2020

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15 May 2020

France: End discriminatory police checks and fines

"The French government should take urgent and concrete steps to end discriminatory police stops, 24 local, national, and international organizations said on Wednesday in an open letter sent to French authorities.

14 May 2020

Greece: Coronavirus cases among refugees on Lesbos spark fresh calls for evacuation

NGOs say infections among arriving refugees show urgent need to move more migrants from Moria camp to mainland.

14 May 2020

Hungary: European Court declares authorities broke EU law by detaining asylum-seekers in transit zone

"This is a damning indictment of Hungary’s treatment of asylum-seekers. Today the EU Court has made clear: Hungary held two families seeking asylum in a border transit zone for more than a year, giving them no opportunity to have their situation reviewed by a court, and with no option to lawfully leave that zone of their own free will in any direction. In doing so, Hungary broke EU law.

13 May 2020

Greece: 14-day quarantine for passengers arriving from abroad extended to end of May

"The mandatory 14-day self-quarantine rule on international flight arrivals, first imposed on 16 March, is extended to the end of May, the Civil Aviation Authority said on Monday (18 May), AMNA reported.

13 May 2020

The EU is undermining its democracies while funding its autocracies

"As the European Union struggles to agree on a joint response to the coronavirus crisis, calls for solidarity are colliding with the reluctance of wealthier northern states to come to the aid of struggling states in the south.

13 May 2020

UK Supreme Court quashes Adams' Long Kesh escape convictions

"The UK's highest court has said Gerry Adams was imprisoned illegally by the British government when he was interned without trial in the early 1970s.

13 May 2020

Brexit will mean checks on goods crossing Irish Sea, government admits - Ministers’ letter confirms border control posts at ports of Belfast, Warrenpoint and Larne

"The government has privately conceded there will be post-Brexit checks on goods crossing the Irish Sea, months after Boris Johnson insisted there would be no such trade barriers.

11 May 2020

European Parliament: LIBE Committee proposes rejecting draft decision on Prüm fingerprint data exchange with the UK

"The Rapporteur, therefore, advises the Parliament to reject the Council draft implementing decision and to request the Council not to adopt its draft implementing decision and not to take any decision in this regard until guarantees from the UK as regards full reciprocity and data protection are obtained and the new legal framework for the new partnership cooperation with the United Kingdom is negotiated and concluded."

11 May 2020

Greek Council for Refugees denounces rights violation from the new law on the asylum, meanwhile the law has already been voted at the Greek Parliament

"The Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) expresses its deeep concern over the new draft law that inter alia amends asylum legislation, which was submitted for public consultation amidst a public health crisis, at a time when the main concern is the protection of asylum seekers and the entire population from the risks and effects of the pandemic, and while concerns for asylum seekers who remain in overcrowded sites and/or in administrative detention in the midst of the pandemic are increasing."

11 May 2020

Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe (21.4-11.5.20)

Including: Council considers action on "non-removable" irregular migrants / Analysis: Rights denied during Greek asylum procedure suspension / Refugees and European human rights law: Expelled from Humanity / Analysis: As the fiction of a Libyan search and rescue zone begins to crumble, EU states use the coronavirus pandemic to declare themselves unsafe / Leaving people behind - Proposals for the reorganisation of the Common European Asylum System

11 May 2020

EU: Council considers action on "non-removable" irregular migrants

The Croatian Presidency of the Council has raised the prospect of EU measures to deal with "non-removable" irregular migrants - people who for a variety of reasons "end up in a situation of prolonged illegal stay, which can last for a number of years."

09 May 2020

EU-USA Justice and Home Affairs Officials meeting: including "Racially-motivated violent extremism"

The minutes of the most recent EU-USA Justice and Home Affairs Senior Officials Meeting.

08 May 2020

EU-UK: MEPs take stand against UK fingerprint data exchange scheme

"Lawmakers in the European Parliaments Civil Liberties committee have signalled their disapproval at the UKs participation in a fingerprint data exchange scheme with EU member states after the countrys decision to withdraw from the bloc."

08 May 2020

UK: Manchester police refer Taser shooting of man with child to IOPC

"A video of the incident, which happened at a petrol station in Stretford at approximately 11pm on Wednesday, shows Desmond Ziggy Mombeyarara, 34, being confronted by two GMP officers while carrying the boy."

08 May 2020

France's 'Black Lives Matter' Leader Assa Traoré is Still Fighting for Her Brother, Adama - In conversation

As police brutality in France intensifies under coronavirus restrictions, we talk to the leader of "Justice for Adama" about her campaign to protect Black communities and get justice for her brother's death.

08 May 2020

EU: European Ombudsman: Annual Report 2019

"Dealing with complaints remains the core business of the Ombudsman's Office. In 2019, we continued to receive a high number of complaints from members of the public, civil society, businesses and media. I believe that this should not be taken as a sign that the EU administration is performing poorly but, rather, as result of ever-increasing awareness of the work my Office does and the positive outcomes we can achieve."

08 May 2020

USA-Albania sign an agreement to implement new PNR Law

"US Ambassador to Albania Yuri Kim and Minister of Interior Sander Lleshaj on Friday signed a memorandum of cooperation between the United States and Albania aimed at implementing Passenger Name Record (PNR) law and deepening US-Albanian law enforcement and counterterrorism cooperation."

08 May 2020

USA: Screen New Deal: Under cover of mass death, Andrew Cuomo calls in the billionaires to build a High-Tech dystopia

"It’s a future in which our homes are never again exclusively personal spaces but are also, via high-speed digital connectivity, our schools, our doctor’s offices, our gyms, and, if determined by the state, our jails. [...]"

08 May 2020

UNHCR: Press briefing note on migrant rescues in the Mediterranean

"We are deeply concerned about recent reports of failure to assist and coordinated pushbacks of migrant boats in the central Mediterranean, which continues to be one of the deadliest migration routes in the world. Reports that Maltese authorities requested commercial ships to push boats with migrants in distress back to the high seas are of particular concern."

08 May 2020

UK to blame hard Brexit on COVID-19, warns EU trade chief

"The United Kingdom is preparing to walk away from trade talks with the EU and blame the impasse on the coronavirus pandemic, EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said on Thursday (7 May)."

 

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