2019

Launched in 1999 and updated regularly, Statewatch News includes our own reporting and writing as well as articles, announcements, documents and analyses from elsewhere on civil liberties, EU policies and state practices. You can receive updates in your inbox by signing up to our mailing list, or use an RSS feed to get instant alerts.

02 December 2019

Med: Mounting Death Toll while NGOs Struggle to Keep up with Rescues

"Over the course of the last week at least 41 people have died in two separate shipwrecks, one off Lampedusa and one between Morocco and Spain. After disembarking a total of 353 people in Italian ports in the beginning of the week, NGO ships rescued another 213 people since Thursday."

02 December 2019

“How the hostile environment creates sites without rights"

Evidence presented to the London Hearing of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on the violations with impunity on the rights of migrants and refugees.

02 December 2019

EU: Commission marks ten years of judicial and police cooperation between Member States of the European Union

European Commission press release ten years after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty.

02 December 2019

UK: EU citizens will need US-style visa clearance after Brexit as Tories unveil 'take back control' border pledges

"Under a raft of promises the party claims will improve border security if it wins the election, the Tories said a new visa waiver scheme called Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) would be brought in for EU citizens wanting to travel to the UK."

02 December 2019

EU: Guarding the Fortress

Frontex role in the militarisation and securitisation of migratory flows in the European Union. A new report by Centre Delas d'Estudis per la Pau.

28 November 2019

Enforcement of EU Values and the Tyranny of National Identity – Polish Examples and Excuses

"Professor A. von Bogdandy in his recent piece published at Verfassungsblog analyzes difficulties regarding enforcement of the EU values. He argues that the application of Treaty provisions relating to EU fundamental values should be cautious in order to avoid controversy or pressure."

28 November 2019

Women human rights defenders under attack: Amnesty

"Activists continue to be sexually assaulted, threatened, intimidated, criminalized and even killed, the rights watchdog has said. Women human rights defenders even face hostility from members of their own family."

28 November 2019

Over 1000 cases set to be dropped against Extinction Rebellion protesters arrested during October’s International Rebellion

"The Metropolitan Police has admitted to the unlawful use of Section 14 of the Public Order Act during the first week of the October protests, following a threat of further legal action by Extinction Rebellion’s lawyers"

28 November 2019

Refugees being 'starved out' of UN facility in Tripoli

"Aid worker claims refugees are being denied food to motivate them to leave."

27 November 2019

European leaders: Stop punishing asylum seekers on the Greek islands

"Dear European leaders I have just come back from the Greek islands, and I was shocked by what I saw and by the accounts I heard from my colleagues on the ground.(...)"

27 November 2019

UN refugees chief urges Greece to improve 'miserable' camp conditions

"plans to shut overcrowded refugee camps and replace them with detention centres to be used both as an ante-room for deporting failed asylum seekers and as a reception and processing centre for new arrivals. (...)"

27 November 2019

Four dead, 10 missing from migrant boat found adrift near Melilla

"Rescue services took 55 survivors to the Spanish exclave city, where the holding center is over capacity."

27 November 2019

Hungary: The legacy of the Orbán era: anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia

"At just about the same time that Hungarians witnessed an anti-Semitic assault by Fidesz journalists on “alien-hearted” Jews who are unable or maybe even unwilling to “melt” into the majority, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) concluded a global survey of 18 countries on the state of anti-Semitism in today’s world."

27 November 2019

UK: Netpol launches ‘Restricting the Rebellion’ report

"New Netpol report says the Metropolitan Police were far more interested in preventing October’s Extinction Rebellion protests than in facilitating it."

27 November 2019

General Court Rules on Frontex: Less Transparency at EU Borders

"The first lawsuit against Frontex by a civil society organisation was not successful: the European Court in Luxembourg, following a joint lawsuit by freedom of information activists Luisa Izuzquiza and Arne Semsrott, decided that the European Border Police do not have to disclose any information about their ships in connection with operations at the EU's external borders."

27 November 2019

EU: Parliament elects the von der Leyen Commission

"New Commission approved by 461 votes to 157 against, with 89 abstentions"

27 November 2019

Home Office reverses attempt to deport Jamaican man 'to Iraq'

"The Home Office has made a U-turn in the case of a man caring for his terminally ill partner who was told he was going to be deported to Jamaica because officials had concluded that he “failed to demonstrate that his life would be at risk in Iraq”."

27 November 2019

European Data Protection Supervisor: Report on the inspection of Europol's compliance with Article 4 of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme

"Overall Europol manages well the verifications of the US DoT requests. The different actors complement each other and pay close attention to details."

 

Spotted an error? If you've spotted a problem with this page, just click once to let us know.

Report error