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 our RSS feed to get instant alerts.
"This assessment concludes, inter alia, that the Commission package expands the scope of the European Criminal Record Information System for Third-Country Nationals (ECRIS-TCN) beyond the purposes stated in the ECRIS-TCN Regulation. This expansion constitutes a serious interference with the rights to respect for private life and to protection of personal data."
"In a Greek refugee camp, adults are being stabbed or raped, while children freeze. This suffering shames our continent."
Commission note explaining the "consequential amendments" to the ETIAS Regulation
"UN experts on arbitrary detention have urged the Greek government to make urgent changes to the detention of migrants, stressing that the country was in continuing violation of various international standards.
A call from EuroMed Rights on International Migrants Day for the EU and its member states to ratify the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families.
"The Greek government has repeatedly denied carrying out illegal "pushbacks" at its land border with Turkey. No asylum seekers, Athens insists, have been forced back across the Evros River into Turkey without a fair asylum process -- even if numerous refugees been claiming otherwise for years."
"The study uses a comparative-historical perspective to examine the practice of state advertising in the Hungarian media by looking at the relevant practices of three governments."
"The Austrian constitutional court decided on 11.12.2019 that the surveillance law that permits the use of spying software to read encrypted messages violates the fundamental right to respect for private life (article 8 ECHR), the fundamental right to data protection (§ 1 Austrian data protection law) and the constitutionally granted right that prohibits unreasonable searches (Art 9 Austrian bill of rights – Staatsgrundgesetz).
"On 5 November 2019, the Government launched a consultation to strengthen police powers against roadside Travellers. We need as many people as possible to stand up and fight against the Government’s plans"
"There is an “enormous amount at stake” in an appeal against a High Court decision that found the police’s capturing of mobile phone metadata in relation to a murder case breached EU law, Ireland’s Supreme Court has heard."
"According to a confidential EU report, 70,000 migrants have crossed from Turkey to the EU this year. The numbers raise questions about whether a EU-Turkey refugee deal is unravelling."
"Overall, the Court’s pronouncements should not be viewed outside the specific context of the case at hand, i.e they should not be understood as generally applicable to the processing of biometric data for immigration law purposes. The Court’s approach favours national prerogatives in managing third-country nationals through data surveillance policies as it allows a significant margin of discretion for Member States."
"ATHENS – Mild late autumn weather has led to a constant stream of refugees and migrants being sent to Greek islands from Turkey, where they had gone fleeing war and strife in their homeland, sent by human traffickers being allowed to operate during an essentially-suspended 2016 swap deal with the European Union."
"Sharing the cockpit of a helicopter on sizzling tarmac, French and British air force chiefs vowed to pursue the joint fight against jihadists in the heart of the Sahel even as the shadow of Brexit looms over their countries."
How people in need of protection are being denied crucial access to legal information and assistance in the Greek islands’ EU ‘hotspot’ camps
"For three years now, the European Union, created to promote peace and understanding, has been undergoing a profound pivot to militarisation and hard power."
"Turkey moved closer to military support for Libya’s internationally recognised government late on Saturday (14 December) when a bilateral deal that provides for a quick reaction force if requested by Tripoli was sent to parliament."
Frontex is now an internal surveillance agency.
"The corpses of six people who had entered Greece irregularly were discovered between December 5 and 8 in the Evros region. Greek authorities are reportedly considering to extend an existing iron fence along the entire Evros River on the Northeastern border."
The new Eurojust Regulation agreed in November 2018 comes into force, bringing into being the European Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation.
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