News online - current lead stories For full contents see: Statewatch News online with analysis, documentation, news in brief and News Archives 2000-ongoing or What's New: which lists all News Online and In the News items. The latest 25 lead items are listed below. See: Tony Bunyan's column in the Guardian: View from the EU EU: SPECIAL STATEWATCH REPORT: The Shape of Things to Come - the EU Future Group (Version.1.3) by Tony Bunyan: 36,991 copies downloaded. The report calls for a “meaningful and wide-ranging debate” before it is “too late” for privacy and civil liberties. See also: Observatory on: Stockholm Programme EU: European Commission: Communication on guidance for better transposition and application of Directive 2004/38/EC on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States (COM 313/4, pdf) EUROPOL: List of 25 non-EU states: Draft Council Decision determining the list of third States and organisations with which Europol shall conclude agreements (pdf) and Current Cooperation and Strategic Agreements (14 states) (Europol, link). These agreements cover the exchange of personal data between the EU and the non-EU states listed. Each Decision is assessed as to the standards of data protection in the non-EU state. However, these assessments are based on the law in the non-EU state and not on the actual practice (which often differs from the formal law). EU: Swedish Council Presidency: Draft Council Ministers Agendas: Draft Agendas (pdf) See p20 onwards for Justice and Home Affairs Council LISBON TREATY: German Constitutional Court ruling on the Lisbon Treaty, raising the need for national parliaments to play an enhanced role: Ruling (link) AUSTRIA: Racism on a Sharp Rise (IPS, link): Mainstream political parties in Austria must change their approach if a growing anti-immigrant sentiment stoked by far-right politicians is to be curbed, racism watchdogs and political analysts say. EU-IRAQ: Statewatch analysis: The forgotten casualties of the war (pdf) by Max Rowlands. Based on an unreleased Commission report this article exposes what is happening to an estimated 2 million refugees living in Syria and Jordan - and the EU’s response EU-EURODAC: European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS): Eurodac: how to better ensure asylum seekers' rights in practice? Supervision Group issues second inspection report (pdf) and Eurodac Supervision Coordination Group: Second Inspection Report (pdf) EU: Auditors slam EU over Galileo (euactiv, link) and European Court of Auditors: Special Report into The management of Galileo (link) European Parliament: Ukip, Lega Nord form hard-right bloc in EU Parliament (euobserver, link). This new far-right group will have 30 MEPs from seven EU countries drawn from nationalistic and racist parties. EU: European Commission proposals: Regulation establishing an Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice (COM 293, pdf) and Council Decision: conferring upon the Agency established by Regulation XX tasks regarding the operational management of SIS II and VIS in application of Title VI of the EU Treaty (pdf) plus , Communication: Legislative package establishing an Agency for the operational management of largescale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice (COM 292, pdf) Italy: Senate must stop controversial bill (Amnesty, link): "The draft law, the so-called “security package”, which was approved by the Chamber of Deputies on 14 May 2009, includes provisions which would heavily impinge on the rights of migrants and asylum-seekers and introduce provisions which appear to be discriminatory and likely to affect disproportionately Roma and Sinti." and Letter - Italian Reform Law on Wiretapping (pdf): "European Newspaper Publishers’ Association which is an international non-profit trade association of over 5.200 newspapers from 25 European countries expresses its deep concerns about the pending ‘wiretapping’ law revision which would severely restrict and even forbid publishing of any news obtained from wiretappings." First Frontex Forced Repatriation Operation: Malta Today (link) reported (21 June) that the forced repatriation operation involving 74 migrants that took place on 18 June was the first time that Frontex ever coordinated a forced repatriation operation at sea. "Even though the migrants were intercepted by an Italian coast guard boat, the same migrants, that included women and children, were identified by a Frontex asset that followed the operation through.” The operation, part of Nautilus IV, used a German helicopter, the Italian coast guard, and a Libyan patrol boat. SPAIN: The National Network for Immigrant Rights (REDI) has requested a hearing today "immediately " with the Interior Minister Alfredo Rubalcaba, after the "brutal" attack and deportation of Senegalese immigrants in Madrid Barajas Airport. The video can be watched here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV0Cuexukmk The immigrant organization believes the video, showing these acts broadcasted on the website of Mali, is an example of the inhumane conditions under which Spain carried out the deportations. In an attempt to end these practices, REDI calls for urgent action against what they describe as "violation of human rights." "The video, recorded by a passenger at the airport Barajas, showing how three police officers beat, bound and tied a Senegalese immigrant before being deported has been a great outrage among the organizations defending the rights of immigrants and the Internet community, "he adds. Spokesperson for the immigration office said these images are "an institutional embarrassment and take us back to the darkest moments of history." "which promoted a society of first, second and third grade citizens, and that violates systematic fundamental rights, "says Sguiglia. REDI announced it is organizing rallies and demonstrations in the coming days to report these events and the injustice, it feels, of Spain'’s treatment of deportees. EU: Statewatch Analysis: EU Lisbon Treaty: Analysis no 4: UK and Irish opt-outs from EU Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) law (pdf) prepared by Professor Steve Peers, University of Essex: The UK, Ireland (and Denmark): "have opt-outs from the entire area of EU Justice and Home Affairs law... The changes to EU Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) law (which concerns immigration and asylum, civil law, policing and criminal law) in the Lisbon Treaty are more far-reaching than the changes which that Treaty would make to any other areas of EU law." UK: Home Affairs Select Committee report: Policing of the G20 Protests (pdf) EU plans giant IT network for "freedom, security and justice" (Register, link) and Commission press release: The setting up of an Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems proposed by the Commission (pdf) EU: Tony Bunyan's "View from the EU" column in the Guardian looks at: Europe's race to the right: The results of the European elections look certain to cement the centre right and far right's sway over politics in Europe (link): "EU institutions and governments regularly repeat the mantra that we all "share common values", as if the project has unchanging standards and principles, but do we?" EU: STOCKHOLM PROGRAMME: Work programme for the Swedish Presidency of the EU 1 July - 31 December 2009 (see p 8: pdf) and Preparing the Stockholm Programme - Organisation of discussions in the Council (pdf). The latter document refers to the "stakeholder" (EU officals ansd academics) Bruges Conference (pdf) which, from this lengthy report, threw up few original ideas but did include: Stefano RODOTA, Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Fundamental Rights Agency, ”Promoting fundamental rights as the core of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice”, former Member of the Camera dei Deputati in Italy: "highlighted the problems currently dealt with. He stated that the indivisibility of rights has resulted in a weaker status being given to the social rights. Also, the fundamental rights have in a way been polluted and exploited in the fight against terrorism. There are today restrictions far beyond the need to fight terrorism. All of this is due to the lack of filter of the requests from the US. An example of this is PNR and data protection and the fact that the US refused the equivalent protection of European citizens compared to US citizens. According to Mr. Rodota the EU must refuse the “securitanism resulting in a digital tsunami” that will lead to a future where there will be a digital record on everything." UK: CAMPACC, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, Statewatch, Basque Solidarity Campaign: Seminars: The Basque Country and Northern Ireland: Self-Determination, Proscription and Human Rights in the EU (pdf) EU: Swedish Council Presidency: Work programme for the Swedish Presidency of the EU 1 July - 31 December 2009 (pdf) See also: Sweden to push for more transparent EU migration rules (euobserver, link): "[Swedish Europe Minister] Ms Malmstrom...said the commission's proposals in this area, put forward earlier this month, were "a good starting point" for discussions, although they have been strong criticised by some civil liberties group for potentially leading to a "surveillance society. But Ms Malmstrom admitted that it will be a challenge to strike the right balance between "the more repressive measures taken under police cooperation" and safeguarding civil rights." European Parliament: EU parliament sees birth of new right-wing group (euobserver, link): 'Realignment of the right': London School of Economics professor Simon Hix said the European Conservatives and Reformists could create a strongly pro-free market bloc with EPP-ED and ALDE in the parliament instead of concentrating on Lisbon. The new bloc would have over 400 out of 736 MEPs, potentially putting the previous parliament alliance of Christian Democrats and Socialists out of business." EU: European Commission: Internet of Things - An action plan for Europe (pdf) and Internet governance: the next steps (pdf) EU: IRELAND-LISBON: Lisbon Treaty guarantees for Ireland (pdf) Analysis by Professor Steve Peers, University of Essex EU: European Council, Brussels, 18-19 June 2009: Draft Council Conclusions (pdf) UK: Whitehall admits gamble on massive net snoop plan: Exclusive The Home Office has privately conceded that its plan to store details of every internet communication may not be possible - and that it has pinned the multibillion pound project's hopes on snooping technology not yet developed (Register, link): "new laws needed to legitimise the system would take "a number of years" to pass, and that by that time technology will "hopefully have caught up with law enforcement requirements." Background: LSE report: Briefing on the Interception Modernisation Programme (pdf) EU-UK: Regulation on access to EU documents: House of Lords Select Committee on the European Union issues critical report on the European Commission's proposals and the position of the UK government: Access to EU Documents (pdf). Including: "Q6 Chairman: Just to take a specific example, we have referred elsewhere to the publication on Statewatch of one of the Presidency's working documents, of the type which this Committee rarely but occasionally sees, and the commentary by Professor Steve Peers. Do you regard that as helpful or unhelpful to the progression of such matters? Caroline Flint (Minister for Europe): I do not think it is very helpful." Commenting Lord Mance, Chairman of the Lords EU Sub-Committee on Law and Institutions, said: "Providing public access to documents is a key element in securing the accountability of European Institutions to European citizens. We support attempts to make the EU more open to public scrutiny and hope the Commission use this opportunity to improve public access to documents, not limit it further. For that reason we think it is important that access to draft documents is maintained. It is not appropriate for the European Commission to establish arbitrary definitions of the point where a document is 'formally transmitted' in order to maintain space for policy development. "We are concerned that the UK Government are seeking greater restrictions on the publication of legal advice in respect of legislation, and of negotiating positions adopted by Member States. Legislation should take place in as open an environment as possible." UK: LORD CARLILE Annual report for 2008: Report on the operation in 2008 of the terrorism act 2000 and of part 1 of the terrorism act 2006 by Lord Carlile QC (pdf). See: Terror watchdog in search warning (BBC News, link) "Police have been advised to use the anti-terrorism powers sparingly The UK's terror law watchdog says people are being stopped and searched to racially balance official figures." Update: Home Office answers Lord Carlile's report, reassures photographers (British Journal of Photography, link) Updated: Full-text of assurances: EU: LISBON TREATY-IRELAND: Draft text of assurances (5MB, pdf). Some uncertainty remains as other EU governments want to be sure that any promises do not re-open the ratification process and Irish Foreign Minister Martin said: "he hoped that the guarantees, included in a draft agreement, would be tacked on to a future treaty...." See also: Uncertainty over legal format of Irish Lisbon guarantees (euobserver, link) Updated: Statewatch's Observatory on "Terrorist" lists: monitoring proscription, designation and asset-freezing - June 2009 - EU renews terrorist list - Common Position 2009/468/CFSP of 15 June 2009 - June 2009 - Court of First Instance follows Kadi and annuls annulled the listing of Omar Mohammed Othman (aka Abu Qatada) (Court Press release, 11.6.09): Despite the ruling it is explicitly assumed that the Council will now re-list him following the new procedures introduced in the light of Kadi (see further below) - June 2009 - Blocking Faith, Freezing Charity: Charitable Giving and the "War on Terrorism Financing": The American Civil Liberties Union has released a comprehensive report documenting the consequence of U.S. government actions on American Muslims' exercise of their right to profess and practice their religion through charitable giving. The ACLU's research shows that U.S. terrorism financing policies and practices are seriously undermining American Muslims' protected constitutional liberties and violating their fundamental human rights to freedom of religion, freedom of association, and freedom from discrimination. EU: European Commission: EU: European Commission: Proposals for the Stockholm Programme (pdf), German (pdf) French (pdf): Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments: "What stands out are the proposals related to the Future Group report. A promise to balance better data protection and EU standards for "Privacy Enhancing Technology" with the law enforcement agencies demands for access to all information and communications. An "information system architecture" to bring about the sharing of all data across the EU. The use of "security technologies" to harness the "digital tsunami" to gather through mass surveillance personal data on peoples' everyday activities through public-private partnerships. What is new is the clear aim of creating the surveillance society and the database state. Future generations, for whom this will be a fully developed reality, will look back at this era and righlty ask, why did you not act to stop it." See: Statewatch's Observatory on The Stockholm Programme - The Shape of Things to Come EU: Major report on the: Criminalisation and victimisation of migrants in Europe (255 pages, pdf) directed by Salvatore Palidda. See: Full contents of Statewatch News online with commentary and news in brief plus archives or What's New Top reports 2007-2009 Statewatch publication: Border wars and asylum crimes by Frances Webber (38 pages, pdf - 2,656 copies downloaded: "When the 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.... There is a frightening continuity between the treatment of asylum claimants and that of terrorist suspects. In the name of the defence of our way of life and our enlightenment values from attack by terrorists or by poor migrants, that way of life is being destroyed by creeping authoritarianism, and those values – amongst which the most important is the universality of human rights – betrayed." See also: Crimes of arrival: immigrants and asylum-seekers in the new Europe (12 pages, 1995, pdf). To order hard-copy see: Statewatch Publications EU: Major report on the: Criminalisation and victimisation of migrants in Europe (255 pages, pdf) directed by Salvatore Palidda: 9,775 downloads (23.6.09) EU: SPECIAL STATEWATCH REPORT: The Shape of Things to Come by Tony Bunyan (Version 1.3 with corrections and amendments). The EU is currently developing a new five year strategy for justice and home affairs and security policy for 2009-2014. The proposals set out by the shadowy "Future Group" set up by the Council of the European Union include a range of highly controversial measures including new technologies of surveillance, enhanced cooperation with the United States and harnessing the "digital tsunami". In the words of the EU Council presidency: "Every object the individual uses, every transaction they make and almost everywhere they go will create a detailed digital record. This will generate a wealth of information for public security organisations, and create huge opportunities for more effective and productive public security efforts." This major new report The Shape of Things to come (60 pages) examines the proposals of the Future Group and their effect on civil liberties. It shows how European governments and EU policy-makers are pursuing unfettered powers to access and gather masses of personal data on the everyday life of everyone – on the grounds that we can all be safe and secure from perceived “threats”. The Statewatch report calls for a “meaningful and wide-ranging debate” before it is “too late” for privacy and civil liberties. See also ongoing: Statewatch Observatory: "The Shape of Things to Come" - the EU Future group EU: The dream of total data collection by Heiner Busch. Status quo and future plans for EU information systems Terrorist lists" still above the law by Ben Hayes EU: Secret trilogues and the democratic deficit by Tony Bunyan EU: Returns Directive: "Against the Outrageous Directive" speech given by Yasha Maccanico in EP Cementing the European state by Tony Bunyan, New emphasis on internal security and operational cooperation at EU level EU-SIS Schengen Infornation System Article 99 report by Ben Hayes Policing protests in Switzerland, Italy and Germany The surveillance of travel in the EU where everyone is a suspect by Tony Bunyan Top reports 2004-06 EU: Statewatch Report: Arming Big Brother: new research reveals the true costs of Europe's security-industrial complex by Ben Hayes (pdf, April 2006). The European Union is preparing to spend hundreds of million on new research into surveillance and control technologies, according to Arming Big Brother, a new report by the Transnational Institute (TNI) and Statewatch. Press release (English) Press release (Spanish, link) Copy of full report (English, pdf) Copy of full report (Spanish, pdf) Hard copies of Arming Big Brother can be obtained from: The Transnational Institute, please send an e-mail to: wilbert@tni.org with your request. EU: "Unaccountable Europe" by Tony Bunyan (Statewatch editor) in Special issue of Index on Censorship: "Big Brother Goes Global" (December 2005) Europe: Launch of the European Civil Liberties Network (link) - The ECLN was launched on 19 October 2005 as a long-term project to develop a platform for groups working on civil liberties issues across Europe. A collection of "Essays in defence of civil liberties and democracy" was published to mark the launch the ECLN Global surveillance: Global coalition launch report and international surveillance campaign: Statewatch, with partner organisations the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Focus on the Global South, Friends Committee (US) and the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (Canada) today publishes an in-depth report: "The emergence of a global infrastructure for registration and surveillance" (20 April, 2005). Statewatch report: Journalism, civil liberties and the war on terrorism (full-report/request printed copy) - Special report by the International Federation of Journalists and Statewatch including an analysis of current policy developments as well as a survey of 20 selected countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin Amercia, the Middle East and the USA (published World press freedom day, 1 May 2005) Statewatch analysis: The exceptional and draconian become the norm - G8 and EU counter-terrorism plans (updated 26 March 2005 pdf) Statewatch "Scoreboard" on EU counter-terrorism plans (pdf) agreed in the wake of the Madrid bombings. Our analysis shows that 27 out of the 57 EU proposals have little or nothing to do with tackling terrorism - they deal with crime in general and surveillance: Analysis in Spanish (March 2004) The road to "1984" Part II: Everyone in the EU will have to have their fingerprints taken to get a passport (February 2004) The Statewatch website Since its launch this website has had 8,417,063 user sessions and 38,143,622 "hits" (June 2009) In the year 2008 there were 1,232,435 user sessions with 9,896,072 "hits" Join Statewatch regular e-mail list for new stories: Join Statewatch news e-mail list Statewatch is registered under the Data Protection Act. Information supplied will be not be passed to third parties The Statewatch searchable database now holds more than 25,000 records (news, features, analyses and documentation): Search database If you use this site regularly, you are encouraged to make a donation to Statewatch to support future research. 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