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 The latest 25 news items are listed below: EU: Proposed new EU border control system (pdf) Report for the European Parliament LIBE Committee by Professor Steve Peers, University of Essex EU: An analysis of the Commission Communications on future development of Frontex and the creation of a European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR) (pdf) Report for the European Parliament LIBE Committee. "The [Commission] evaluation, however, falls short of critically assessing the consistence of Frontex activities with the fundamental values upheld by the EU. In this regard, it seems important to recall that Frontex is a first-pillar, Community body, which should not only respect the EU fundamental values in its activities, but also work for their promotion, particularly in a field which touches upon critical questions related to migration and freedom of movement." Spain/Senegal: Repatriation agreement for minors comes into force EU: Commission finally publish full decision on air travel passenger rules: Regulation laying down measures for the implementation of the common basic standards on aviation security (pdf) Council of Europe: Application of Convention 108 to the profiling mechanism (pdf) France: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee: France (pdf) UK: Border Agency: A strong new force at the border (pdf) Italy: Silvio Berlusconi under fire as Pope appears to back warning about fascism (Guardian, link) EU: Statewatch analysis: The surveillance of travel where everyone is a suspect (pdf) by Tony Bunyan. - “all travellers are... considered a priori as potential law breakers” - travellers to be checked by “an automated gate and kiosk” (machines) EU/US security “channel” - a one-way street? What the "Outcomes" of EU-US meetings show is the extraordinary influence that the US has on EU justice and home affairs policies and practice. The dominant theme is US demands for access to EU data, intelligence and databases and ensuring that US interests are not threatened (eg: by EU data protection standards). There is also evidence of "policy-laundering", for example, detailed G8 questionnaires drafted by the US which all EU governments have to respond to (eg: use of intelligence in criminal investigation and prosecution). UK: MANDATORY RETENTION OF ALL INTERNET USAGE: Home Office consultation: Transposition of Directive 2006/24/EC (pdf), which concerns: "the retention of data generated or processed in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications services or of public communications networks.. [to] ensure that certain data is retained to enable public authorities to undertake their lawful activities to investigate, detect and prosecute crime and to protect the public." In plain english the government wants to keep and access everyone's internet usage and internet telephony in the UK - more than 1 billion items a day. See: 'Snooper's charter' to check texts and emails (Guardian, link) and Statewatch's Observatory: The Surveillance of telecommunications in the EU ITALY: Fundamental Rights Agency Incident Report: Violent attacks against Roma in the Ponticelli district of Naples, Italy (pdf) EU-PNR: European travel operators and travel agents' comments on the EU-PNR (passenger name record) system reveal strong reservations on the proposal: European Travel Agents’ and Tour Operators’ Associations letter to Council Presidency (EU doc no: 12360/08, pdf). - Scope: the Framework Decision: "ECTAA considers that the proposal for a Framework Decision should only cover data for passengers on flight into and out of the EU. It is essential that it is not extended to intra-EU flights." - Scope: "it is fundamental that data will not be used other than for border purposes" - Costs: "This proposal will have significant technical, operational and financial consequences for carriers. Inevitably that cost will be passed on by the carriers to the end user, the passenger" - so we will be paying for our own surveillance - US demands: PNR data is currently transmitted to the USA after a flight departs. The USA demand for data 24 hours in advance and immediately after flight closure is called "an uneccessary duplication". In addition: "Charter carriers in particular rarely receive such information in advance of 24 hours" and "To put in place an advance system for charter carriers would be costly and require considerable time as the current systems used by tour operators do not lend themselves to this." Background: The Council working party has abandoned discussions on the Commission's proposal for an EU-PNR scheme and are going to start again drawing up their own proposal because a number of EU governments want to go much further. With the UK in the lead a number of member states want: - the system to cover not just flights in and out of the EU but also flights between EU countries plus all flights within each country; - the system to cover not just all flights but all sea and land travel as well; -  the data and information gathered to be used not just for entry-exit but also for any law enforcement purpose. See: Note from the Austrian delegation: EU doc no: 11724/08 EU: Schengen police cooperation handbook - National Fact Sheets (618k, pdf) Contains useful summary of national laws/powers concerning the carrying of guns by officers, surveillance and pursuit plus listing of relevant agencies. Italy: European Race Bulletin: The Italian general election and its aftermath (IRR link, pdf) EU: Secret report on new five year plan for "European Home Affairs" proposes creation of an EU-USA Area of cooperation for "freedom, security and justice" (justice and home affairs): Future Report: Freedom, Security, Privacy – European Home Affairs in an open world (full-text, pdf): "By 2014 the European Union should make up its mind with regard to the political objective to realise a Euro-Atlantic area of cooperation in the field of freedom, security and justice with the United States." Contrary to some press reports (see below) the proposed Area of EU-USA JHA cooperation would not just cover terrorism and passenger data but would cover the whole area of justice and home affairs - policing, immigration, sharing database data and biometrics and harmonising laws. Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments: "All the evidence from dozens of high-level EU-USA meetings on justice and home affairs since 11 September 2001 shows that it is a one-way street with the EU trying to fend off USA demands. When the EU does not cave in the USA simply negotiates bilateral deals with individual member states. A permanent EU-USA pact would be disastrous for privacy and civil liberties." See: Secret EU security draft risks uproar with call to pool policing and give US personal data (Guardian, link); EU plan: The rise and rise of the securocrats (Daily Telegraph, link); Interesting background: Bush letter to the EU, 16 October 2001 EU: FUTURE GROUP - JUSTICE REPORT: In addition to the above report on "European Home Affairs" the EU Future Group has also presented a report by the High Level Advisory Group on: The Future of European Justice Policy Proposed Solutions for the Future EU Justice Programme (pdf) UK: Home Office: Police use of taser figures as at August 2008 (pdf) and Police: Amnesty voices concern as use of Taser guns grows (Guardian, link) UK-USA: European Court of Human Rights (Press release) and Abu Hamza extradition postponed for hearing (Channel 4 News, link) EU: Report from UK House of Lords Select Committee: Initiation of EU Legislation (216 pages, pdf): "The purpose of this report is to explore the processes by which ideas are transformed into EU legislation, principally by the Commission, and to draw conclusions as to the appropriateness of those processes in today’s EU. Our starting point was to ask: “Where do the ideas for legislation come from?” and “How are ideas developed to the point when they are brought forward as formal legislative proposals?” UK: TERRORIST LAW - 42 DAYS: House of Lords: Select Committee on the Constitution: Counter-Terrorism Bill: The Role of Ministers, Parliament and the Judiciary (pdf). See: Terrorism: Lords say 42-day law will put fair trials at risk (Guardian, link) See: Full contents of Statewatch News online with commentary and news in brief plus archives or What's New Top stories 2004-06 EU: Statewatch launches Observatory on data protection in the EU - the protection of personal data in police and judicial matters - full-text documentation on all the secret discussions in the Council Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments: "This is going to be a momentous decision affecting existing national laws on data protection, and the exchange of data within the EU and around the globe. It is also going to the the foundation of the right of data protection in a host of planned and future EU measures, including the new Schengen Information System (SIS II). The Commission draft proposal is being substantially re-written by the Council's Multidisciplinary Group on Organised Crime including removing the rights of data subjects and obstacles to the passing of data to third countries outside the EU. Until the Council finishes its so-called "second reading" the final text will not been known - when they are intending to simply "nod" it through. Unless the European Parliament recalls this text for further consideration there will be no time at all for an informed debate in national parliaments or civil society" EU: Statewatch Report: Arming Big Brother: new research reveals the true costs of Europe's security-industrial complex (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) Statewatch analysis: "The European Parliament and data retention: Chronicle of a 'sell-out' foretold?" (pdf) by Professor Steve Peers (December 2005) EU: The right to know or the right to try and find out? The need for an EU freedom of information law, by Ben Hayes (pdf, November 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 EU: A Failure to Regulate: Data Protection in the Police Sector in Europe (pdf), by Ben Hayes (Statewatch) in "Ethnic Profiling by Police in Europe" (Open Society Justice Initiative, pdf). EU: Analysis from Statewatch: SIS II fait accompli? Construction of EU's Big Brother database underway (pdf, May 2005) 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). EU: "Terrorising the rule of law: the policy and practice of proscription" - Report and observatory monitoring the largely secret development of the policy of "proscribing" groups and individuals connected with "terrorism" (launched June 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) UK-Libya: Target of Blair deportation intervention gets substantial compensation (18.11.04) Original Statewatch Special Report: UK: Egyptian national “unlawfully detained” after intervention by Prime Minister (16.11.04) 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 6,710,080 user sessions and 30,876.394 "hits" (July 2008) In the year 2004 there were 625,653 user sessions with 2,791,124 "hits" In the year 2005 there were 979,772 user sessions with 4,076,016 "hits" In the year 2006 there were 1,341,158 user sessions with 5,446,221 "hits" In the year 2007 there were 1,693,941 user sessions with 6,464,960 "hits" Join Statewatch regular e-mail list for new stories: Join Statewatch news e-mail list Statewatch is registered under the Data Protection Act. 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