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Peter Oborne argues that Interpol should reject the candidacy of Major General Nasser Ahmed al-Raisi, a police chief in the United Arab Emirates, for the policing organisation's top job. Al-Raisi is responsible for managing the UAE's security forces, who stand accused of serious crimes, including the repression of dissent and torture. Interpol's general assembly is due to decide the organisation's new chief in December.
The rules on the Schengen Information System (SIS) were revised in 2018 and provide the possibility for member states to connect new authorities, either directly or indirectly, to the database. The system holds data on tens of millions of wanted or missing persons and objects. In Germany, some 2,000 new authorities will gain access to data. Meanwhile in Switzerland, there is a political controversy over accepting the new rules - but if the country were to reject them, it would have to leave the Schengen area altogether.
A new paper published by the Transnational Institute (TNI).
Some 140 people have died after a boat carrying 200 people heading towards the Canary Islands sank off the coast of Senegal.
Black Lives Matter UK has renamed itself as Black Liberation Movement UK and legally registered as a community benefit society, and is set to start using some of the £1.2 million in donations it has received so far this year.
ECRE's initial examination of the proposed Regulation on Asylum and Migration Management finds it to be complex, confusing, contradictory and conniving. The organisation argues that the proposal seeks to strengthen the role of DG HOME and internal security policies in relation to migration management.
The European Network Against Arms Trade (ENAAT) has done the maths on the EU's military research and development funding, finding that over half the funding is distributed between four member states, and seven of the top ten companies receiving funds were members of the 'Group of Personalities' that advised the European Commission to start funding the development of arms and military technologies.
Two discussion papers recently circulated by the German Presidency of the Council, on the future of legal migration to the EU and lessons learned for legal migration policy from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Belgium's deportation of an individual to Sudan violated the rights to an effective remedy and the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment, the ECHR has ruled. The case concerns a deportation that took place in 2017, when the Belgian and Sudanese authorities were cooperating closely on forced removals.
Current rules are "perceived to be insufficient by both Europol and the OSPs [online service providers]."
The German Presidency of the Council is pressing ahead with its efforts to undermine encryption in the name of law enforcement. Close cooperation with industry is the preferred means, but "there should be no single prescribed technical solution to provide access to the encrypted data." However, as experts have long pointed out, there is no way to give law enforcement agencies routine access to encrypted data without fundamentally undermining the security of all users of a given service or technology.
Four people - two adults and two children - have died whilst attempting to cross the Channel in a small boat, which sank off the coast of France. There are calls for changes to the UK's asylum system and border control measures to prevent the same thing happening again in the future. This incident follows the drowning of a teenager earlier this year.
EU border agency Frontex has signed a €15,000 contract with a private security company based in Northern Ireland for the provision of "human intelligence training".
A brief Europol report looks at the changing landscape of human trafficking in light of new technologies, and sets out some of the new law enforcement activities and powers it perceives as required to deal with the issue.
The UNHCR has issued a paper setting out certain "practical considerations for fair and fast border procedures and solidarity". A proposal for procedures to swiftly assess asylum claims whilst individuals are detained in facilities at the EU's border is a key feature of the EU's new Pact on Migration and Asylum.
On 5 October the Italian council of ministers adopted a decree that reverses a number of policies introduced by former interior minister Matteo Salvini. Residency permits will once again be available on humanitarian grounds, and asylum-seekers will have the right to access services offered through the country's reception system. However, the government has maintained fines for the crews of ships carrying out search and rescue activities, merely reducing the penalty from one million to €50,000. Parliamentary oversight may see changes to the new rules.
EU border agency Frontex has been accused of direct involvement in at least two pushback operations in the Aegean Sea, and of being in close proximity to four others, following an investigation by a number of media outlets.
Juraj Sajfert argues that a recent CJEU decision on national bulk data retention and collection practices is "a complex victory for the law enforcement community and a major step back in the Court’s data retention jurisprudence."
Large drones are heading to the skies above the Mediterranean, with both Italy and EU border agency Frontex recently agreeing multi-million euro contracts with private companies. The drones will be used for border surveillance, and in particular are like to assist with pull-backs to North Arican states.
The UK's second-largest police force is to stop prosecuting people caught with drugs intended for personal use, provided that they agree to participate in a drug education or treatment scheme.
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