2019

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10 October 2019

EU: Meijers Committee: Response to a Note from the Presidency on ‘The future of EU substantive criminal law – Policy debate’

"it believes that the fundamental interests that are at stake in criminal policy, deserve to be reconsidered time and again – especially in the EU context where substantive criminal law competences are limited, either through institutional principles (such as the principle of subsidiarity), or through values-based principles rooted in criminal law theory (such as the last resort principle)."

10 October 2019

MotM EXCLUSIVE | Going Homeless In Gran Ghetto

"“Just say ‘ghetto’ and anyone will tell you what bus to take. Just say ‘ghetto.’”

09 October 2019

Delivering Refugees and Migrants to a ‘Place of Safety’ Following Rescue by States at Sea

"Irregular migration by sea leads states such as Italy and Australia to conduct maritime rescue operations involving refugees and other migrants. During these operations, states must deal with the question of where to disembark survivors."

09 October 2019

Navy ship with 389 migrants and refugees reaches Piraeus

"A navy ship carrying 389 refugees and migrants from the southeast Aegean island of Symi docked at the Greek capital’s Piraeus port on Wednesday morning."

09 October 2019

IRELAND: Why We Need Independent Inspection of Garda Cells

"Imagine if, for reasons you’re unsure of, you’re arrested and taken into custody. Now ask yourself: would you feel safe if the doors of a police cell slammed behind you?"

09 October 2019

EU: New Frontex Regulation: corrected version of the text

The European Parliament is due to approve a corrected version of the new Frontex Regulation, which was originally agreed between the Council and Parliament but has been undergoing revision by legal and linguistic specialists.

09 October 2019

EU agency kept in dark on forced flight abuse

"Witnesses of abuse during a forced-return flight to Afghanistan last year preferred telling national authorities rather than informing the EU's border agency, Frontex."

09 October 2019

EU fails to seal migrant redistribution deal

"An EU interior minister meeting on migrants in Luxembourg does not appear to have yielded a final deal on migrant redistribution."

09 October 2019

The CJEU rules on consent to cookies under data protection law

"Last week’s CJEU ruling in in Planet 49 is an important Grand Chamber decision concerning the use of cookies and the meaning of consent under the e-Privacy Directive in the light of the Data Protection Directive but also the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation 2016/679)(GDPR). The judgment is therefore relevant for understanding the cookie obligations in the new regime as well as the old."

09 October 2019

Germany warns of a new migration chaos echoing 2015

"An EU interior minister meeting on migrants in Luxembourg does not appear to have yielded a final deal on migrant redistribution."

08 October 2019

Italy's new migrant decree promises repatriations in 4 months

"Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maion presented a new asylum decree intended to cut the time it takes for decisions on whether a migrant should be repatriated to four months: "It was a team effort," Di Maio told reporters at a press conference at the foreign ministry last week."

08 October 2019

Mediterranean Fatalities in 2019 Rise to 1,071 with Latest Shipwreck off Lampedusa

"Authorities found 22 migrants who survived the disaster, while 13 bodies – all women – were recovered by the Italian Coast Guard and Guardia di Finanza. As of Tuesday morning, 17 migrants remained missing, including more women and at least two children. Among the missing are nationals of the Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Guinea Conakry and four Tunisian nationals including three men and one 17-year-old boy.(...)"

08 October 2019

ECHR: Refusing journalist access to a reception centre for asylum-seekers was in breach of the European Convention

"In today’s Chamber judgment1 in the case of Szurovecz v. Hungary (application no. 15428/16) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been: - a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The case concerned media access to reception facilities for asylum-seekers."

08 October 2019

Commission starts negotiations with the USA on exchange of e-evidence

- talks start even though EU legislation not yet adopted - CJEU questions the legality of proposed EU measure - Commission says deal must include content and non-content data

08 October 2019

UK: The Government’s Prevent database isn’t about keeping us safe, it’s about control

"The human rights group, Liberty, has just revealed that the Government is operating a secret database of every referral ever made to the anti-radicalisation programme, Prevent."

08 October 2019

Brexit: Travel, trade, new EU migrants and Irish border law: no-deal Brexit plan explained

"From employing EU citizens to driving in Ireland, plan aims to show UK ready for crashing out."

07 October 2019

GREEK ISLANDS: Over 100 migrants rescued overnight, as more transfers in the works

"Greek coast guards rescued 104 refugees and migrants in three separate operations in the eastern and southeastern Aegean in the early hours of Sunday, just as authorities are planning to transfer 570 asylum seekers from the island of Lesvos to the mainland. (...)"

07 October 2019

EU: JHA Council, 7-8 October: documents on EU-USA e-evidence negotiations; EU accession to the ECHR; right-wing extremism; and problems for plans to interconnect policing and migration databases

The Justice and Home Affairs Council is meeting in Luxembourg on 7 and 8 October. Issues under discussion include e-evidence negotiations between the EU and the USA; EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights; right-wing extremism and terrorism; and the implementation of the EU's plans to interconnect its migration and policing databases. Council documents published here indicate that this latter project is running into trouble.

07 October 2019

UK: IOPC publishes figures on deaths during or following police contact for 2018/19

"There were 16 deaths in or following police custody, a decrease of seven from a ten-year high in 2017/18, and in line with the average figure for over the last decade. No deaths took place within a police custody suite. Six people died in hospital after becoming unwell in a police cell, and six people were taken ill at the scene of arrest and died in hospital."

07 October 2019

UNHCR in Libya Part 1: From standing #WithRefugees to standing #WithStates?

"October 3rd is a day upon which the UNHCR "remember and commemorate all the victims of immigration and promote awareness-raising and solidarity initiatives."

 

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