Observatory: Interoperability
A "Draft Roadmap towards a 'European Framework for Operational Cooperation on Search and Rescue in the Mediterranean Sea'," obtained by Statewatch and published here, indicates that the European Commission is aiming for "standardisation/convergence of registration and certification rules on private vessels carrying out SAR [search and rescue] as their predominant activity." This could be used to hinder the activities of search and rescue organisations.
Observatory: Interoperability
The EU's proposed Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) Regulation is perfectly legal, the European Commission has argued, in response to the Council Legal Service's arguments that the "detection orders" set out in the proposal would be illegal.
Observatory: Interoperability
EU border agency Frontex has recently sought to take on a more prominent role in deportations, and has been testing the possibility of organising the "initiative, destination, date," amongst other tasks - roles previously reserved for national authorities.
Observatory: Interoperability
Agreement within the Council on the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) is "very close", according to a recent document circulated by the Swedish Presidency - but provisions on the "exceptional" use of spyware against journalists are still the subject of discussions.
Observatory: Interoperability
Council documents detailing the state of play with the Asylum Procedure Regulation (including comments from the member states), the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation, and a Presidency discussion paper on the "balance between solidarity and responsibility".
Heise, 9 May 2023.
Observatory: Asylum and immigration
The European Commission's proposal for a new environmental crime Directive will significantly strengthen law enforcement powers. As well as introducing a range of new criminal offences at EU level, the proposed Directive encourages the use of intrusive policing tactics against suspected environmental crime offenders. Member states, however, aim to water down the Commission’s proposal to reduce the obligations on national authorities, and are concerned about what they see as an attempt to ‘overharmonise’ national criminal laws.
Observatory: Asylum and immigration
Are you an EU member state looking to divert attention from the human rights abuses you are committing at your border? By following this simple guide, you can ensure that not only will the European Commission, the “Guardian of the Treaties”, turn a blind eye to those abuses, but that you will receive a healthy cash injection at the same time!
Observatory: Asylum and immigration
A book about the political use of judicial proceedings to curtail a virtuous example of solidarity at work in reception practices in a small southern town in Calabria, Riace, led by its former mayor, Mimmo (Domenico) Lucano. Hearings of the appeal trial in Reggio Calabria are underway, after the first trial in Locri (whose sentence is commented on in these two extracts) found several defendants guilty, imposing lengthy prison terms (over 13 years for Lucano, over 80 years in total for 18 defendants) and financial penalties. The contributions to this book focus on the trial, the sentence, the appeal and the reality of the experience of Riace, including trial monitoring reports by Giovanna Procacci.
Observatory: Asylum and immigration
The Commission’s initiative for a ‘Security-related information sharing system between frontline officers in the EU and key partner countries’ is a further development along the path of problematic border externalisation, and a trend of increasing use of large-scale processing of the personal data of non-EU citizens for combined criminal law and immigration control purposes, that civil society has been speaking out against for years.
Observatory: Asylum and immigration
The Dutch police continue to disregard the rule of law to criminalise the pacifist activist Frank van der Linde. In recent years, his personal data has been sent to Europol, he has been labelled a terrorist, and police have suggested he be referred to a psychiatric facility. Far from an isolated case, van der Linde’s story shows just how far police in Europe will go to criminalise the right to protest and stifle political dissent.
For at least three decades, the EU and its Member States have engaged in a process of “externalisation” – a policy agenda by which the EU seeks to prevent migrants and refugees setting foot on EU territory by externalising (that is, outsourcing) border controls to non-EU states. The EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum, published in September 2020, proposed a raft of measures seeking to step up operational cooperation and collaboration in order to further this agenda.
Observatory: Interoperability
Position paper by the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe.
El País, 1 March 2023.
The EU’s border agency, Frontex, will be able to access vast quantities of data once the EU’s ‘interoperable’ policing and migration databases are fully operational. This briefing considers the agency’s use of data from two different perspectives – operational and statistical – and provides an overview of the agency’s role in the EU’s emerging “travel intelligence” architecture. It is aimed at informing understanding, analysis and critique of the agency and its role, with a view to making it possible to better understand, engage with and challenge future developments in this area.
Observatory: Interoperability
Press release by the Center for Constitutional Rights on the release of Majid Khan from Guantámo and his transfer to Belize.
Observatory: Interoperability
We are hosting a workshop at Privacy Camp 2023 in Brussels.
Response from the Commission refusing access to "agendas and documents on the outcomes and contents of discussion" concerning von der Leyen's visit to Morocco on 8 February 2022.
Repubblica, 27 November 2022.
Since the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum was unveiled in September 2020, significant public and policy attention has been paid to the raft of new and recycled legal measures proposed. However, the Pact also includes a range of activities that do not undergo the same institutional to-and-fro as passing new laws.
This report examines the new powers granted to EU policing agency Europol by legal amendments approved in June 2022. It finds that while the agency's tasks and powers have been hugely-expanded, in particular with regard to acquiring and processing data, independent data protection oversight of the agency has been substantially reduced.
List of preparatory activities, consultations and meetings by the management board of Frontex between June 2021 and December 2021 ahead of the adoption the new Frontex rules on Operational Personal Data (‘OPD’), meant to be done by the end of 2021.
Documents with the first and second round of comments on the draft decisions on processing operational personal data.
Heavily censored report from the second meeting of the Frontex-Morocco Comité Mixte in October 2020.
Heavily censored report from the first meeting of the Frontex-Morocco Comité Mixte in October 2019.
Grant agreement for the Safe Journey project. Heavily redacted.
Grant agreement for the Shababuna "information campaign" project. Heavily-redacted.
Observatory: Interoperability
Full-text of the agreement between Spain and Morocco approved in April 2022, translated into English and the Spanish original.
Observatory: Interoperability
Politico Europe, 12 October 2021.
Observatory: Interoperability
EurActiv report on the European Parliament's civil liberties committee voting in favour of strengthening Europol's powers.
Observatory: Interoperability
The publication by WikiLeaks of detailed information on CIA hacking tools, part of a series of leaks dubbed 'Vault 7', led to the CIA stepping up its campaign against the organisation and, in particular, its founder Julian Assange. According to a report published by Yahoo! News, Mike Pompeo, director of the CIA for the Trump administration from January 2017 to April 2018, was key to the exploration of new methods for neutralising WikiLeaks' activities - which allegedly included discussions of kidnapping or assassinating Assange. The CIA's expanded activity against WikiLeaks was made possible through shifting the legal designation given to the organisation - in particuar, by dubbing it a "non-state hostile intelligence service".
Aufruf zur Interessenbekundung: Staatliche Datenbanken, Biometrie, Polizeiarbeit und Migrationskontrolle / Convocatoria de expresiones de interés: bases de datos estatales, biometría, control policial y de la migración / Appel à manifestation d'intérêt : bases de données étatiques, biométrie, maintien de l'ordre et contrôle des migrations / Invito a manifestare interesse: workshop sulle banche dati statali di polizia e per il controllo delle migrazioni
<p>Transparency, accountability and fundamental rights</p>
<p>A joint initiative of 19 independent civil society organisations in 17 members states</p>
<p>Securing Europe through Counter-terrorism: Impact, Legitimacy and Effectiveness (SECILE)</p>
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