2020

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22 April 2020

EU commission keeps asylum report on Greece secret

"The European Commission is refusing to release a preliminary legal assessment into Greece's decision to temporarily shelve asylum applications."

22 April 2020

Germany extends internal border controls due to coronavirus and "reasons of migration and security policy": Letter from Horst Seehofer to EU

"I find myself obliged to extend the temporary border control at internal land and air borders with Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Denmark, Italy and Spain, as well as the sea border with Denmark, effective from 15 April 2020 for an additional period of 20 days..."

22 April 2020

Greece looks for closure in trial on far right

"In April 2015, 69 members of Golden Dawn — including its leader Nikos Michaloliakos and the entire 2013 parliamentary group — went on trial accused of orchestrating murder, arson, assault and weapons possession. The indictment describes a political party that is “working as a cloak [for] a criminal conspiracy” authorizing attacks against political opponents, migrants and anti-fascists, Kampagiannis says."

22 April 2020

UK: Right to rent rule 'justified' finds UK appeal court

"The government has won an appeal over its controversial right to rent scheme, which was last year ruled by the high court to be racially discriminatory."

22 April 2020

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights: Challenges to human rights have intensified in Europe

"The Commissioner observes that in 2019 as in previous years, there have been growing challenges to human rights standards and principles all over the continent. In some cases, hostility to human rights as universal, indivisible and legally binding has increased, fuelling a corrosive narrative that endangers the principles and standards on which Europe has been built over the past seven decades."

22 April 2020

Coronavirus further threatening media freedom, says Reporters Without Borders

"The coronavirus pandemic is further threatening media freedom worldwide, according to the annual World Press Freedom Index."

22 April 2020

Belgium: 100 Belgian academics warn government: urgent debate needed on the corona app

"...we hereby appeal to the competent Belgian authorities: be careful with the corona app! Such an app faces not only legal, but also ethical, social, political and technical problems (both in the case of voluntary and mandatory implementation)."

20 April 2020

Open letter: the EU must not sit idly by while a Member State’s democracy is in jeopardy

"The coronavirus pandemic represents an urgent global challenge. Governments and EU institutions must act decisively to control its spread, protect citizens, and limit economic damage in the European Union."

20 April 2020

UK: Understanding the asylum process: Asylum Navigation Board

"The Right to Remain asylum navigation board is a way to understand each step of the UK asylum system. Participants can learn about what people going through the system and those supporting them can do to be in a better position."

20 April 2020

Med: 12 Left to Die and 182 Stranded as EU States Refuse Rescue

"Twelve people have died after a series of acts of non-assistance by EU and national authorities. Over 50 people have been pushed back to Libya and 182 remain stranded on civilian rescue vessels. The Council of Europe stresses that states should ensure rescue at sea and allow safe disembarkation during the COVID-19 crisis."

20 April 2020

By surrendering to autocracy in the fight against COVID-19, Hungary poisons European ideals

"The EU must swiftly propose and adopt sanctions against the latest ‘democratic backsliding’ by the Hungarian government, say leading European politicians, media and civil society leaders in an open letter whose signatories include former Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, and EURACTIV founder Christophe Leclercq."

20 April 2020

Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe (24.3.20-20.4.20)

Including: the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on refugees and migrants in Europe's camps; the situation in the Greek islands four years after the EU-Turkey statement; 12 Left to Die and 182 Stranded as EU States Refuse Rescue; privatised pushbacks, and; Free the #ElHiblu3

20 April 2020

France: Protest policing under the microscope: "a dysfunctional maintenance of law and order"

The organisation ACAT (Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture) recently published a report on the policing of protests in France, examining the period between November 2018 and January 2020. A summary has now been published in English, highlighting multiple failings of and abuses by French police forces in the policing of protests. The report also sets out the structure of French policing and its formal approach to public order situations.

20 April 2020

Privacy and free expression: new report looks at legal responses to terrorist and extremist content online

A new report examines how six states - France, Germany, Israel, Spain, the UK and the USA - as well as the EU and UN have adapted their legal frameworks to try to address online terrorist and extremist content and the effects on privacy and freedom of expression. It focuses on blocking and filtering; online surveillance; criminal law; and administrative law.

20 April 2020

Lessons from history: Family work to clear PM plot suffragette's name

"The family of a woman jailed for a plot to poison a prime minister has lodged an application to review her case. Alice Wheeldon was convicted in 1917 of a conspiracy to kill David Lloyd George as she opposed World War One (...)"

20 April 2020

80 organisations, politicians and journalists call for ‘swift actions’ on Hungary

"Following the adoption of the controversial Hungarian coronavirus law, 30 MEPs and 50 journalists, academics and civiI society organisations have called for “swift and decisive actions” to address “threats to the rule of law being carried out under the guise of emergency powers” in a letter addressed to the European Commission and Council presidents."

20 April 2020

European Commission: COVID-19: Guidance on the implementation of relevant EU provisions in the area of asylum and return procedures and on resettlement

"The pandemic has direct consequences on the way EU asylum and return rules are being implemented by Member States and a disruptive effect on resettlement. The Commission fully acknowledges the difficulties that in the current context Member States face when implementing relevant EU rules in this regard."

20 April 2020

Police launch investigation into officer over threat to fabricate offence

"Lancashire Police have launched an investigation into an officer caught on camera threatening to fabricate an offence against a young man."

20 April 2020

U.S. Intelligence Agencies Haven't Agreed on Any One Theory About How Coronavirus Originated

"America's intelligence agencies have not come to a conclusion on how the virus known as SARS-CoV-2 began spreading from China's Wuhan province, a U.S. Intelligence Community official told Newsweek on Friday."

20 April 2020

Protecting Digital Research Even More Crucial During Covid-19

"Government, Company Restrictions Imperil Open Access to Human Rights Information (...)"

 

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