2021
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.
Council of Europe: Action Plan on Protecting Vulnerable Persons in the Context of Migration and Asylum in Europe
The Council of Europe has adopted a new 'Action Plan on Protecting Vulnerable Persons in the Context of Migration and Asylum', covering the period 2021-25.
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe: Border Management and Human Rights
A new policy briefing by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) looks at the collection, processing and sharing of personal data and the use of new technologies in the counter-terrorism and freedom of movement context.
Italy: The Black Book on the Pre-Removal Detention Centre (CPR) of migrants in Turin
The Association for Immigration Law Studies (ASGI) has published a study of Turin's Pre-Removal Detention Centre, the second-largest such centre in Italy. The 'Black Book' was written following the death in solitary confinement of 22-year old Moussa Balde in May. It examines the centre's inhumane conditions and the rights violations to which its "guests" (a euphemism used by the Italian state for detainees) are subjected.
EU: Artificial intelligence expert group in breach of rules of procedure
The European Commission’s Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence in the Domain of Home Affairs is currently in breach of its own transparency rules, preventing public oversight of its membership.
Brexit: Negotiations on Gibraltar start this week with talks on "mobility of persons"
The first round of negotiations for a UK-EU agreement on Gibraltar will begin this week with "mobility of persons" the first substantive issue under discussion, a topic that includes "asylum, short term and long term visas and residence permits".
Brexit: EU to push for Spanish border and asylum rules in Gibraltar; EU-UK counter-terrorism "dialogue" under consideration
Official documents on: negotiations on the agreement on Gibraltar (including plans for Spain to undertake border controls, Spain-UK cooperation on asylum and deportations, Spanish control over issuing short-stay visas, and more); EU proposal for a possible "EU-UK CT [counter-terrorism] Dialogue"; EU notifications under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement on police data protection authorities.
EU: Tracking the Pact: Latest draft of the "solidarity" text in the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation
On 4 October the Slovenian Presidency circulated re-drafted sections of the proposed Asylum and Migration Management Regulation to national delegations in the Council. The proposals cover the section on "solidarity" - that is, how member states are supposed to aid one another in dealing with the "burden" of individuals arriving in the EU - and parts of Article 6, concerning "recurring disembarkations following search and rescue operations."
EU: Tracking the Pact: Presidency seeks to rush through new rules with border detention as "a key measure"
Member states see the use of detention as "a key measure" for the purpose of carrying out the "screening" of people arriving irregularly at the EU's external borders, according to the Slovenian Presidency, which hopes to rush the measures through to "strengthen the protection of the external borders and prevent illegal migration."
Libya: Evidence crimes against humanity and war crimes committed since 2016, UN report finds
Press release published by the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya, along with the Mission's full report and statements from a press conference on 4 October.
EU: Interior ministers to debate ways to increase police access to digital data
"It is therefore important to have a broad policy discussion at the highest political level on the challenges and way forward in relation to the underlying question: what is required, in concrete terms, in order to ensure an operationally sufficient level of access to data for authorities that are responsible for public/internal security, including to safeguard the most vulnerable members of our societies."
“Next generation” armed drone with police potential tipped for EU financial backing
The EU’s foreign policy chief has recommended funding the development of a “next generation” drone that could be deployed over land and sea in military operations, as well as for “civilian, law enforcement use.”
UK: Court finds "disturbing and lamentable failings" in "unlawful and sexist" spycops operation
Kate Wilson, who was spied on by six undercover police officers between 2003 and 2009 - and deceived into an intimate relationship with one of them, Mark Kennedy - has won her legal battle against the Metropolitan Police, with a court finding the force responsible for "a formidable list" of human rights violations during an "unlawful and sexist" operation.
EU border externalization policies further deepens the migrants’ crisis in Tunisia
Statement circulated by the Forum Tunisien pour les Droits Economiques et Sociaux on 1 October 2021.
Belgium: 50 organisations and cybersecurity experts call on the government to halt attack on encryption
An open letter signed by 50 organisations and individuals, including Statewatch, calls on the Belgian government to halt its plan to introduce legislation that would introduce backdoors into encrypted communications, undermining the privacy, confidentiality and security of all users.
European Commission: Artificial Intelligence Act aims "to decrease administrative burden on home affairs authorities in order not to hamper innovation"
Two presentations produced by the European Commission explain different aspects of the proposed Artificial Intelligence Act - namely, how the new measures would affect the use of biometric technologies, and what the rules would mean for the use of "artificial intelligence" for law enforcement, migration and asylum. Amongst other things, one presentation notes that the Artificial Intelligence Act aims "to decrease administrative burden on home affairs authorities in order not to hamper innovation"
'I didn’t really learn much except to nag the police. However, I have done that thoroughly' - R.I.P. Heiner Busch
On 21 September, Heiner Busch, one of the founding members of Statewatch, passed away at the age of 64. Here we publish a translation of a tribute from a number of German organisations with which Heiner worked, and a tribute from Statewatch Director Emeritus, Tony Bunyan.
Council of the EU: Discussion paper on "gaps and opportunities" in EU return policy
The EU is looking for ways to step up the number of deportations, and the Slovenian Presidency is seeking other member states' views on "missings links" and "synergy" in the coordination between different actors, whether there should be further emphasis on return and readmission in the EU's relations with third countries, and how negotiations on readmission agreements could be improved.
Policing: EU and UK to extend post-Brexit biometric data exchange agreement
The EU and UK are to extend the application of rules that allow the cross-border searching and exchange of DNA and fingerprint data by law enforcement authorities, pending an evaluation of the UK’s data protection rules, which must take place by the end of June next year.
EU: Tracking the Pact: Commission "to step up border management support at Libya’s Southern border"
The European Commission intends "to step up border management support at Libya’s Southern border," according to a draft action plan on cooperation on migration with Niger. New working arrangements will be signed between Frontex and EU missions EUCAP Sahel Niger and EUBAM Libya, that "could help the Governments of Niger and Libya shore up border management at their mutual land border," says the document.
UK: Ninth anniversary of the publication of the Report of the Hillsborough Independent Panel
12 September was the ninth anniversary of the publication of the Report of the Hillsborough Independent Panel, which set out the truth about what happened at Hillsborough football stadium in 1989: failures by the police and the football club to ensure safety measures, combined with a lack of coordination amongst emergency services, caused the deaths of 97 people following a crush in one of the stands. Here, we reproduce an extract from Phil Scraton's book, 'Hillsborough: The Truth', along with the presentation he gave at the launch of the Independent Panel's report in 2012.
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