News online - current lead stories For full contents see: Statewatch News online with news, analysis, documentation and archives or What's New: which lists all new items on the website. The latest 20 lead items are listed below. New: Statewatch Sitemap EU: Major report from Statewatch and the Transnational Institute: NeoConOpticon - The EU Security-Industrial Complex by Ben Hayes (pdf):123,411 copies downloaded. Executive Summary (pdf) and NeoConOpticon blog EU-USA SWIFT AGREEMENT: European Parliament is to debate on Wednesday 10 February and vote on 11 February on Report from the Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) calling for the proposal for the Interim Agreement to be rejected - the Agreement covers the transfer of financial data from the EU banks to the USA for the purpose of tackling terrorism. The Committee says it has not been given enough time, not been given the documents it needs and has major privacy and data protection reservations (reflecting those of EU data protection bodies). Hilary Clinton (US Secretary of State) and Timothy Geithner (US Secretary of Treasury) are putting pressure on the parliament urging the parliament to change its mind: Clinton-Geithner letter to EP (pdf). Letter from the President of the European Parliament to the Council of the European Union: EP Letter (pdf). And in the flurry of activity the Council (27 governments) has adopted a Declaration: Draft Council declaration (pdf) and under pressure from the parliament to provide more information have published: Declassified Council Decision (pdf) Background: - SWIFT: Civil Liberties Committee recommends rejecting the agreement (EP press release (pdf) - Draft EP Resolution (pdf) - Opinion of the EP Legal Service - Opinion of the European Data Protection Supervisor (pdf) - Opinion of the Article 29 Working Party (pdf) - Draft EU-USA SWIFT Agreement (pdf) UK: ‘Fast and fair?’: A report by the Parliamentary Ombudsman on the UK Border Agency (pdf): "clearly demonstrates that the Agency’s failure to resolve applications within reasonable timescales can have serious implications for the individuals involved, for society in general and for the public purse." EU: 500,000 EU computers can access private British data (Observer, link) Dutch Iraq inquiry – a slap on the wrist for the government: "In January of this year the Davids committee presented its very thorough report. The main conclusion was that the military action of the US and the UK against Iraq “had no sound mandate under international law.” The famous US Security Council Resolution 1441 “cannot reasonably be interpreted (as the government did) as authorising individual Member States to use military force to compel Iraq to comply with the Security Council’s resolutions without authorisation from the Security Council”. US: The Counter-Counterinsurgency Manual: Or, Notes on Demilitarizing American Society (THES, link): "The Counter-Counterinsurgency Manual - its authors call it a pamphlet - may well come to be regarded as the most important work to emerge from America's social sciences so far this millennium. It was written by some of the founders of the Network of Concerned Anthropologists (NCA), 11 anthropologists who came together in 2007 to express their concerns over recent efforts to militarise the discipline." See: Network of Concerned Anthropologists (link) EU: Note of the Meijers Committee (Standing Committee of experts on international immigration, refugees and criminal law) on: Proposals for recasting the Qualification Directive (COM(2009) 551) and the Procedures Directive (COM(2009) 554) (pdf) ITALY: Medecins sans Frontieres: Abstract: Over the Wall: A tour of Italy’s migrant centres. January 2010 (pdf) EU: Note of the Meijers Committee (Standing Committee of experts on international immigration, refugees and criminal law) on: Amended proposal for the Eurodac Regulation (COM (2009) 342) and the Decision on requesting comparisons with Eurodac data by Member States’ law enforcement authorities and Europol for law enforcement purposes (COM (2009) 344) (pdf) UK: Parliament: Joint Human Rights Committee report: Legislative Scrutiny: Digital Economy Bill (pdf). The Bill raises substantive issues: "We do not believe that such a skeletal approach to powers which engage human rights is appropriate. There is potential for these powers to be applied in a disproportionate manner which could lead to a breach of internet users’ rights to respect for correspondence and freedom of expression... Without a clear picture of the criteria for the imposition of technical measures it is difficult to reach a final conclusion on the fairness of the process for the imposition of technical measures." EU: Malta and Frontex missions: ‘No chance if the rules are changed’ (Malta Indpendent Online, link): "Malta will certainly not take part in any Frontex operation this year if the rules are changed to the effect that people rescued off the sea are taken to the host nation rather than the nearest port of call, this newspaper has learned." European Parliament: SWIFT: Civil Liberties Committee recommends rejecting the agreement (European Parliament press release (pdf): "Parliament should withhold its consent to the EU's interim agreement on banking data transfers to the USA via the SWIFT network, the Civil Liberties Committee recommended today. The deal will be put to a plenary vote in Strasbourg on Thursday 11 February. Withholding Parliament's consent would render the agreement legally void - in effect, a rejection. The committee report, approved with 29 votes in favour, 23 against and 1 abstention." The Resolution now goes to the parliament's plenary session next week. See:Draft Resolution (pdf) and Opinion of the EP Legal Service. See: MEPs threaten to derail EU-US data-transfer deal (European Voice, link); Bank data deal under heavy fire from EU Parliamentarians (link) and Clinton calls Buzek on SWIFT - Washington concerned about threat to counter-terrorism measure (European Voice, link) Council of Europe: Resolution: The detention of asylum seekers and irregular migrants in Europe (pdf): "The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution on the detention of asylum seekers and irregular migrants in Europe. The resolution, adopted on 28 January, states in no unclear terms that detention results from political decisions that represent a "hardening attitude towards irregular migrants and asylum seekers". The resolution goes on to criticise the overpopulation of detention centres, and the deterioration of conditions and safeguards for asylum seekers and irregular migrants alike. The resolution states that the "conditions and safeguards afforded to immigration detainees who have committed no crime are often worse than those of criminal detainees." Elsewhere, the resolution criticises the European Union's adoption of the so-called Returns Directive, for adopting the "lowest common standard in regard to detention length." (thanks to NADC). UK: Report on UK Terorrism Act 2005: FIfth Report of the Independent Reviewer pursuant to Section 14.3 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005: Lord Carlile QC (pdf) Statewatch analyses: Homeland Security comes to Europe (pdf) by Ben Hayes. The legacy of the “war on terror” is a new way of thinking about security and a cash cow for the defence industry and Germany: A network being networked: the Federal Criminal Police Office databases and the surveillance of “troublemakers” (pdf) by Eric Topfer Terre des hommes (Switzerland) report: Disappearing, departing, running away A surfeit of children in Europe? Study carried out in Belgium, France, Spain and Switzerland on the disappearances of unaccompanied foreign minors placed in institutions (pdf) UN: Human Rights Council: Joint study on global practices in relation to secret detention in the context of countering terrorism: Executive Summary (pdf) and Full-report (221 pages, pdf) EU: New case taken to the European Court of Justice on access to EU documents: Case T-529/09 before the General Court - Sophie in 't Veld v. Council of the European Union (pdf). ALDE MEP Sophie in 't Veld's case concerns access to the Council Legal Services' Opinion on the EU-USA SWIFT Agreement. In the Turco case the ECJ decide that access to could given to the Opinion of the Legal Service concerning policy matters. France: Statements in support of the Kurdish refugees who landed in Corsica: Fourteen Corsican organisations issued a joint statement in support of the Kurds from Syria who landed in Bonifacio on 22 January Spain: Vic town council norms to stop sans papiers becoming residents withdrawn: Following opposition from trade unions, migrant and anti-racist groups and social organisations, and the intervention of the central government, the town council of Vic (Catalunya) has withdrawn a norm that amended the criteria for registration in the residents' register (padrón) which excluded irregular migrants, as it would not have allowed foreigners to register unless they had a valid residence permit or could offer proof that procedures for it to be issued or renewed were underway. Security before liberty - An EU-US joint declaration on aviation security shows the powerful influence of US homeland security policy (Guardian, link) by Tony Bunyan EU: Migreurop: 2010, the year of the right to migrate? and Italian, French (links) EU: The Schengen Information System (SIS) has "over half a million terminals located in the security services of the Member States": The reference to "security services" refers to police, immigration, customs and internal security agencies. See EU doc no: 13305/09 (see p3, pdf). This extraordinary figure of more than 500,000 access terminals is given in a Note from the French delegation bidding to house the planned Agency for large-scale IT systems. The previously known figure for the number of terminals with access to the SIS was given in 2003 when there were 13 member states with of access to the Schengen Information System (SIS) when the figures clearly surprised the Council of the European Union (the EU governments) who found there were: "125,000 access points !!!” (exclamation marks in original) (EU doc no: 8857/03, pdf) Now there are now 25 Schengen member states. Moreover, the new SIS II system will allow access by all agencies to all the data held - under the existing SIS system data can only be access by agencies in the same field, ie: police agencies can only access police data. Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments: "The number of access points throughout the EU there will be as new databases are started and new agencies are created is going to be gigantic. It is well known that the greater the points of access the greater the number of people who have access the greater is the chance that data will be misplaced, lost or illegally accessed. Private security firms, multinationals and internal and foreign agencies as well as criminals all use their "contacts" to get unauthorised access to personal data. The idea that mass databases can be totally secure and that privacy can be guaranteed is a fallacy." Just over the horizon — the surveillance society and the state in the EU, by Tony Bunyan, Race & Class, January 2010 (SAGE, link): "In cold war times, the West espoused liberal democracy and freedom from surveillance and control. It is thus ironic that with the cold war a distant memory — though it only ended less than twenty years ago — the EU and its member states are set on a path which will, in just a few years time, turn it into the most surveilled, monitored region in the world. The wider context for all this is increased state racism (both at the national and EU levels), combined with the emergence of the ‘policing state , engendered by a political and governmental authoritarianism that legitimises itself through the trappings of representative democracy." - Full contents of Statewatch News online with news, analysis and documentation - In the News carries link to news coverage from across the EU - What's New covers all new items on the website Top reports 2004-2009 See: Tony Bunyan's column in the Guardian: View from the EU SPECIAL STATEWATCH REPORT: The Shape of Things to Come - the EU Future Group (Version.1.3) by Tony Bunyan: 50,784 copies downloaded. The report calls for a “meaningful and wide-ranging debate” before it is “too late” for privacy and civil liberties. 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 Stockhom Programme Statewatch publication: Border wars and asylum crimes by Frances Webber (38 pages, pdf - 4.685 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: 16,909 downloads. 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 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 9,153,619 user sessions and 41,963,021 "hits" (December 2009) In the year 2009 there were 1,263,573 user sessions with 7,305,161 "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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