You can also access as a pdf file here: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2016/nov/email-7-11-16.pdf
NEWS
1. Statewatch Intervention: Unaccompanied child asylum-seekers: European Court of Human Rights
2. EU: Council of the European Union: IT and border management & Japan MLA
3. Austria Postpones Presidential Election Re-Run Due to Faulty Postal Ballots
4. UK refused access to British father ‘in fear for his life’ on Ethiopia’s death row
5. UK: Philosopher’s talk cancelled due to passport rules
6. Austria: EU must prepare borders for end of Turkey migrant deal
7. EU: Money laundering and terrorist financing: Commission new proposals lacking quality
8. CoE: Exchange of letters with PM of the Czech Republic on the human rights of Roma
9. BELGIUM: Grounds for Concern: Counterterror Responses to the Paris and Brussels Attacks
10. HUNGARY: Six years of Orbán, 600 laws and measures: EU "must show it is serious"
11. EU: 725 More Mediterranean Migrant Deaths Than This Period Last
12. UK-EU: Access to European security databases post Brexit is 'mission critical'
13. UK: Unlawful immigration curfews under government review
14. UK: Report highlights ‘chilling effect’ on freedom to protest against fracking
15. Federal Court of Canada: Security Intelligence Services' data retention is illegal
16. New EU network of judicial authorities to combat the “challenges stemming from encryption”
17. UK: Abolish Prevent, new study on "counter-terrorism" effects in healthcare and education
18. UK: UNDERCOVER POLICING: Pitchford Inquiry must ensure openness and transparency
19. Travelling to and living in the EU: how would a "hard Brexit" affect UK nationals?
20. FRANCE: After Calais, police move in to clear encampments in Paris
21. BULGARIA: Over the Line: Bulgaria Welcomes Refugees With Attack Dogs and Beatings
22. Council of the European Union: EASO and Entry-Exit: Limited extension of stay
23. UK: Brexit court defeat for UK government
24. Long Read: Shipwreck Survivors Stranded by a Faltering Deal
25. CoE: Anti-torture committee critical of conditions of migrants and refugees in Hungary
26. AI: Italy: Refugees and migrants slapped and subjected to electric shocks to force fingerprinting
27. CoE: Turkey: Jagland concern over freedom of expression and state of emergency measures
28. GREECE: How can we overcome the dead-end situation on the refugee issue in Greece?
29. UK-EU: DPP warning over post-Brexit criminal justice
30. EU: Council European Union: Cyber issues WP, IMS, Will mapping & Possession of weapons
31. Alarm over effectiveness of EU-Turkey refugee deal grows in Brussels
32. Frontex’s Prison Island Lesvos: Apartheid in the tourist paradise
33. UK: Orgreave inquiry campaigners say the gloves are off
34. UK must build cyber-attack capability, chancellor says
35. Scotland must carry out it own probe into undercover policing, says Pitchford Inquiry participants
36. Human & humanitarian smugglers: Europe’s scapegoat in the ‘refugee crisis’
37. UK: Invisible fathers of immigration detention in the UK
38. German Federal Criminal Police trains secret services in Egypt monitoring extremism on Internet
39. EU: European Commission: latest figures on relocation (27.10.16)
40. EU: European Commission: swapping relocation for resettlement: legal amendment
41. Private Eyes: The Little-Known Company That Enables Worldwide Mass Surveillance
42. News Digest: round-up of news stories from across the EU
43. EU: The number of deaths in the Mediterranean will reach a new peak this year
44. BULGARIA: BHC Strongly Condemns the Attack on its Chairman Krassimir Kanev
45. NATO to boost efforts in Aegean to stop migrants
46. Dutch NGOs Demand a Voice to Challenge Arms Exports
47. EU: "Defence" research: background to the forthcoming "preparatory action"
48. UK: More than half of local newspapers don’t have a court reporter
49. EU: Encryption: law enforcement agencies favour practical solutions not new legal powers?
50. European Parliament: European volunteering: remove remaining barriers, urge MEPs
51. ITALY-SUDAN "COLLECTIVE" DEPORTATIONS: Letter from 25 MEPs to Italy
52. GERMANY: The NSU scandal – investigations into child murders re-opened
53. NGOs censure EU countries for spending foreign aid on asylum costs
54. Lesvos, Greece: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is dismantling the Apanemo site
55. MIGREUROP: A Europe united against refugees
56. EU: Can the EU reconcile its commitment to maintaining fundamental rights?
57. Algeria: the new migrant staging post for Europe
58. UK HoC: Justice Committee Treatment of young adults in the criminal justice system
59. SPAIN: Squeezed by the spooks: attempt to recruit activist as informant caught on tape
60. Commission extending temporary internal border controls for a limited period of three months
61. UNHCR: Migration control is not only about keeping people out
62. UK: Teachers told to ‘guess’ ethnicity of children
63. EU: Council of the European Union: European Public Prosecutor's Offce (EPPO)
64. Observatory on the Refugee crisis in the Med & in the EU
NEWS
1. Unaccompanied child asylum-seekers: European Court of Human Rights: Written Submissions on behalf of Statewatch as Third Party Intervenor in the case of Sh.D and others v Greece, F.Y.R.O.M, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia (Application No: 14165/16, pdf): The Statewatch Intervention invites the Court to find that:
"States party to the decision to close the Western Balkans route knew or ought to have known about the continued serious systemic deficiencies in the Greek state in respect of asylum seekers, and particularly in respect of the reception, guardianship and processing of claims of unaccompanied asylum seeking children. Non-admission at the border along the Balkan and neighbouring states of unaccompanied asylum seeking children seeking access to the territory violates non-refoulement obligations under international refugee and human rights law and is incompatible with Article 3, ECHR."
The Intervention finds that:
"In view of the widely reported continuing serious deficiencies and significant delays in practice for reception (and use of prolonged de facto detention), guardianship and access to asylum processes by UN and EU agencies and non-governmental organisations, the Intervener submits that there remains no evidential basis that could lead this Court to reach a different conclusion to that which has prevailed to date, namely that the omissions to date of the Greek authorities in implementing a system of monitoring, supervising, assisting and safeguarding the best interests of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children persist at a level of severity of degrading treatment such as to amount to a breach of the state’s obligation under Article 3, ECHR." and:
"The Intervener therefore submits that while every country has the prerogative to control its borders, action by the Balkan states and neighbouring states to push back at the border or reject refugees and asylum-seekers based on their nationality and without any possibility of claiming asylum or otherwise having their individual circumstances taken into account violates the non-refoulement obligations. The direct consequence of the decision to close the West Balkans route is to knowingly expose individuals – and in particular unaccompanied children, acknowledged to be a most vulnerable category of persons - to “the risk of proscribed ill-treatment” 75 in breach of Article 3, ECHR." [emphasis in original]
2. EU: Council of the European Union: IT and border management & Japan MLA
- Information Technology (IT) measures related to border management (LIMITE doc no: 12661-16, pdf)
a) Systematic checks of external borders, b) Entry/Exit System (EES), c) Evolution of the Schengen Information System (SIS), d) EU Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), e) High-Level Expert Group on Information Systems and Interoperability = Progress report:
"the Presidency is fully committed to pursue work on the current and upcoming files on information technology measures related to border management. In this vein, it presents to the Council the below progress report on these items with a view to allowing the Ministers to take stock of the work that is under way and of the ensuing challenges."
- JAPAN-MLA: Summary of replies to the questionnaire on the application of the 2009 EU-Japan Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance (10783-REV-1-16, pdf): Member States' experience of this Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement with Japan and some of the problems.
3. Austria Postpones Presidential Election Re-Run Due to Faulty Postal Ballots(Press Project, link):
"The Austrian election plot thickens. Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka announced on Monday that the re-run of the presidential election scheduled for next month has been delayed after some postal voters came forward with complains of faulty seals on ballot papers ...
After the new issue was reported, the probable dates for the presidential election are either November 27 or December 4, Mr. Sobotka told reporters in Vienna, adding he was open to extending the vote to citizens who had reached the voting age of 16 since the spring. Postponing the re-run will require a change to Austria's electoral law.
Back in May, Austria came close to become the first western European country to elect a far-right head of state since World War Two. Norbert Hofer of the anti-migrant Freedom Party (FPO) lost by some 31.000 votes, which stands for less than one percentage point, to independent Alexander Van der Bellen, a former leader of the Green Party."
4. UK refused access to British father ‘in fear for his life’ on Ethiopia’s death row(Reprieve, link):
"The British Foreign Office (FCO) has failed for a week to confirm the safety and wellbeing of a British father held on death row in Ethiopia, despite having received reports last weekend that his life was in danger.
Last Saturday (28th), the family of Andargachew ‘Andy’ Tsege, from London, were told by British officials in Ethiopia that Mr Tsege had indicated that he was ‘in fear for his life’, following disturbances at the prison where he is held. Mr Tsege has been imprisoned unlawfully in Ethiopia since 2014, when he was kidnapped at an international airport and rendered to the country. He is held under an illegal sentence of death, which was imposed in absentia in 2009 in relation to his vocal criticisms of Ethiopia’s ruling party....
5. UK: Philosopher’s talk cancelled due to passport rules (Times Higher Education, link):
"A philosopher has said he is shocked after he was prevented from speaking at a UK university for failing to provide a copy of his passport.
Jonathan Webber, reader in philosophy at Cardiff University, said that he was stunned after a guest lecture that he was due to give at the University of Hertfordshire was cancelled when he refused to show the document.
“I have given many talks all over the country and have never been asked for any documentation like this,” said Dr Webber, who is president of the British Society for Ethical Theory.
The UK academic, who has held lectureships at the University of Sheffield and the University of Bristol, said that he had refused to hand over a copy of his passport on principle.
“They do not have the right to ask for my passport – they are not my employer; so why should I have to hand it over?” Dr Webber told Times Higher Education."
6. Austria: EU must prepare borders for end of Turkey migrant deal (DW, link)
"Austria's defense minister has said the European Union's migrant deal with Turkey is dead. The EU must now prepare to strengthen its external borders, he added.... Austria's defense minister has said the European Union's migrant deal with Turkey is dead. The EU must now prepare to strengthen its external borders, he added.
The European Union should bolster its border defenses against another influx of migrants in anticipation of the possible collapse of the bloc's refugee deal with Turkey, Austria's defense minister said Saturday.
"I have always said that the EU-Turkey deal should only be a stop-gap measure until the EU is in the position to effectively protect its external borders and thereby stem the flow of migrants," Hans Peter Doskozil told the German daily "Bild" in an interview.
"The time to organize for that is ever closer," he said, adding that he invited defense ministers from Central European states to Vienna early next week to discuss joint measures and the situation in Turkey."
7. EU: Money laundering and terrorist financing: Commission assessment of new proposals lacking quality, says Parliament briefing
"This initial appraisal concludes that, while this impact assessment is generally based on useful information and data, the fact that it was apparently prepared under severe time constraints has affected the overall quality of the analysis, which as a result does not entirely meet the quality standards set out in the Better Regulation Guidelines. The structure of the IA itself, organised in two parts, but amending one piece of legislation, does not provide a fully coherent picture of the issues at stake and does not necessarily facilitate the co-legislators' understanding of the reasoning. Quality weaknesses appear to apply particularly to the second part of the IA, which was added as a direct consequence of the Panama Papers revelations."
See: Briefing: Initial Appraisal of a European Commission Impact Assessment: Prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing (pdf) and For the Commission's proposal and the accompanying Impact Assessment see: New counter-terrorist financing rules: the "threat has grown and evolved recently" (Statewatch News Online, 11 July 2016)
8. Council of Europe: Exchange of letters with the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic on the human rights of Roma and persons with disabilities (Council of Europe, link):
"Today Commissioner Mui nieks published a letter he addressed to Mr Bohuslav Sobotka, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, focusing on certain issues pertaining to the human rights of Roma and of persons with disabilities.
In his letter the Commissioner notably reiterates his recommendation to establish an extra-judicial mechanism for compensating Roma women who were victims of forced sterilizations and stresses the need to improve Roma’s access to inclusive education and to adequate housing. He also calls on the government to redouble its efforts to combat and eradicate anti-Gypsyism. In this context, he urges the authorities to remove the pig farm from the site of the former Nazi concentration camp in Lety, so as to provide a dignified memorial for the Roma murdered there.
Lastly, whilst welcoming the latest changes of the Civil Code concerning legal capacity of persons, Commissioner Mui nieks calls on the Czech Republic to take resolute action in favor of de-institutionalization of persons, including children, with disabilities in order to enable them to live independently and be integrated in their communities."
See: The letter from Nils Mui nieks to the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic(pdf) and: the reply by Mr Bohuslav Sobotka, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (pdf)
9. BELGIUM: Grounds for Concern: Belgium’s Counterterror Responses to the Paris and Brussels Attacks (Human Rights Watch, link)
"Human Rights Watch’s analysis indicates that at least six of the government’s newly adopted laws and regulations threaten fundamental rights. A law allowing the stripping of Belgian citizenship from dual nationals could create perceptions of a tier of “second-class” citizens based on their ethnicity and religion. An amendment to the penal code that criminalizes the act of leaving Belgium “with terrorist intent” contains vague language that could restrict the travel of people without evidence that they intend to commit or support extremist armed acts abroad. A measure empowering the government to suspend or withhold passports and national identity cards for up to six months lacks the important protection of prior judicial review.
A data retention law that compels telecommunications firms to provide the government with information about their clients upon demand raises serious privacy concerns. A provision that reduces the evidentiary requirements for placing terrorism suspects in pre-trial detention could disproportionately restrict the right to liberty. And a broad measure criminalizing indirect incitement to terrorism could stifle freedom of expression.
A policy that places all prisoners accused or convicted of terrorism-related offenses in prolonged solitary confinement35 detainees at time of writingis cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and may amount to torture. In one case that Human Rights Watch documented, the prison authorities held a detainee in isolation for 10 months even though by the third month he had tried to slit his wrists. In another the authorities held a prisoner in isolation for eight months despite warnings from prison-appointed psychiatrists that the detainee was “talking to walls.”"
10. HUNGARY: Six years of Orbán, 600 laws and measures: EU "must show it is serious" about democracy and fundamental rights in Hungary
International human rights organisation FIDH has published a new reportdetailing the Hungarian government's attacks on democratic standards and fundamental rights and calling for the EU to "act and prove its commitment to defending its own founding values and the obligations that derive from EU membership by promptly addressing the situation through appropriate means and reacting to documented abuse and a systemic threat to these values in Hungary."
11. EU: 725 More Mediterranean Migrant Deaths Than This Period Last Year(IOM, link):
"An estimated 725 more migrants have died in the Mediterranean so far in 2016 compared to the same period (January to 4 November) in 2015. This is after 240 migrants went missing and are presumed dead after two shipwrecks on Wednesday (02/11) in the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy.
These latest tragedies bring the grim tally of migrant deaths in 2016 to 4,220, making this already the deadliest year ever recorded. In 2015 some 3,770 migrants and refugees died trying to cross the Mediterranean."
12. UK-EU: Access to European security databases post Brexit is 'mission critical'(Belfast Telegraph, link):
"Britain's access to information in Europe-wide security databases is "mission critical" in efforts to protect the public, a senior counter-terrorism officer has said.
Helen Ball, Deputy Assistant Commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, highlighted the issue of returning Islamic State fighters as she discussed law enforcement arrangements with the EU following the Brexit vote.
The future of a number of tools and arrangements has come under scrutiny following the outcome of the referendum in June."
13. Unlawful immigration curfews under government review (BBC News, link):
"The Home Office has been forced to review curfews imposed on people after they leave immigration detention centres, a BBC investigation has found.
It comes after the Court of Appeal ruled in March that it had imposed the curfews unlawfully.
The law firm that took the Home Office to court says potentially thousands of people may be entitled to compensation.
Those subject to curfews cannot leave their home for up to 12 hours at a time.
The curfews are not directly linked to time served in prison, but some immigration detainees have committed a crime. Others have overstayed their visas or are seeking asylum."
14. UK: Report highlights ‘chilling effect’ on freedom to protest against fracking(Netpol, link):
"Drawing extensively on discussions with anti-fracking campaigners, as well as our own observations at prospective fracking sites, the report covers our
- Engagement with – and development of resources for – anti-fracking campaigners
- Concerns with the policing of anti-fracking demonstrations and camps
- The intrusive surveillance of anti-fracking campaigners; and
- The opaque relationship between the police and the fracking industry .
We have argued that the way policing operations are planned for anti-fracking protests, the scale of intrusive surveillance against campaigners and ‘zero tolerance’ attitudes towards civil disobedience has a cumulative ‘chilling effect’ on freedoms of assembly and expression"
See the report: Protecting the Protectors: Monitoring the Policing of Anti-Fracking Protests since 2014' (link to pdf)
15. Federal Court of Canada: Security Intelligence Services' data retention is illegal
"The Federal Court of Canada has faulted Canada’s domestic spy agency for unlawfully retaining data and for not being truthful with judges who authorize its intelligence programs. Separately, the court also revealed that the spy agency no longer needs warrants to collect Canadians’ tax records.
All this has been exposed in a rare ruling about the growing scope of Canadian intelligence collection disclosed by the court on Thursday. At issue is how the federal domestic spy service has been pushing past its legal boundaries in the name of collecting data, in hopes of rounding out the holdings of a little-known Canadian intelligence facility dubbed the “operational data analysis centre.”"
See: In scathing ruling, Federal Court says CSIS bulk data collection illegal (The Globe and Mail, link)
And see: the judgment ("public" version i.e. censored, pdf) and: summary (pdf)
16. New EU network of judicial authorities to combat the “challenges stemming from encryption” (Andrej Hunko, link)
"The European Union intends to simplify investigative authorities’ access to encrypted content. This emerged from the replies to a questionnaire that was circulated to all Member States by the Slovak Presidency of the EU Council. After a “reflection process”, efforts in this area are, according to the summary of the replies, intended to give rise to a framework for cooperation with Internet providers. It remains unclear whether this will take the form ofa recommendation, regulation or directive.
The replies to the questionnaire are now being examined by the Friends of the Presidency Group on Cyber Issues (FoP Cyber), which also held discussions on “increasing tendencies to exploit encrypted communication in order to hide criminal activities, identities and crime scenes”. Those taking part included the European External Action Service, the European Defence Agency and other EU institutions. FoP Cyber’s recommendations will then be addressed at the meeting of the next Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels."
And see: Tackling encryption: law enforcement agencies favour practical, effective solutions for access rather than new legal powers? (Statewatch News Online, October 2016)
17. UK: Abolish Prevent, says new study on "counter-terrorism" programme's effects in healthcare and education
The UK government's 'Prevent' programme, which is supposed to "stop people becoming terrorists or becoming drawn into terrorism" has been heavily criticised again, this time in an in-depth report published by the Open Society Justice Initiative examining how Prevent functions in the healthcare and education systems.
The report, published on 19 October, argues that "the current Prevent strategy suffers from mutiple, mutually reinforcing structural flaws, the foreseeable consequence of which is a serious risk of human rights violations," and calls for the "repeal of the Prevent duty with respect to the health and education sectors."
18. UK: UNDERCOVER POLICING: The Pitchford Inquiry must ensure openness and transparency from the police
Eveline Lubbers and Dónal O'Driscoll of the Undercover Research Group examine and critique attempts by the Met Police to maintain anonymity for former undercover officers through the use of two anonymous intermediaries only known in public by their codenames 'Jaipur' and 'Karachi'.
19. Travelling to and living in the EU: how would a "hard Brexit" affect UK nationals?
"The purpose of this briefing note is to outline what a so-called hard BREXIT will mean for British citizens seeking to visit, live and work in the EU. Assuming that no specific transitional arrangements are made and no special access is negotiated for British citizens after the UK leaves the EU this note sets out the current state of EU law on how British citizens will be treated. It covers nine specific areas which are covered in order of the length of time and activities which British citizens may want to stay and do in the 27 remaining EU states. This note is written on the basis that a hard BREXIT will result in no special treatment for British citizens’ access to the EU. At the moment we cannot know whether this will be the case but for the sake of clarity in writing, this is the assumption. If the UK does obtain more preferential treatment for British citizens to access the territory and labour market of the EU the rules set out below may not apply or not in full."
See: Immigration Law Practitioners' Association (ILPA) Position Paper: After a hard BREXIT - British citizens and residence in the EU (3 November 2016, pdf)
20. FRANCE: After Calais, police move in to clear encampments in Paris
"French police begun Friday a major operation to move thousands of migrants who have living on the streets of northeastern Paris, just over one week after thousands more were moved from a larger camp in Calais.
Officers backed by riot police converged early on Friday morning on the streets around Stalingrad subway station, where an estimated 3,000 migrants and refugees had been living rough.
A total of eighty-two buses were used to transport them to eighty different temporary shelters around the French capital."
See: French police clear thousands of migrants living rough on streets of Paris(France 24 link) and: Paris Is the New Calais, With Scores of Migrants Arriving Daily (The New York Times, link): "In a pattern that has not varied for months, the migrants establish themselves on the sidewalks of Paris, their numbers gradually swell over a period of weeks, and then the police come to clear them out."
21. BULGARIA: Over the Line: Bulgaria Welcomes Refugees With Attack Dogs and Beatings (The Intercept, link):
"Bulgaria’s border police are engaged in a game of questionable legality, both when they force asylum seekers out and when they let them in. They routinely use violence not only to send particular asylum seekers away, but to make sure that the larger stream of refugees turns elsewhere. Unless the refugees pay.
...The land border between Bulgaria and Turkey is about 160 miles long, and currently only the western half of it is fenced. This side consists of rolling, arid farmland. The unfenced, eastern part spans nearly 50 miles of low, forested mountains whose thick, tall trees are intercut with winding trails. Refugees and smugglers call this “the jungle.”
Sometimes, the smugglers explained, groups of refugees would try to cross through the jungle without paying the police. Sometimes, the smugglers would deliberately not pay, having kept the passengers’ money for themselves. If the passengers were caught crossing without paying, they said, Bulgarian police would always return the group to Turkey, often violently.
That, the two smugglers said, was official policy."
And see: Frontex: Joint Operational Flexible Operational Activities 2015 Land: South Eastern borders operational area: Serious Incident Report: Alleged violation of fundamental rights: censored and uncensored (pdfs)
22. EU: Council of the European Union: European Asylum Support Office and Entry-Exit: Limited extension of stay
Confidential Council of the EU documents on two major proposals currently under discussion. The first concerns a new legal basis for the European Asylum Support Office, which the EU hopes to give an expanded remit and more powers. Many Member States do not accept the principle of a permanent international protection relocation scheme in the EU which is still in the Commission's plans. The second document relates to a proposal from the Commission to ensure that "aliens" present in the EU on extended touring visas can only leave the bloc through the country which issued the extension, in part to "maximise the benefit" of the proposed Entry/Exit System.
- EUROPEAN ASYLUM SUPPORT OFFICE: Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Union Agency for Asylum and repealing Regulation (EU) No 439/2010 (LIMITE doc no: 13306-16, 94 pages, pdf): With 250 Footnotes including Member State positions
- ENTRY-EXIT SYSTEM: Duration of short-stay in the Schengen area - Extension of that duration under bilateral agreements concluded by Member States with third countries - Draft regulations on Entry/Exit system and Touring visa (LIMITE doc no: 13397-16, pdf): After an extension of stay the "alien" must exit the Schengen area from the Member State agreeing to the extension.
23. UK: Brexit court defeat for UK government (BBC News, link) and Judgment full-text (pdf):
"Parliament must vote on whether the UK can start the process of leaving the EU, the High Court has ruled. This means the government cannot trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty - beginning formal exit-negotiations with the EU - on its own.
Theresa May says the referendum - and existing ministerial powers - mean MPs do not need to vote, but campaigners called this unconstitutional. The government is appealing, with a further hearing expected next month."
24. Long Read: Shipwreck Survivors Stranded by a Faltering Deal (Refugees Deeply, link):
"As an E.U.–Turkey agreement on refugees nears collapse, Preethi Nallu and Iason Athanasiadis report from the Greek island of Lesbos on how the deal never fully stopped the deadly voyages and has left survivors of such tragedies in agonizing limbo."
25. CoE: Anti-torture committee critical of treatment and conditions of migrants and refugees in Hungary (link):
"In a report published today, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) welcomes cooperation of Hungarian authorities during its visit last year to detention centres and police detention facilities for foreigners, but also points out shortcomings.
The committee finds that the majority of detained foreign nationals interviewed stated that they had been treated correctly by police and prison officers or armed guards. However, it also finds that a “considerable number” of foreign nationals complained of ill treatment by police and discovered wanting conditions in some detention centres."
See: CoE: CPT Report (pdf), Summary (pdf) and Government response (pdf)
26. AI: Italy: Refugees and migrants slapped and subjected to electric shocks to force fingerprinting (Press release, link):
"Police in Italy have subjected refugees and migrants to serious ill-treatment, including beatings, electric shocks – and have even used pliers on one man’s testicles - to force them to be fingerprinted under an EU-sponsored scheme to process refugees and migrants in the country. In some cases, this treatment may amount to torture.
These shocking claims are revealed in a new Amnesty report into the so-called “hotspot approach”, introduced last year and designed to identify and fingerprint newly-arrived refugees and migrants at the point of entry to the EU. The scheme aims to swiftly assess the protection needs of new arrivals and either process their asylum applications or return them to their country of origin."
See: AI: Hotspot Italy report (pdf) and see: Amnesty: Italian police tortured migrants to meet EU target (euobserver, link)
27. CoE: Turkey: Jagland expresses concern over freedom of expression and state of emergency measures (link):
"Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland has expressed his concern at the media crackdown underway in Turkey. “It is highly questionable if the raid against Cumhuriyet can be justified as a proportionate measure, even under the state of emergency,” he said.
“I am also concerned about the closure of 15 Kurdish media outlets through a decree-law.
“I should like to recall that the European Convention on Human Rights continues to apply in Turkey even during the state of emergency. Careful distinction must be made between violent or terrorist acts and expressions of opposition or strong criticism to the Government. Freedom of expression constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society. “If the state of emergency is used too excessively, Turkey risks a flood of cases at the European Court of Human Rights.”
28. GREECE: How can we overcome the dead-end situation on the refugee issue in Greece? (pdf) by Spyros Rizakos, Head of Ngo AITIMA:
"The period when refugees massively transited Greece on their way to central and northern Europe was succeeded by the gradual closure of the Balkan route and the implementation of the policy marked by the EU-Turkey Joint Statement. Thus, since last March the approximately 60.000 refugees who had already entered and continued entering Greece with the aim of moving on to other European states suddenly realized that they had to stay in Greece. Most of the refugees who had come to Greece before March 20 – approximately 50.000 persons – are now staying in the mainland, whereas the other 10.000 who crossed our borders after 20 March are obliged by the authorities to stay on the islands.
Today, seven months after these developments, the situation that has been formed raises serious concerns."
29. UK-EU: DPP warning over post-Brexit criminal justice cooperation (Law Society Gazette, link):
"The European arrest warrant has helped the UK extradite suspects quicker and more cheaply, the director of public prosecutions said today, highlighting potential challenges with international criminal justice cooperation after the UK leaves the EU. Alison Saunders told the House of Lords EU home affairs sub-committee that up to 150 extraditions to the UK over recent years would not have been possible without the European arrest warrant (EAW)."
30. EU: Council of the European Unon: Cyber issues WP, IMS, Will mapping & Possession of weapons
- Establishment of a Horizontal Working Group on Cyber Issues - Terms of Reference (LIMITE doc no: 11913-16, pdf):
"Delegations expressed their views addressing matters of general, but also of organisational nature, referring in particular to the need to ensure a clear definition of the Group's scope of activities and a name that properly reflects that scope as well as to preserve the possibility of having certain meetings specifically dedicated to either capital or cyber attaches level.
On the basis of the views expressed during the meeting and the written contributions received within the set deadline (14 October 2016) the Presidency prepared a new revised version of the Terms of Reference. In order to ensure a sufficient visibility of those changes the new additions are bold and underlined whereas deleted text is stricken through...
The Working Party will ensure the strategic and horizontal coordination of cyber policy issues in the Council and can be involved in both legislative and non-legislative activities. It will bring issues to the attention of COREPER and Council in order for the latter to ensure coherence.."
- Renewed Information Management Strategy (IMS) - 5th action list - State of play (LIMITE doc no: 13258-16, pdf):
"Upon proposal from DAPIX, the Council approved Conclusions on a renewed Information Management Strategy (IMS) on 18 December 20141 . This Strategy is aimed at managing and exchanging law enforcement information across borders in a coherent, professional, efficient and cost-effective way....
The 5th IMS action list with a 18 months life span starting on 1 July 2016 contains nine actions. These actions are referred to in the Internal Security Strategy (ISS) Implementation paper as well as in the Roadmap to enhance information exchange and information management including interoperability solutions in the Justice and Home Affairs area."
See: Roadmap to enhance information exchange and information management including interoperability solutions in the Justice and Home Affairs area (LIMITE doc no: 9368-REV-1-16, pdf)
And also: EU: Implementing the Internal Security Strategy: planning documents(Statewatch database)
- MAPPING EVERY FAMILY IN THE EU? Interconnection of Registers of Wills - Final report (LIMITE doc no: 13228-16,pdf): e-Justice Expert Group Interconnection of Registers of Wills Final Report:
"Delegations will find attached the final report from the Estonian delegation on the work carried out in the context of the expert group on interconnection of registers of wills....
The overall goal of the ICRW project was to contribute to the implementation of the e-Justice Action Plan by exploring and enhancing the possibilities for exchanging succession related information and documents electronically between the Member States in order to improve and fasten the cross-border communication in succession matters."
- Draft Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 91/477/EEC on control of the acquisition and possession of weapons - follow-up to the fourth technical meeting and preparation of the second informal trilogue (LIMITE doc no: 13249-16, pdf): 4-column trilogue document.
31. Alarm over effectiveness of EU-Turkey refugee deal grows in Brussels(euractiv, link):
"Some seven months after the European Union and Turkey struck an agreement to turn back the tide of Syrians fleeing west, very few refugees have been sent back from Greece, and Brussels is losing its patience as overcrowded camps grow violent.
The agreement reached in March was designed to reduce the number of migrants crossing into Europe from Turkey, after more than a million people arrived in Europe last year, most reaching Greek islands by boat and continuing by land to Germany....
Balkan countries along the land route north closed their borders, so that migrants who once poured across Greece to reach other parts of Europe are now trapped there and prevented from pressing on."
And see: EU Commission is losing patience with Greece as overcrowded refugee camps there grow violent (Keep Talking Greece, link):
"What a self-deluding arrogance. The EU is apparently losing patience with Greece as “overcrowded refugee camps that turn violent” and Athens do not keep the terms of the EU Turkey deal to send refugees back to Turkey....
Migrants, refugees all in one bag, in the same bag with ‘cruel bureaucracy’, shortage of ‘interpreters’ and ‘asylum experts’ and ‘overcrowded camps’ and lots of ‘inefficient Greeks’, but I read no word about the EU Commission funds allocated to NGOs and the UNHCR, neither do I see a sentence mentioning the xenophobic EU-member-states stubbornly refusing to take refugees from Greece AND Italy in their countries."
And also: Refugees languish in Greek limbo as alarm grows in Brussels (Reuters, link)
32. Frontex’s Prison Island Lesvos: Apartheid in the tourist paradise (w2eu, link):
"Since 2013, Welcome to Europe (w2eu) and Youth Without Borders (JOG) organise journeys for young refugees, to make it possible for them to return to the place where they had first reached Europe: The Island of Lesvos/Greece. This year, the ‘back to the border’ journey turned into a horror trip, especially, for all of us who were without European identity cards...
This year we returned to Lesvos to support the more than 6,000 people who are stuck, since months, in the prison labelled nicely “Hot Spot” in EU-jargon and in Kara Tepe, an open tent camp run and controlled by the local government. These people cannot leave the island due to the dirty EU-Turkey deal and simply because they are humans who do not possess the right papers.
Nowadays, all those travellers who are not white and not European are being subjected to racist controls. Even a member of the European Parliament, who is black was controlled for two hours recently. Lesbos Island was turned into a prison since March 20th and has become as a whole a border with heavy controls and high fences, which is the opposite of a cosy and beautiful tourist attraction."
33. UK: Orgreave inquiry campaigners say the gloves are off (Guardian, link):
"Campaign considers bid for judicial review of Amber Rudd’s refusal to investigate clashes between police and miners..
Campaigners for an inquiry into the “Battle of Orgreave” have declared that the gloves are off as they step up calls for a judge-led investigation into brutal clashes between police and mineworkers during the 1984 miners’ strike.
In a defiant press conference at the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) hall in Barnsley, campaigners said they were considering mounting a crowdfunded bid for a judicial review of Amber Rudd’s decision not to hold any kind of inquiry into the episod."
34. UK must build cyber-attack capability, chancellor says (Guardian, link):
"The UK must strike back at hostile states in cyberspace and be capable of mounting sophisticated cyber-attacks of its own in place of military strikes, the chancellor has said.
Philip Hammond said that unless the UK could match the cyber-attack abilities of foreign rogue states, the alternatives would only be to ignore digital attacks on Britain’s infrastructure or use military force.
Launching the government’s £1.9bn national cybersecurity strategy, Hammond said the UK had to develop “fully functioning cyber-attack capability”.
He said: “If we do not have the ability to respond in cyberspace to an attack that takes down our power networks, leaving us in darkness, or hits our air traffic control system, grounding our planes, we would be left with the impossible choice of turning the other cheek and ignoring the devastating consequences or resorting to a military response.”
See: National Cyber Security Strategy 2016-2021 (pdf)
35. Scotland must carry out it own probe into undercover policing, says Pitchford Inquiry participants (The National, link):
"THE Scottish Government should initiate its own public inquiry into undercover policing, key participants in the UK Government’s probe into the practice have said. The Pitchford Inquiry was set up in England and Wales to investigate allegations of misconduct by undercover officers.
It is claimed undercover Metropolitan Police officers were also involved in spying in Scotland, but the UK Government has refused to extend the inquiry north of the Border.
A total of 24 “core participants” from Pitchford, who say they were also targeted by undercover police in Scotland, have signed a statement calling for a separate Scottish inquiry to take place."
See: Letter to government (pdf):
"Rather than asking for the HMICS to conduct a “strategic review”, 24 Core Participants in the Pitchford Inquiry who were targeted in Scotland by undercover police have signed a statement saying that in the case the UK Home Secretary does not extend the Pitchford Inquiry to Scotland, that the “Scottish government should set up its own independent inquiry, a proposal that already has cross-party support. We would be happy to participate in this and help reveal the truth that the Pitchford inquiry keeps hidden.”
36. Human & humanitarian smugglers: Europe’s scapegoat in the ‘refugee crisis’ (EU Law Analysis, link):
"These five observations offer entry points into the moral complexities of human smuggling and the legal imperative of decriminalising humanitarian acts of the facilitation of irregular entry. Ultimately, if the EC intends to provide recommendations to amend the Facilitation Directive that reflect the need to avoid criminalising humanitarian assistance to irregular migrants, it will first need to more narrowly and clearly define acts of the facilitation of irregular entry worthy of criminalisation. The EC’s challenge lies with the fact that the primary purpose of the Facilitation Directive is to deter irregular migration and a narrower directive would ultimately undermine this objective.
In the current crisis, human smugglers – and all individuals deemed as such – have become Europe’s scapegoat. Targeting human smugglers worthy of criminalisation and those ‘humanitarian smugglers’ worthy of praise is Europe’s Band-Aid solution to a problem that can only be solved through safe and legal pathways for refugees to reach Europe. "
See also: Council proposals on migrant smuggling would criminalise humanitarian assistance by civil society, local people and volunteers(Statewatch)
37. UK: Invisible fathers of immigration detention in the UK (Open Democracy, link) by Melanie Griffiths:
"The British state has regulated relationships between its citizens and certain foreigners since at least the Colonial era. Today’s border controls continue to police people’s intimate lives and retain sexist and racist assumptions."
38. German Federal Criminal Police trains secret services in Egypt on monitoring extremism on the Internet (Matthias Monroy, link)
"The Federal Ministry of the Interior is stepping up its cooperation with Egypt in spite of persecution against the opposition, abuse, torture and death sentences. What is more, the Federal Criminal Police Office is cooperating with two notorious intelligence services. The focus here is on “extremism” and “terrorism”, two labels that have been used to justify the incarceration of activists, bloggers, journalists, lawyers and members of the Muslim Brotherhood."
39. EU: European Commission: latest figures on relocation (27.10.16)
Latest "state of play": "Relocation" statistics from Commission (27.10.16):
- 17,012 offers of places in the EU of 160,000 needed (from 25 countries)
- relocations from Italy 1,411 out of 39,600
- relocations from Greece 4,988 out of 64,000
40. EU: European Commission: swapping relocation for resettlement: legal amendment
The Commission has amended Decision regarding Greece and Italy of 22.9.15(pdf) by Decision of 29.9.16 (pdf)
The amendment enables Member States to use the 54,000 unallocated places of the second relocation decision to legally admit Syrian nationals present in Turkey into the EU through resettlement and other pathways of admission.
From Italy, 46 asylum-seekers were relocated to Romania (31) and Malta (15). Since the adoption of the relocation scheme, a total of 1,391 persons (3.5% of the 39,600 target) have been relocated from Italy (latest EC data, 21 October).
From Greece, there were 134 asylum-seekers relocated during the week. Thus far, a total of 4,865 (7.3%) asylum-seekers against the targeted 66,400 have been relocated from Greece to other EU countries since the beginning of the relocation programme in November 2015. A total of 10,755 pledges since the EU relocation scheme began in September 2015 have been made by EU Member States.
Comment: A further admission of the failure of the relocation within the EU of refugees who have arrived in the EU.
41. Private Eyes: The Little-Known Company That Enables Worldwide Mass Surveillance (The Intercept, link):
"It was a powerful piece of technology created for an important customer. The Medusa system, named after the mythical Greek monster with snakes instead of hair, had one main purpose: to vacuum up vast quantities of internet data at an astonishing speed.
The technology was designed by Endace, a little-known New Zealand company. And the important customer was the British electronic eavesdropping agency, Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ.
Dozens of internal documents and emails from Endace, obtained by The Intercept and reported in cooperation with Television New Zealand, reveal the firm’s key role helping governments across the world harvest vast amounts of information on people’s private emails, online chats, social media conversations, and internet browsing histories.
The leaked files, which were provided by a source through SecureDrop, show that Endace listed a Moroccan security agency implicated in torture as one of its customers. They also indicate that the company sold its surveillance gear to more than half a dozen other government agencies, including in the United States, Israel, Denmark, Australia, Canada, Spain, and India."
42. News Digest: round-up of news stories from across the EU (28.10.16)
43. EU: The number of deaths in the Mediterranean will reach a new peak this year
"UNHCR is alarmed at the high death toll being seen this year among refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean. Already, and with two months of 2016 still to go, at least 3,740 lives are reported lost – just short of the 3,771 deaths reported for the whole of 2015. This is the worst we have seen.
The high loss of life comes despite a large overall fall this year in the number of people seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. Last year at least 1,015,078 people made the crossing. This year so far, crossings stand at 327,800. From one death for every 269 arrivals last year, in 2016 the likelihood of dying has spiralled to one in 88. On the Central Mediterranean route between Libya and Italy the likelihood of dying is even higher, at one death for every 47 arrivals.
The causes of the increase are multiple: About half those who have crossed the Mediterranean so far this year have travelled from North Africa to Italy – a known more perilous route. People smugglers are today often using lower-quality vessels – flimsy inflatable rafts that often do not last the journey. Several incidents seem to be connected with travel during bad weather. And the tactics of smugglers are switching too, with several occasions when there have been mass embarkations of thousands of people at a time. This may be to do with the shifting smuggler business model or geared towards lowering detection risks, but it also makes the work of rescuers harder."
See: Mediterranean death toll soars to all-time high (UNHCR, link)
44. BULGARIA: BHC Strongly Condemns the Attack on its Chairman Krassimir Kanev (link):
"The chairman of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC), the largest organization for the protection of human rights in Bulgaria, was attacked this morning around 9:30 am by two unknown men in front of the Radisson hotel in Sofia. Krassimir Kanev was hit in the face and stomach, after which his attackers fled down Tsar Shishman Street. Police was called on the site after the incident. Kanev sustained minor injuries.
BHC strongly condemns the attack on its chairperson and calls on the authorities to take immediate actions to identify the perpetrators, including obtaining records from security cameras at the scene as soon as possible."
See: Amnesty Accuses Bulgaria of Inciting Violence after Attack on Helsinki Committee Chair (novinite.com, link):
"Bulgarian authorities have not only failed to counter the climate of intolerance, but "have actively engaged in inflammatory speech and at times openly encouraged violence," John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International's Europe Director, has said. His words follow the attack on Krasimir Kanev, who heads the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee on Friday.
Kanev said on Thursday punched in the face and stomach by two strangers in the morning as he had been passing by a Sofia hotel near Parliament....
"Today's attack on Krasimir Kanev is an alarming assault [on] one of Bulgaria's most respected human rights campaigners. Authorities must promptly investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice in fair trials," also says. He has added the attack comes at a time of increasing "xenophobia and intolerance directed against refugees, asylum-seekers and minorities including Roma as well as those who speak on their behalf".
45. The military and migration, from the Aegean to the Central Mediterranean: NATO to boost efforts in Aegean to stop migrants (Ekathimerini, link):
"NATO defense ministers agreed Thursday to move forward cooperation with the European Union in cracking down on human smuggling across the Aegean, the alliance’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters, though Ankara emphasized its opposition to NATO’s anti-trafficking mission.
NATO defense ministers have decided to continue the Alliance’s deployment in the Aegean to help curb illegal migration, Stoltenberg said, taking the mission launched in February to the next level. “Thanks to our joint efforts, together with Greece and Turkey, the flow of migrants has decreased substantially,” he said.
Ministers also decided that NATO’s new maritime security operation in the Mediterranean, dubbed Operation Sea Guardian, will support the EU’s anti-migrant smuggling mission, Operation Sophia. “Within two weeks, NATO ships and planes will be in the central Mediterranean, ready to help increase the EU’s situational awareness and provide logistical support,” Stoltenberg said."
46. Dutch NGOs Demand a Voice to Challenge Arms Exports (Liberties.eu, link):
"PILP-NJCM and peace organizations PAX and Stop Wapenhandel are appealing the judgment of the district court Noord Holland in the case on the arms trade license for Egypt. According to the court, the NGOs' case was inadmissible."
And see: Public Interest Litigation Project: Summary of Dutch Court ruling: Peace and human rights organisations voiceless against arms trade licenses(link to pdf)
47. EU: "Defence" research: background to the forthcoming "preparatory action"
On 26 February the European Parliament voted to approve the EU's general budget for 2017, and with it a "preparatory action" on defence research that is supposed to set the scene for a multi-billion euro military research budget in the 2021-27 EU budget.
48. UK: More than half of local newspapers don’t have a court reporter (The Justice Gap, link):
"More than half of all local newspaper editors acknowledge that the courts are not being adequately covered in their own papers, according to new research by the Justice Gap. The study also reports a 40% drop off in the number of court stories on a single day this year compared to the same date four years ago.
For the second issue of Proof magazine to be published next month, Brian Thornton, a senior journalism lecturer at Winchester University, has updated a study carried out by Professor Leslie Moran from Birkbeck law school which looked at the coverage of the courts in the national and regional papers on one day (February 16 2012).
Thornton analyzed the same newspapers on the same day four years later. The results were compared across eight national papers (Daily Express, Daily Mirror, Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, Guardian, Independent, Sun and Times) and five local titles (Birmingham Mail, London Evening Standard, Manchester Evening News, South Wales Echo, and Western Mail).
In 2012 there was a total of 82 court stories in the national and regional newspapers compared to just 57 court stories which represented a fall of (30%). The word count for the 82 stories in 2012 was 27,225 and that fell to 18,954 in 2016, also a decrease of 30%."
49. EU: Tackling encryption: law enforcement agencies favour practical, effective solutions for access rather than new legal powers?
- In answer to a Questionnaire Member States' responses showed: "the need for practically orientated measures prevailed over the need for adoption of new legislation on EU level."
The Council of the European Union is considering ways for law enforcement agencies to get access to encrypted messages. There are different laws and practices in Member States and it appears that a majority of them favour the better exchange of knowledge and practices to get access rather than a harmonised EU law. Many national laws prescribe that: "a prior judicial order is often required."
See: Council of the European Union: Encryption of data: Mapping of the problem - orientation debate: LIMITE doc no: 13434-16 (pdf)
50. European Parliament: European volunteering: remove remaining barriers, urge MEPs (Press release, pdf):
"The EU needs a better coordinated policy on volunteering, to give volunteers a proper legal status and help them join programmes, say MEPs in a resolution voted on Thursday. Almost 100 million EU citizens have taken part as volunteers in education, culture or arts, sport events, humanitarian and development aid work. Young people should take advantage of volunteering schemes to develop skills and acquire experience that helps them to find jobs afterwards, stresses the text....
People of all ages should be encouraged to take advantage of volunteering to improve their skills and understanding of other cultures, and thus improve their chances of finding a job, say MEPs."
Tony Bunyan, Statewatch Director, comments:
"Experience in Greece during the refugee crisis provides a number of lessons. First, NGOs and volunteers should not be required to register with the state. Second, activities of NGOs should not be placed under the direction of state agencies who they may liaise with but not be under their control. Third, journalists and lawyers should be automatically recognised via their national rules and bodies. Fourth, NGOs, volunteers and local people should be protected against attacks by racists and fascists. And finally, giving humanitarian aid and support to refugees and migrants must be expressly decriminalised in the EU."
51. ITALY-SUDAN "COLLECTIVE" DEPORTATIONS: Letter from 25 MEPs to Italy(pdf):
"We are contacting you with reference to the forced return of 40 Sudanese asylum-seekers, which took place on the 24th of August 2016. They were arrested in and around Ventimiglia and then brought to the airport of Torino-Caselle where they were boarded on a charter flight to Khartoum.
This collective expulsion, whose legitimacy has been criticised by several NGOs and Members of the Italian Parliament, revealed the existence of a Memorandum of Understanding with Sudan, signed on the 3rd of August 2016 in Rome by the Head of the Italian State Police...
This agreement, which was kept secret for long time and has never been discusses or ratified by the Italian Parliament, provides for collaboration between the two Countries in the fight against crime and in particular the management of migratory effects and borders."
52. GERMANY: The NSU scandal – investigations into child murders re-opened(IRR News, link):
"More police failures in the case of the National Socialist Underground (NSU) have emerged after the discovery of the body of a child who disappeared fifteen years ago."
And see: The Pandora’s box of German fascism has been opened (IRR news, link):
"Below we publish an edited version of a speech given by a spokesperson for the Berlin anti-fascist documentation centre Apabiz at a symposium held at the HAU Theatre, Berlin*.
53. NGOs censure EU countries for spending foreign aid on asylum costs(euractiv, link):
"European NGOs have rounded on EU governments over the growing use of foreign aid budgets to meet refugee costs at home, claiming that the strategy artificially inflates official figures for development assistance despite money never reaching the poor countries for which it was intended.
Germany was among the states criticised by Concord, a confederation of European NGOs, for including refugee costs as part of official development assistance (ODA), a “trick” that the organisation’s Aidwatch report said increased the country’s aid spending to 0.56% of gross national income."
See: Concord Aidwatch report 2016 (pdf)
54. Lesvos, Greece: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is dismantling the Apanemo site - locally known as "Windy Ridge" - on the North East coast - whose construction and location was highly contentious.
55. MIGREUROP: A Europe united against refugees (link):
" the promotion of a world of camps and walls is not just the project of the Hungarian leader. It is also the dominant feature of migration policy pursued by the EU and its member states for 20 years, and the consequences are now apparent."
And in French (link)
And see: Map of camps 2016 (French, pdf), English (pdf link) and Arabic (pdf, link)
56. EU: Can the EU reconcile its commitment to maintaining fundamental rights and its ongoing practices?
European Parliament: MEPs call for EU democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights watchdog (Press release, pdf):
"To end the current “crisis-driven” approach to perceived breaches of democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in EU member states, the EU Commission should set up a binding EU mechanism to monitor and report annually on their records in these fields, say MEPs in a resolution passed on Tuesday. This mechanism should include objective benchmarks and lay down a gradual approach to remedying breaches, they add.
“We have provided the European Union with the instruments to enforce all the other policy areas - competition policies, police and justice cooperation, foreign policies (...), but our core values are not protected by instruments that are sufficiently strong to make sure that the values are upheld throughout the European Union”, said lead MEP Sophie in’t Veld (ALDE, NL), in the debate ahead of the vote. Her legislative initiative was passed by 405 votes to 171, with 39 abstentions."
See Resolution: Full-text: 25-10-16 (pdf) and: also: An EU mechanism on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights European Added Value Assessment accompanying the legislative initiative report (Rapporteur: Sophie in 't Veld) (pdf).
57. Algeria: the new migrant staging post for Europe (IRIN, link):
"Gerwinio is one of a growing number of sub-Saharan Africans coming to Algeria, although exact numbers are hard to come by. The Algerian government claims there are 25,000 such migrants in the country, but local NGOs say the true number is at least four times higher.
“It is way more visible lately that there is more sub-Saharan migration,” said Pascal Reyntjens, mission chief for the International Organization for Migration in Algiers....
A progress report on the Partnership Framework published last week focuses on five countries identified by the EU as “the first priorities for action” – Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Ethiopia, and Mali. Algeria is mentioned only as a country requiring 'particular attention'. No further details were provided, but a recent analysis by strategic forecasting company, Stratfor, describes the country as “one of the trickiest North African nations with which to increase cooperation”."
58. UK House of Commons Justice Committee report: The treatment of young adults in the criminal justice system (pdf):
"Concluding that there is overwhelming evidence that the CJS does not adequately address the distinct needs of young adults, despite assurances given by the Government"
See also: Keep under-25s out of adult prisons, MPs urge - Young people should be treated differently by criminal justice system because their brains are not fully formed, MPs say (Guardian, link)
59. SPAIN: Squeezed by the spooks: attempt to recruit activist as informant caught on tape
A series of recordings captured earlier this year in Barcelona have exposed an attempt by two men claiming to work for "state security" to recruit a political activist as an informant.
Their target, Quim Gimeno, has filed an official complaint against the "modus operandi of the Cuerpo Nacional de Policia" (CNP) and the actions of the two men, who offered him monthly payments and the possibility of intervening in a court case involving terrorism charges (which was later dismissed due to lack of evidence).
One of the two men has subsequently been exposed as a senior officer known as 'Jordi' who works for the CNP's 'Provincial Information Brigade Group 6' (Grupo VI de la Brigada Provincial de Información), known for its surveillance and intelligence-gathering on social movements.
60. Commission recommends extending temporary internal border controls for a limited period of three months (Press release, pdf):
"The European Commission has today proposed a Recommendation, to be adopted by the Council, to prolong proportionate controls at certain internal Schengen borders in Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, where controls already take place – according to the Council Recommendation of 12 May – for a period of a further three months. Despite the progressive stabilisation of the situation, the Commission considers that the conditions of the "Back to Schengen" Roadmap allowing for a return to a normally functioning Schengen area are not yet fully fulfilled....
The prolongation, which the Commission is recommending for a further period of three months, concerns the same internal borders as that recommended on 12 May:
- Austria: at the Austrian-Hungarian and Austrian-Slovenian land border;
- Germany: at the German-Austrian land border;
- Denmark: in Danish ports with ferry connections to Germany and at the Danish-German land border;
- Sweden: in Swedish harbours in the Police Region South and West and at the Öresund bridge;
- Norway: in Norwegian ports with ferry connections to Denmark, Germany and Sweden."
See also: Commission Implementing Decision setting out a Recommendation for prolonging temporary internal border control in exceptional circumstances putting the overall functioning of the Schengen area at risk (COM 711-16, pdf)
61. UNHCR: Migration control is not only about keeping people out – UN experts call for vision and leadership (link):
"Migration governance cannot be only about closing borders and keeping people out, said two United Nations human rights experts calling on UN member states to develop long-term strategies and policies to facilitate rather than restrict migration.
“A fundamental shift in the way migration is perceived and framed is needed,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, and the Chair of the UN Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, Jose S. Brillantes. “We must regulate mobility by opening regular, safe, accessible and affordable migration channels. We must also promote integration and celebrate diversity.”"
See: Special Rapporteur’s report on developing the global compact on migration (link)
62. UK: Teachers told to ‘guess’ ethnicity of children (Independent, link):
"Schools are being told to guess the ethnicity of pupils and collect their passport numbers and expiry dates as part of a controversial national schools census. The Independent has obtained a screenshot of the data input form that is being used by schools throughout England and Wales in an exercise to gather details on the race, religion, nationality, place of birth and proficiency in English for millions of children.
The form, which was designed by the Department for Education and is being hosted by outsourcing giant Capita, encourages school bosses to fill in a series of fields that also ask for pupils’ asylum status and whether they are members of the travelling community...
The Independent has discovered that if they do not volunteer the details, schools are then able to use the forms to guess, or “ascribe”, the ethnicity of individual
63. EU: Council of the European Union: European Public Prosecutor's Offce (EPPO): Proposal for a Regulation on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (LIMITE doc no: 12687-16, pdf): Copuncil discussing its position: Revised Preamble:
Following the examination of the draft preamble in COPEN on 8 September and the work on a number of Articles in view of the Council of 14 October, the Presidency has partly redrafted the preamble in line with the discussions. All modifications in relation to document 11350/1/16 REV 1 are indicated in underlined or strikethrough."
See also other recent Council documents: European Public Prosecutor's Office
64. Observatory on the Refugee crisis in the Med & in the EU
Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe (5-6.11.16)
Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe (4.11.16)
Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe (3.11.16)
Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe (2.11.16)
Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe (1.11.16)
Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe (31.10-16-1.11.16)
Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe (29-30.10.16)
Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe (28.10.16)
Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe (27.10.16)
Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe (26.10.16)
Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe (25.10.16)
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