Council
draft text, 10.10.05
Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments: "Five member states introduced the proposal in eighteen months ago (April 2004) and still have not sorted out a number of "outstanding questions" in the Council. Now they have the cheek to "pursue" the European Parliament to rush it through on first reading as if it was an uncontroversial measure. Now the legal basis has been sorted, the parliament should take all the time it needs to properly consider a measure which will put all the communications of everyone in Europe under surveillance for the foreseeable future"
EU: European Ombudsman
finds Council has given no valid reasons for continuing to legislate
behind closed doors (press release) Full-text
of the Special Report from the European Ombudsman (pdf) and also Statement
from: COSAC
(the EU Affairs Committees of the national parliaments of the
EU Member States) on the need for public decision-making in the
Council
EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council, 12 October
2005, Luxembourg: Background Note (pdf) Main
"B" Point agenda (pdf) "A"
Point agenda
(adopted without any discussion)
EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council, 12 October
2005, Luxembourg: Background Note (pdf) Main
"B" Point agenda (pdf)
Italy: A
diary of life in Lampedusa
UK: Terrorism laws: Letter
from the Metropolitan Police to Home Secretary seeking to justify
holding people for 3 months for questioning (pdf) Home
Office consultation document on "Preventing Extremism Together
Places of Worship" (pdf) Exclusion or deportation
powers, consultation (pdf) Clarke
climbs down on 'glorifying terror' (Guardian, link) Terrorism Bill as published on
13 September 2005: Draft Terrorism Bill published (pdf)
Update: Morocco/Spain:
Six migrants die in Melilla: On 6 October 2005, the Moroccan
interior ministry announced six more sub-Saharan migrants died
in a mass attempt to climb the border fence in Melilla and to
enter Spain, adding that some had died of bullet wounds while
others had been crushed by fellow migrants. The Moroccan interior
minister said that "due to the unusual strength of the immigrants,
who were possessed by the strength of their despair, the [Moroccan]
police legitimately defended its surveillance posts in front
of the fence and six illegal immigrants have died". Ceuta,
the other Spanish enclave in northern Morocco, had been the scene
of a similar incident in which five migrants died, some of them
shot, on 28 September 2005 (El País, 6.10.2005). Previous
Statewatch coverage: Spain/Morocco:
Migrants shot dead at the border fence, Spain deploys army
UK: HM Inspectorate of Prisons has published
a new report of an announced inspection into Haslar Removal Centre
near Portsmouth
Download a copy of the report at: http://www.irr.org.uk/pdf/haslar_report.pdf
Morocco/Spain: Migrants
deported to die in the desert (posted 6.10.05). See also: Morocco/Spain: MSF
reveals violence suffered by "illegal sub-Saharan immigrants"
at the hands of police forces and gangs
EU: Data protection - European Commission proposal (full-text):
Data
protection activities of police and judicial co-operation in
criminal matters provided for by Title VI of the Treaty on European
Union
and Impact
Assessment - Data Protection (pdf). Article 1.2 says: "Member
States shall ensure that the disclosure of personal data to the
competent authorities of another Member State is neither restricted
nor prohibited for reasons connected with the protection of personal
data as provided for under this Framework Decision." In
short, all data and "intelligence" (which may be speculation)
held can be exchanged. Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments:
"when it comes to the balance between the demands of
state agencies and the rights and privacy of individual there
is no contest, the state wins every time"
EU: Mandatory data rentention of telecommunications data: The
latest report from the Council simply notes: "The European
Parliament has been invited to give its opinion on the draft.
It rejected the draft on 7 June 2005 and on 27 September 2005"
(3 October 2005). Latest Council
text with outstanding questions (pdf)
Morocco/Spain: MSF
reveals violence suffered by "illegal sub-Saharan immigrants"
at the hands of police forces and gangs
UK-London: We
remember Jean Charles de Menezes, 7 January 1978 - 22 July 2005:
"Justice for Jean - Shoot first: ask questions later? Campaign launch and
public rally (pdf)
Greece: Amnesty International
report: "Out
of the spotlight" - The rights of foreigners and minorities
are still a grey area (link)
UK-London: Open Forum: "Defend
our liberties! No to the poitics of fear (pdf) Tuesday 11 October
7-9pm, Grand Committee Room, House of Commons
Amnesty International UK: have launched a campaign
on "Seeking
asylum is not a crime" (link)
The
politics of fear are blinding us to the humanity of others: A
culture of guilt and apathy threatens to undermine our values
and turn us into a traumatised society by Joanna Bourke, professor of history at Birkbeck
College and author of Fear: A Cultural History (Guardian, link)
Documents
show how Special Branch infiltrated Anti-Apartheid Movement (Guardian, link)
EU: Mandatory data retention: Report
of the European Parliament adopted on 27 September 2005 rejecting
the Council's proposal (pdf) European
Parliament press statement (link) Latest version
of the Council's proposal, 27.9.05 (pdf). The View of the Article
29 Data Protection Working Party on the Council initiative by
five members states (November 2004). Text of the European
Commission proposals on the mandatory retention of telecommunications
data
(pdf) Full-text of the Commission's
Extended Impact Assessment (pdf). The Commission's Impact Assessment
is dismissive of the strong objections from the European Data
Protection Supervisor and the national Data Protection Commissioners
on the Article 29 Working Party stating that it expects them
to "revisit their position(s)". Report from the European
Data Protection Supervisor on the Commission's proposal (26.9.05) on the Commission's
proposal. Civil
society letter to Members of the European Parliament on data
retention proposals, from 21 NGOs
The Council's proposal, from five member states, combines the mandatory retention of traffic data by service providers and access to the data by law enforcement agencies (LEAs) - on which the European Parliament is only "consulted". The Legal Services of the Council and Commission said the proposal should be split in two with the first measure (data retention) coming under the "first pillar" on which the parliament would have powers of co-decision with the Council. The Commission has put forward a proposal on data retention under the "first pillar" which will be followed by another on access by LEAs.
Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor comments: "The issue of the legal basis is clear, there should be two separate measures. However, on the substantive issue the Commission's proposal on mandatory data retention presents as great a danger to privacy and civil liberties as the Council's - which will result in the wholesale surveillance of all communications in the EU with few if any constraints."
UK: Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes: Press
statement: Ian
Blair has jumped the barrier of the law (pdf) Met
chief tried to block shooting inquiry (Guardian, link)
Spain/Morocco: Migrants shot dead at
the border fence, Spain deploys army