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"Frontex expects a fresh wave of migrants seeking to cross the Turkish border into the European Union via Greece after Ankara lifts restrictions imposed to stop the spread of coronavirus, German newspaper Die Welt reported Friday citing an internal report of the bloc’s border agency."
"There is money and power in identifying Russia and cyber attacks as the key security threats facing Britain — but not in addressing the more important issues of pandemics and climate change. Former UK intelligence chiefs are personally profiting from the ‘revolving door’ between government and business, and the public is paying the price.
"The global coronavirus pandemic is affecting every aspect of human life on earth. The challenge is awesome in its scale and scope."
The Civil Liberties Committee will discuss the use and protection of personal data in managing COVID-19, including smartphone apps, with EU data protection experts.
"1. Declares that the development, deployment and use of artificial intelligence, robotics and related technologies, including but not exclusively by human beings, should always respect human agency and oversight, as well as allow the retrieval of human control at any time;"
"The Hungarian government has announced plans to suspend its obligation to certain protections laid out in EU data protection law until the current ‘state of emergency’ period has been declared over."
"Greek authorities have reported two new incidents in less than 24 hours of shots being fired in the air by Turkish guards on the Evros River border with Greece, in the northeast."
In response to the recent spike in pushbacks from Greece to Turkey, the Border Violence Monitoring Network, with members Mobile Info Team and Wave Thessaloniki , are releasing first hand testimony and photographic evidence indicating the existence of violent collective expulsions. In the space of six weeks, the teams received reports of 194 people removed and pushed back into Turkey from the refugee camp in Diavata and the Drama Paranesti Pre-removal Detention Centre.
"The decision of the European Court of Human Rights in M.N. and Others v. Belgium will undoubtedly further propel the debate on the scope of extraterritorial state jurisdiction. More importantly, however, it reveals the necessity of addressing the systemic exclusion of refugees from the international legal order."
"The Home Office tried to put pressure on judges to stop releasing migrants from immigration detention, it has emerged".
"Does the pandemic require derogation from human rights treaties? This question has sparked significant debate, notably spurred by Alan Greene’s provocative argument that failing to derogate would denature ordinary human rights law and leave the start and end points of the crisis unclear. Others disagree: Scheinin argues the principle of normalcy, contained in General Comment 29, should continue to apply."
"The ongoing armed conflict in Libya is going to push thousands of people, now asylum-seekers in Libyan camps, to escape towards the Southern border regions of Tunisia, Medenine and Tataouine, writes Mourad Teyeb."
"For many migrants still camped out in Calais and Dunkirk, the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated an already dire situation. Supermarkets are reportedly turning them away and the police are removing their tents."
Content of the meeting: 1. External and internal border controls 2. Asylum, return and resettlement 3. Prevention of COVID-19 spread 4. Internal security 5. Conclusion
The Meijers Committee issues recommendations on improving the transparency of decision-making in the Council of the EU.
"This targeted follow-up visit to England focussed on the persistently high levels of violence in the local male adult prisons and juvenile detention centres, as well as on broader concerns regarding regimes, the use of force, segregation and use of means of restraint... the CPT found that in 2019 the prison system remained in deep crisis; local male prisons visited remained violent, unsafe and overcrowded, with many inmates enduring restricted and isolating regimes and/or long periods of segregation... A similar state of crisis was also found in the two young offender institutions visited, notably at Feltham A."
"...the Code has significant weaknesses that need to be addressed if it is to achieve its objectives".
"Apple and Google have announced that their coronavirus tracing technology will ban the use of location tracking. The announcement could create potential complications for some apps that planned to use the two companies’ system for notifying people of potential exposure to Covid-19."
"The measures taken at the national level to combat the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) are having a significant impact on judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the European Union."
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