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 EU: MEPs
pose tricky questions to the Commission on the EU-Canada PNR
deal and others
On 9 October 2017
Claude Moraes MEP, Chair of the LIBE Committee in the European
Parliament and Sophie IN 'T Veld MEP, Rapporteur of the proposed
PNR Agreement between the EU and Canada wrote
to Frans Timmermans, the First Vice-President of the European
Commission
(pdf) with a detailed set of questions following the Court of
Justice of the European Union's Opinion: Proposed
EU-Canada PNR deal: OPINION 1/15 OF THE COURT (Grand Chamber) (pdf). . On 18 October
2017 Timmermans replied to Claude Moraes: Letter (pdf) and attached Detailed
Annex responding to the MEPs' questions (pdf).
See: Court
of Justice says no to EU-Canada travel surveillance deal as implementation
of European system continues (Statewatch News)
Greece JOINT STATEMENT: Open
The Islands – no more dead from cold! Solidarity groups
and organisations call for urgent action as winter is coming
for refugees in Greece
This Joint
Statement has now been signed by 109 groups from across
the EU, including Statewatch.
EU: Fundamental Rights Agency
(FRA): Surveillance
by intelligence services: fundamental rights safeguards and remedies
in the EU Volume II: field perspectives and legal update
(pdf): Useful review:
"Intelligence services
perform vital work, and the growing threats of terrorism, cyber-attacks
and sophisticated criminal networks have rendered more urgent
their efforts to protect our security. Technological advancements
have also made their work more complex, and the transnational
nature of today’s threats has made it ever more challenging.
But intelligence work to counter these threats, particularly
large-scale surveillance, can also interfere with fundamental
rights, especially privacy and data protection. As this report
underscores, effective oversight and remedies can help minimise
the risk of such interference."
EU: Council of the European Union: SIS: Overstayers,
Border checks & Police and judicial cooperation
• Overstayers: Regulation
on the use of the Schengen Information System for the return
of illegally staying third country nationals - draft compromise
text (LIMITE doc
no: 13164-17, pdf): The Council working on its negotiating position:
• Border checks: Regulation
on the establishment, operation and use of the Schengen Information
System (SIS) in the field of border checks... draft compromise
text (LIMITE doc
no: 13163-17, 86 pages, pdf): With 110 Footnotes including Member
State positions:
• SIS: Police and judicial
cooperation: Regulation
on the establishment, operation and use of the Schengen Information
System (SIS) in the field of police cooperation and judicial
cooperation in criminal matters, amending... - draft compromise
text (LIMITE doc
no: 13162-17, 114 pages pdf): With169 Footnotes including Member
State positions
Refugee
crisis: latest news from across Europe (17-22.10.17)
Greece: Refugees
protest poor conditions in hot spot Moria, Lesvos, and VIAL,
Chios (Keep Talking Greece, link):
"Afghan refugees and
migrants continued their protest also on Saturday after many
of them spent the night outside the hot spot in Moria on the
island of Lesvos. They demand better living conditions but also
equal treatment in their asylum requests similar to those of
Syrian refugees.
Afghan families holding their
children by the hand marched from the hot spot Moria to the city
of Mytilene to protest conditions and violence in the camp that
hosts more than 5,000 people.
Police forces deployed in
the north exit of Mytilene-Mantamathos highway did not allow
the group to proceed to the city and especially to the market
place.(...)
A member of the Moria management
told athensnewsagency that the hygiene conditions in the camp
are extremely poor, the water and sewage system is not sufficient
for so many people. . ” Moria was reportedly designed for
800 people but it hosts more than 5,476 people."
Why
does the UK Data Protection Bill exempt the ‘risk profiling’
industry? (Open Democracy, link) by Ben Hayes and Ravi
Naik:
"Anyone trying to open
a bank account or send money overseas must undergo extensive
risk assessment by private data-brokers, which amass non-credible
data and falsely blacklist the wrong people on a speculative
basis. (...) the bill
transposing the GDPR into UK law is complex and labyrinthine.
As the GDPR must be applied by May next year, the government
has set a tight legislative timetable for its passage, and the
bill has already had its second reading in the Lords.(..)
World-Check and its numerous
competitors would ostensibly be exempt from the core data protection
provisions that apply to other data controllers."
See also: Exclusive:
Secret Blacklist Grows Even After Journalists Placed on 'Terror'
List Are Paid Off (Vice News, link)
Council
Working Party on Humanitarian Aid and Food Aid (COHAFA) casts
doubt on EU policy of "safe" return of refugees to
Afghanistan
- Afghanistan:
"We are concerned at the deteriorating humanitarian situation"
-"Pakistan have hosted millions of Afghan refugees over
the last forty years and we commend them"
- "Iran have hosted millions of Afghan refugees over the
last forty years and we commend them"
Key
document: COHAFA
common messages on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan (LIMITE doc no: 12697-17,
pdf)
Commission
proposes new security measures - Public spaces, Canada and EU PNR, Europol personal
data exchanges with third states and European Intelligence Unit
Press release: Security
Union: Commission presents new measures to better protect EU
citizens
(pdf) which includes:
"protecting
public spaces and help deprive terrorists of the means to
act. The Commission is also proposing to further strengthen the
EU's external action on counter-terrorism - including
through Europol - and is recommending the EU open negotiations
on a revised Passenger Name Record agreement with Canada."
"Enhancing
Europol's cooperation with third countries by presenting, before
the end of the year, recommendations to the Council to authorise
the opening of negotiations for agreements between the EU and
Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia
and Turkey on the transfer of personal data between Europol and
these countries to prevent and combat terrorism and serious
crimes."
[emphasis in original]
SPAIN: Catalan
referendum: police operation sought to "generate panic amongst
the civil population"
A report by Barcelona city council
has denounced the police operation undertaken by the Policia
Nacional and the Guardia Civil on 1 October that attempted to
halt the vote on Catalan independence, saying it involved "generalised
institutional violence" that was "indiscriminate",
"disproportonate" and sought to "generate panic
amongst the civil population".
EU: European
Council: "roadmap" implementation paper highlights
migration, internal security, military efforts
"One year on, the EU
has made significant progress and can demonstrate tangible results.
The Bratislava method is working. The attached table shows that
many tasks have been completed, and many others are on track.
Some tasks however have progressed slower than expected, and
a few require a fresh push, including at the highest level."
Council of Europe: CPT
publishes report on Turkey (link)
"The visit focused on the situation of foreign nationals
detained under aliens legislation, and the report contains the
CPT’s findings and recommendations relating to various removal
centres, as well as the holding facilities in the transit zone
of Istanbul Atatürk Airport."
See: Report
(pdf)
GREECE: Open
The Islands - no more dead from the cold!
Over 40 solidarity groups and
organisations are calling for urgent action from the Greek local
and national authorities to prevent more refugees from dying
in the cold as winter sets in once again. They expect more groups
and organisations to join them over the next days and weeks.
ITALY: Solidarity
is not a crime: the Observatory of the Milan Charter is born
On 30 September 2017 around thirty
activists, journalists, jurists, citizens acting in solidarity,
members of NGOs and associations met in Milan to set up the Observatory
which the 'Milan Charter: solidarity is not a crime' proposed
in its document launched on 20 May 2017 during the demonstration
'Together without any walls'...
SPAIN: Human
rights groups denounce "racist" focus of G6 summit
in Seville
The interior ministers of Spain,
France, Germany, the UK, Italy and Poland, the so-called G6,
and high representatives of Morocco and the European Union are
meeting today (16 October) in Seville to analyse "the fight
against jihadist terrorism and illegal immigration." The
focus of the summit has led to protests from activists and NGOs
who consider it "racist" and have said that it "turns
migrants and racialised citizens into a threat."
UK
police earned millions training officers in repressive regimes
(The Guardian, link):
"British police earned
millions of pounds by training officers in repressive regimes
in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia."
Council
of the European Union developing its negotiating position: Reception
Directive and European Electronic Communications Code
Council
of the European Union: ENHANCED COOPERATION of 20 Member States:
European
Public Prosecutor's Office
EU: Justice
and Home Affairs Council, 12-13 October: all the documentation
including background documents
Updated 16.10.17: On the agenda: European Public Prosecutors'
Office, freezing and confiscation orders, the European Criminal
Records Information System for third-country nationals, implementing
data protection legislation, criminal justice in cyberspace,
Schengen Borders Code, counter-terrorism resettlement and the
reform of the Common European Asylum System.
Better
protection and durable solution for refugees (European Parliament, press release,
link):
By 37 MEPs to 20 and 2 abstentions
on 12 October, the European Parliament’s civil liberties
committee (LIBE) adopted its negotiating position for the permanent
EU mechanism for resettlement refugees. It called on the EU to
accept 240,000 refugees:
"EU member states host
8% of the world’s refugees. In 2015, 22 EU countries resettled
13 000 people; the US resettled almost 70 000 refugees. MEPs
therefore call on member states to increase both resettlement
efforts and the number of resettlement places in order to shoulder
a fair share of global responsibility. They want the EU to take
on at least 20% of the annual projected global resettlement needs.
In 2017, this would amount to around 250 000 people."
CoE: Commissioner
seeks clarifications over Italy’s maritime operations in
Libyan territorial waters (link):
"Expressing appreciation
for Italy’s efforts in saving lives at sea and in receiving
migrants arriving at its shores in the last years, the Commissioner
underscores that, even when a state faces difficulties in coping
with the influx of migrants, it still has the duty to protect
and safeguard their human rights.
“The case law of the
European Court of Human Rights is clear about this duty and I
think it bears relevance for Italy’s operations in Libyan
territorial waters”, writes the Commissioner."
See: Letter
to Italy (pdf)
European
Council draft Conclusions on migration
"To consolidate
and deepen this approach on all migration routes, the European
Council further calls for:
- continued full commitment to our cooperation with Turkey
on migration as well as - support to the Western Balkans;
- reducing the attractiveness of illegal migration through
enhanced returns, effective readmission agreements and arrangements
and by making full use of the European Border and Coast Guard
Agency, which should be further strengthened....."
EU: Migrant
smuggling tops EU crime priorities - restricted document shows
extent of police operations
"Preventing
the arrival of immigrants with no legal rights to the EU is more
important, in terms of EU policy priorities among member states,
than fighting terrorism and online child pornography."
UK: Stop
the Spy Cop Cover Up (one small window, link):
"In recent years, laws
curtailing civil liberties and sanctioning greater surveillance
of British citizens and residents have been passed in the Houses
of Parliament, making it an unusual venue for a meeting on the
Undercover Police Inquiry, even though the inquiry core participants
include a number of politicians."
Top reports
See: Resources
for researchers: Statewatch Analyses: 1999-ongoing
SECILE Project:
Borderline: The EU's New Border Surveillance Initiatives:
Assessing the Costs and Fundamental Rights Implications of EUROSUR
and the "Smart Borders" Proposals (pdf) A study by the
Heinrich Böll Foundation. Written by Dr. Ben Hayes and Mathias
Vermeulen: "Unable to tackle the root of the problem,
the member states are upgrading the Union’s external borders.
Such a highly parochial approach taken to a massive scale threatens
some of the EU’s fundamental values - under the pretence
that one’s own interests are at stake. Such an approach
borders on the inhumane."
How the EU works and justice and home
affairs decision-making (pdf)
Statewatch's
20th Anniversary Conference, June 2011: Statewatch
conference speeches
TNI/Statewatch:
Counter-terrorism,
'policy laundering' and the FATF - legalising surveillance, regulating
civil society
(pdf) by Ben Hayes
Statewatch publication:
Guide
to EU decision-making and justice and home affairs after the
Lisbon Treaty
(pdf) by Steve Peers, Professor of Law, University of Essex,
with additional material by Tony Bunyan
Neoconopticon: the EU security-industrial
complex
(pdf) by Ben Hayes
The Shape of Things to Come (pdf) by Tony Bunyan
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