This paper examines the EU’s justice and home affairs databases and information systems, the changes that have been introduced by recent legislation seeking to make those systems ‘interoperable’ and the potential implications of those changes for fundamental rights, in particular in relation to undocumented migrants.

Co-published in November 2019 by Statewatch and the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants. Read the report here.

While the European Union project has faltered in recent years, afflicted by the fall-out of the economic crisis, the rise of anti-EU parties and the Brexit vote, there is one area where it has not only continued apace but made significant advances: Europe’s security policies have not only gained political support from across its Member States but growing budgets and resources too. 

Co-published in September 2017 by Statewatch and the Transnational Institute. Read the report here.

Options

in UK £10.00 GBP Outside UK £13.00 GBP

Back from the battlefield: domestic drones in the UK
[Chris Jones]

Back from the battlefield: domestic drones in the UK aims to contribute to the public debate on the use of drones within the UK. The main body of the research examines the use of drones by police forces and border control authorities and argues that public discussion and debate is needed before the use of drones - in particular for surveillance purposes - becomes widespread.

Co-published in February 2014 by Statewatch and Drone Wars UK. Free PDF download available of the report and its annexes. See our webpage on the report for further information and resources.

Options

in UK £3.50 GBP Outside UK £5.00 GBP

Eurodrones, Inc.
[Ben Hayes, Chris Jones and Eric Töpfer]

Eurodrones, Inc. tells the story of how European citizens are unknowingly subsidising through their taxes a controversial drone industry yet are systematically excluded from any debates about their use. Behind empty promises of consultation, EU officials have turned over much of drone policy development to the European defence and security corporations which seek to profit from it.

Co-published in February 2014 by Statewatch and the Transnational Institute, free PDF download available. See also our Eurodrones, Inc. page.

The Atlas of Migration in Europe
[Migreurop]

The second edition of Migreurop's Atlas of Migration in Europe explains the development of European immigration policies and their consequences and exposes realities little known to the general public. Contains a chapter on EU immigration databases by Chris Jones (Statewatch).

Published in 2013 by Migreurop. Order publication at New Internationalist. First published in French in 2012.

Counter-terrorism, 'policy laundering' and the FATF: legalising surveillance, regulating civil society
[Ben Hayes]

This report examines the global framework for countering terrorist financing developed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and other international law enforcement bodies. The report includes a thorough examination of the impact of FATF's 'Special Recommendation VIII' on countering the threat of terrorist financing said to be posed by non-profit organisations.

Co-published in 2012 by Statewatch and the Transnational Institute, free PDF download available.

Options

In UK £8.00 GBP Outside UK £10.50 GBP

NeoConOpticon: The EU Security-Industrial Complex
[Ben Hayes]

NeoConOpticon examines the development and implementation of the European Security Research Programme (ESRP), a €1.4 billion EU ‘R&D’ budget line focused predominantly on surveillance and otherlaw enforcement technologies. It reveals the extent to which the design of the programme has been outsourced to some of the corporations that have most to gain from its implementation

Co-published in 2009 by Statewatch and the Transnational Institute, free PDF download available.

Options

In UK £10.00 GBP Outside UK £12.50 GBP

The Shape of Things to Come
[Tony Bunyan]

The Shape of Things to Come examines the European Union's plans for justice and home affairs, and warns that the Union is embarked on several highly controversial paths, including harnessing the 'digital tsunami' to gather personal details on the everyday lives of everyone living in the European Union.

Border Wars and Asylum Crimes
[Frances Webber]

When the Statewatch pamphlet "Crimes of Arrival" was written, in 1995, the title was a metaphor for the way the British government, in common with other European governments, treated migrants and especially, asylum seekers. Now, a decade on, that title describes a literal truth.

Published in 2006 by Statewatch.

Options

In UK £10.00 GBP Outside UK £12.50 GBP

The War on Freedom and Democracy
[edited by Tony Bunyan]

The ‘war on terror’ has continued with no end in sight in the years since the attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001. It permeates the institutions of the body politic in Europe, sacrificing liberty and freedoms in the name of a constructed ‘politics of fear’ and demands for security.

Arming Big Brother: the EU's Security Research Programme
[Ben Hayes]

Documents EU expenditure on "Homeland security" research and the role played by arms company lobbyists in securing billions of euros in funding. Warns that the EU is fostering the expansion of an unaccountable security-industrial complex, with far-reaching implications for civil liberties.

Countering Civil Rights
[Tony Bunyan]

Using public and secret documents, this report looks at moves in the UK, US, the G8, the EU Council and the Council of Europe to introduce new terrorism offences including preparatory acts and "glorification"; to use "intelligence information" as "evidence" in court; and to allow intelligence gathering by new "special investigative techniques".

Published in 2005 by Spokesman Books. Order publication (Spokesman, £2)

Journalism, Civil Liberties and the "War on Terrorism"
[Ben Hayes & Aidan White]

A sixty page assessment of how states are sacrificing civil liberties and free expression in the name of an all too often illusory security.

Published on "World Press Freedom day" 2005 by the International Federation of Journalists and Statewatch. Out of print, free PDF download available.

Data Protection in the Police Sector in Europe: a Failure to Regulate
[Ben Hayes]

Looks at debates on so-called "racial profiling" and the fact that despite condemnation, European states continue to collect data on ethnicity and religion and use it prejudicially in their policing, immigration and counter-terrorism policies.

Published in "Ethnic Profiling by Police in Europe" in 2005 by the Open Society Justice Initiative. Contact OSI Justice Initiatives for hard copies, free PDF download available.

Secrecy and Openness in the European Union
[Tony Bunyan]

An "online book" on the history and struggle for freedom of information in the EU. Hundreds of links document the roles played by the EU institutions, the member states and, crucially, civil society.

Published in 2002 (and updated in 2003) by The Global Network of Freedom of Information Advocates. Available free online.

The activities and development of Europol - towards an unaccountable "FBI" in Europe
[Ben Hayes]

EU governments signed the Europol Convention in July 1995. Four months later, Statewatch published the first publicly available draft of the text together with a detailed analysis to encourage open debate on the issues it raised. Six years later, this Convention is being rewritten to give Europol operational powers and a much wider remit and open debate needs as much encouragement as ever.

Published in 2002 by Statewatch.

Options

In UK £10.00 GBP Outside UK £12.50 GBP

On Globalisation of Control: Towards an Integrated Surveillance System in Europe
[Thomas Mathiesen]

The first in-depth analysis of the databases and surveillance mechanisms being put in place by the EU. Examines "Europol", the "Schengen Information System" and a plethora of additional systems, and places them in the dual context of globalisation and social control.

Published in 1999 by Statewatch, free PDF download available.

Options

In UK £6.00 GBP Outside UK £8.50 GBP

Key texts on justice and home affairs, 1976-1993
[compiled by Tony Bunyan]

Full texts of 56 key documents and reports covering the Trevi group, the Ad Hoc Group on Immigration and the Coordinators of Free Movement. Essential for looking at the pre-Maastricht Treaty period.

Published in 1997 by Statewatch.

Options

In UK £10.00 GBP Outside UK £12.50 GBP

Crimes of Arrival
Frances Webber

"[W]hen people are subjected to routine fingerprinting, when they are locked up, when they are restrained by body belts and leg shackles and thirteen feet of tape, or forcibly injected with sedatives to keep them quiet as they are bundled on to an aircraft, it seems reasonable to ask: what have they done? The answer is that they have tried to come to western Europe, to seek asylum, or to live here with their families, or to work here. And the whole panoply of modern policing, with its associated rhetoric, is applied against them."

Published in 1996 by Statewatch, free PDF download available.

Options

In UK £6.50 GBP Outside UK £8.00 GBP

Researching the European state: a critical guide
[edited by Tony Bunyan]

Comprehensive bibliography with over 1,600 entries, author and subject index. Covers all relevant "official" sources and places a special emphasis on alternative sources.

Published in 1996 by Statewatch.

Options

In UK £7.00 GBP Outside UK £9.50 GBP

The Europol Convention
[Tony Bunyan]

This pamphlet contains the full text of the Europol Convention agreed by EU governments in 1995, together with commentary and analysis.

Published in 1995 by Statewatch, free PDF download available.

Statewatching the new Europe: a handbook on the European state
[edited by Tony Bunyan]

A 208 page paperback covering the pre-Maastricht development of the EU's "Third Pillar", a country-by-country analysis of EU police and security services, immigration and asylum policy, racism and anti-terrorism in the North of Ireland.

Published in 1993 by Statewatch.

Options

In UK £5.00 GBP Outside UK £7.50 GBP

The History and Practice of the Political Police in Britain
[Tony Bunyan]

"...deals in detail with the history and practice of the uniformed police, the Special Branch, MI5, the private security agencies, and covers surveillance techniques such as telephone tapping and 'counter-revolutionary' preparations" - The Guardian

"...is a highly informative and scholarly study in which, for the first time, the work of all the police and intelligence departments are consdiered as unified whole. The author's political conclusions are however open to comment..." - Police Review

"...gives a warning of the growing powers of the State over the individual which we ought to heed" - The Sun

Published in 1977 by Quartet Books.

Options

In UK £10.00 GBP Outside UK £12.50 GBP