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: UK: Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System – 2006/7 (pdf). The figures show that black people are still more than 7 times more likely to be stop and searched by the police as white people and that Asian people are more than twice as likely to be stop and searched. Police stop and search figures up (BBC News, link): "The figures showed 955,000 people were stopped and searched in 2006/7 alone, an increase of 9% and the highest figure since 1998/9.... There was also a large rise in the number of people stopped by the police and asked to account for themselves - up by a third to 1.87m in 2006/7." EU: Informal Justice and Home Affairs Ministers meeting in Cannes: European Pact on immigration and asylum and Presidency Note: Asylum procedures Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments: "EU Ministers are saying there is no "Fortress Europe", yet anyone with eyes to see knows that there is and that the final building blocks are being put into place. The EU is denying sanctuary to people fleeing from poverty and persecution while at the same time actively recruiting skilled labour from the Third World in order to maintain its own standard of living - because it has an ageing population.- and thus perpetuate its exploitation of scarce global resources. It is a position devoid of any humanity or morality." - EU won over to France's hard line on immigration and asylum (euobserver, link) - 42 days? Try 18 months: This European targeting of illegal immigrants is hypocritical, draconian and undiplomatic by Evo Morales, President of the Republic of Bolivia (Guardian, link) - Mercosur anger at EU migrant laws (BBC News, link) - Latin American leaders condemn 'racist' EU law (euobserver, link) - Central American states reject EU Returns Directive: Full-text of statement (pdf) and see below. EU/Africa/South America: Alliance against EU Returns Directive: On 12 June 2008 in Brasilia, a week before the European Parliament voted in favour of the returns directive, the 1st Meeting of High Level Officials of African and South American Countries, involving representatives from 44 countries, the Council of the African Union and UNASUR (Union of South American Nations), with a view to preparing the 2nd African-South American Presidential Summit to be held in Venezuela in November 2008, issued a press release condemning the directive. The representatives expressed "concern" over "legislations recently approved or proposed by some countries or regional organisations concerning migration, that contravene commitments adopted in the framework of human rights conventions and the rights of migrants set out in the UN's relevant legal instruments". The countries represented were: Angola, Algeria, Argentina, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Congo, DR Congo, Egypt, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, Ivory Coast, Libya, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Suriname, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uruguay, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Full text of the press release (from the no-fortress Europe website, in Spanish) EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Resolution on: Census of Roma on the basis of ethnicity in Italy (pdf) signed by MEPs from the PSE (Socialist group), ALDE (Liberal group), Green Gorup, GUE (United Left): "Urges the Italian authorities to refrain from proceeding to the collection of fingerprints of Roma, including minors, as this would clearly constitute an act of discrimination based on race and ethnic origin forbidden by the art. 14th of the European Convention of human rights and furthermore an act of discrimination between EU citizens of Roma origin or nomads and those who are not and who are not required to undergo such procedures" EU/Central America: Central American states reject EU Returns Directive. Full-text of statement (pdf) In Guatemala City on 30 June 2008, PARLACEN (Central American parliament, the regional body representing the governments of central America and the Dominican Republic) issued a declaration to "forcefully reject" the "returns directive" recently approved by the European Parliament as a measure that "undermines migrants human and labour rights". While PARLACEN exhorts its member states to accept their role as countries of origin and to take action to guarantee their citizens' human right to both freedom of movement and to remain in their own countries, it notes that the returns directive "contains articles that criminalise and penalise the migrant population". The declaration describes the measure as "criminalising, discriminatory and xenophobic, which undermines human and labour rights, especially those of boys, girls, adolescents and the norms of civilised co-existence between peoples, and that violates the historical progress made by humanity". It goes on to challenge the emphasis on security in these measures, the references to people as "illegals", the vision of humans in merely economic terms; reaffirms the right to free movement for humans, calls on regional associations from Latin America and the Caribbean to form a united front against the directive in negotiations with the EU and on the parliaments of EU countries not to adopt the directive. Spain/Colombia: Information exchange puts Colombian asylum seekers at risk CEAR, the Spanish Commission for Assistance to Refugees, warns in its June 2008 legal bulletin that the cross-checking of information on Colombian asylum applicants' documents by the Asylum and Refuge Office with Colombian authorities during asylum proceedings contravenes data protection legislation and the nature of the asylum process, undermining the safety of asylum seekers from this country. Problems that are highlighted include the infiltration of Colombian institutions by members of paramilitary groups and the contravening of guarantees of confidentiality that applicants receive when they first apply for asylum. EU-USA: How America is snooping on YOU ... and may soon be snooping a whole lot more (link to Mail on Sunday) UK-ECHR: Government must review Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (link to Liberty press release): "In a significant judgement today, the European Court of Human Rights found that UK surveillance laws had lacked the necessary clarity and accountability to prevent abuses of power when used to intercept cross-border communications." Full-text: Case of Liberty and others v UK (Application no. 58243/00) (pdf) ITALY: Petition: "No to ethnic filing of Rromani people" (link) This petition is launched by "La voix des Rroms" (France) and "EveryOne Group" (Italy). For German version and for Spanish ITALY: Renate Weber, MEP: The European Commission must take the Italian Government to the European Court of Justice” (Press statement, pdf): "The recent statements of Italy’s Minister of Interior, Roberto Maroni, regarding a plan to fingerprint the Rroma ethnic population from the Italian Peninsula, represents a new violation of the fundamental human rights and a new defiance from a high-rank Italian official against the European Union and the values it was build upon, as well as against the European legislation." EU RETURNS DIRECTIVE: Mercosur anger at EU migrant laws (BBC News, link) Latin American leaders condemn 'racist' EU law (euobserver, link) EU: MAJOR VICTORY FOR ACCESS TO EU DOCUMENTS: COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE JUDGMENT ON ACCESS TO LEGAL OPINIONS - TURCO CASE: "THE COURT AUTHORISES, IN PRINCIPLE, ACCESS TO LEGAL ADVICE GIVEN TO THE COUNCIL ON LEGISLATIVE QUESTIONS: The transparency of the legislative process and the strengthening of the democratic rights of European citizens are capable of constituting an overriding public interest which justifies the disclosure of legal advice.... The Court takes the view that disclosure of documents containing the advice of an institution’s legal service on legal questions arising when legislative initiatives are being debated increases transparency and strengthens the democratic right of European citizens to scrutinise the information which has formed the basis of a legislative act." (Court press release) "As regards, first, the fear expressed by the Council that disclosure of an opinion of its legal service relating to a legislative proposal could lead to doubts as to the lawfulness of the legislative act concerned, it is precisely openness in this regard that contributes to conferring greater legitimacy on the institutions in the eyes of European citizens and increasing their confidence in them by allowing divergences between various points of view to be openly debated. It is in fact rather a lack of information and debate which is capable of giving rise to doubts in the minds of citizens, not only as regards the lawfulness of an isolated act, but also as regards the legitimacy of the decision-making process as a whole. " (Judgment) The Court's judgment means that the Council (and the Commission) can no longer claim blanket refusals for the opinions of their Legal Services on legislative matters. The Court's judgment is also interesting because it reasserted the principle of an "overriding public interest" in allowing disclosure. Currently the Opinions of the Council's Legal Service on legislative matters carries the following warning: "This document contains legal advice protected under Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, and not released by the Council of the European Union to the public. The Council reserves all its rights in law as regards any unauthorised publication." [BOLD emphasis in original] - Press release - Court judgment - full-text - Turco press statement STATEWATCH: The following Observatories have been updated: Observatory on data protection in the EU - FOI in the EU: Observatory on access to EU documents: 2008-2009 - Statewatch analyses post 11 September 2001 EU: European Data Protection Supervisor: Opinion of the European Data Protection Supervisor on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (Press release plus Opinion, pdf) EU-ECRE: European Council on Refugees and Exiles: Memorandum to the French Presidency: Seizing the opportunity to create a meaningful Common European Asylum System (pdf) EU: Homophobia and Discrimination on Grounds of Sexual Orientation in the EU Member States: Part I – Legal Analysis by Olivier De Schutter (164 pages, pdf) EU-US: Final Report by EU-US High Level Contact Group on information sharing and privacy and personal data protection (pdf) This report was presented at the EU-US Summit on 12 June 2008. The High Level Group was set up on 6 November 2006 with the brief to conduct: "discussions on privacy and personal data protection in the context of the exchange of information for law enforcement purposes as part of a wider reflection between the EU and the U.S. on how best to prevent and fight terrorism and serious transnational crime." Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments: "In fact the scope would cover "any criminal offence" however minor. There is no guarantee EU citizens will be informed that data and information on them has been transferred to the USA or to which agencies it has been passed or give them the right to correct it. Moreover, the agreement would apply to individual requests and automated mass transfers and allow the USA to give the data to any third state "if permitted under its domestic law". It would be good to say that the USA must guarantee the same rights to people when personal information is transferred between EU states but this would be meaningless as the Council is about to adopt a Framework Decision which gives individuals few if any protections against misuse and abuse." The Council of the European Union is about to adopt a: Council Framework Decision on the protection of personal data processed in the framework of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters (pdf) covering the transfer of personal data and information/intelligence between EU member states. The Council has simply ignored all the criticisms of the measure from the European Parliament, the European Data Protection Supervisor, the Article 29 Working Party on data protection and civil society: See: Statewatch's: Observatory on data protection in the EU EU-USA PNR AGREEMENT: Agreement between the European Union and the United States of America on the processing and transfer of passenger name record (PNR) data by air carriers to the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – Declarations made in accordance with Article 24(5) TEU - State of Play (pdf) EU-PNR: Proposal for a Council Framework Decision on the use of Passenger Name Record (PNR) for law enforcement purposes - State of play (pdf) See Statewatch's: Observatory: EU surveillance of passengers (PNR) EU-PNR: NOTE from: Chair of the Airports Group of the Council of Europe's Pompidou Group (pdf) - calls for the scope of EU PNR scheme to be extended from flights in and out of the EU to cover also flights within the EU - calls for scope to be extended from organised crime to serious crime - calls for Customs agencies should have access to personal name registers - calls for direct online access to airline passenger reservation systems (not "PUSH" as recommended). See Statewatch's: Observatory: EU surveillance of passengers (PNR) EU-AUSTRALIA: PNR AGREEMENT: Full-text: Agreement between the European Union and Australia on the processing and transfer of European Union-sourced passenger name record (PNR) data by air carriers to the Australian Customs Service (pdf) BALUCH-USA-UK: Baluch human rights defender, a British citizen, detained and deported by USA: "On June 23rd, Baluch human rights defender Noordin Mengal was detained at Newark Liberty International Airport in the US on his arrival from the United Arab Emirates. After being held for nearly 26 hours in the custody of the United States Department of Homeland Security, he was sent back to Dubai after being denied entry to the US. Noordin Mengal, grandson of veteran Baluch leaders Sardar Attaullah Mengal and Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, is a British citizen and a representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council on behalf of Interfaith International and is also a member of the Baluchistan National Party." For background see: Never mind the Baluch (link to Transnational Institute) For the record: EU-USA "SWIFT" agreement (2007) - documentation "Following press reports in June 2006, it was revealed that the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") operating on the basis of powers under the TFTP has served administrative subpoenas on the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication ("SWIFT")1. These subpoenas require SWIFT in the U.S. to transfer personal data held on its United States2 server to OFAC where they are used for counter terrorism purposes regarding suspected individuals or entities.... SWIFT is a Belgium-based company with offices in the United States and which operates a worldwide messaging system used to transmit, inter alia, bank transaction information. It has been estimated that SWIFT handles 80% of the worldwide traffic for electronic value transfers." EU-ITALY: Plight of the Roma: echoes of Mussolini: "The compulsory fingerprinting of Italy's Gypsy population is the latest example of the country's increasingly repressive attitude towards minorities – and an ominous reminder of the policies of the former Fascist dictator". Peter Popham reports (Independent, link). Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments: "In a EU of "common values" we are all responsible for what happens in Italy" EU: Following a request for information to the Commission by Professor David Miller, University of Strathclyde, it has supplied a: List of members of expert group on violent radicalisation (24 June 2008, pdf). An earlier Commission response of 3 June 2008 (pdf) USA: Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), and the International Human Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law (NYU IHRC): Rights groups challenge CIA for failure to release more than 7,000 documents relating to secret detention, rendition and torture program (pdf) "The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) must no longer be allowed to use classification arguments in its attempts to prevent the disclosure of illegal or embarrassing conduct in its secret detention, torture, and rendition programs, three prominent human rights groups said today. The statement came just hours after they collectively filed a motion to require the CIA to make certain information public and to provide more details about all the documents withheld." FRENCH EU COUNCIL PRESIDENCY: European Pact on immigration and asylum (January 2008, pdf) UK: COUNTER TERRORISM BILL: The House of Commons Justice Committee today publishes the Government's response to its report on the Counter Terrorism Bill, in which the Committee expressed its concerns about the proposals relating to the coroners system which provided for "the Secretary of State to certify that a coroner's inquest may be held without a jury and to appoint a particular security cleared coroner in inquests which are expected to involve the consideration of material that should not be made public". Justice Committee report (pdf) See also: UK parliamentary Joint Human Rights Committee report: Counter–Terrorism Policy and Human Rights: Government Responses to the Committee's Twentieth and Twenty–first Reports and other correspondence (pdf) Hungary: Agreement Between the Government of The Republic of Hungary and the Government of The United States of America for the Exchange of Screening Information Concerning Known or Suspected Terrorists (pdf). This complements the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the United States and Hungary. Enacted on March 17, 2008, the MOU strives for Hungarian membership in the Visa Waiver Program. Council of Europe: New book: CIA above the law? Secret detentions and unlawful inter-state transfers of detainees in Europe (300 pages, link to ordering page, hard-copy 23 euro, pdf 8 euro) MASRI-UN-MACEDONIA: The UN Committee against Torture (CAT) and the Human Rights Committee (HRC) have advised the Macedonia government to undertake a new and thorough investigation into the abduction and ill-treatment of Mr Khaled El-Masri when held by CIA agents in secret detention: HRC report (pdf) - CAT report, 21 May 2008 (pdf) - CAT report, 20 May 2008 (pdf). See for full background Statewatch's Observatory on CIA Rendition UK: Report on the operation in 2007 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and of Part I if the Terrorism Act 2006 by Lord Carlile (pdf) and Government Reply to the Report by Lord Carlile (pdf) and Terrorist arrests, charges and conviction figures for 2007 (Source: Lord Carlile's report) EU: FOI-ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS: Statewatch Analysis June 2008: Proposal on access to documents: Article-by-Article commentary (pdf) Analysis of the Commission's proposed changes to the Regulation on access to EU documents (1049/2001) by Professor Steve Peers, University of Essex. MALTA: Journalists Committee welcomes the decision to open migrants detention centres (pdf) "The Journalists Committee welcomes the decision taken by the Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carmel Mifsud Bonnici to open migrants detention centres to journalists. Committee chairperson Karl Schembri said this was a positive development for journalists in Malta and recalled the role of the Journalists Committee in calling for open access to detention centres... Today, the new minister has finally taken on board our appeal and open up detention centres to journalists.The Journalists Committee has for years argued that detention centres and prisons were kept closed to journalists against all sense of transparency and accountability." UK: Review urged on RIPA surveillance powers (pdf) LGA media release 23 June 2008. The Local Government Association has today written to the leaders of every council in England calling on them to undertake an urgent review of surveillance operations carried out under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS): Opinion on safer Internet for children: data protection is an essential prerequisite to the safety of children online (pdf) EU: COUNTER-TERRORISM report: Implementation of the Strategy and Action Plan to Combat Terrorism and Implementation of the Strategy and Action Plan to Combat Terrorism - Addendum: Adoption of measures plus Implementation of the EU Counter-Terrorism Strategy - Priorities for further action EU: The Council produces a regular Newsletter on the European Security and Defence Policy (link) EU: Paper by Professor Steve Peers: Can the Treaty of Lisbon be ratified or implemented?: A legal analysis (pdf) EU: RETURNS DIRECTIVE: Global outcry against EU immigration directive (euobserver, link) and Souhayr Belhassen, president of the International Federation for Human Rights, argued that the timing of the European Parliament's vote was particularly unfortunate as the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will be celebrated later this year. "By adopting this text, the European legislator lets us understand that migrants are not human beings like any other, provided with rights and to whom states owe obligations," Belhassen added. "They are dehumanised." Parliament Votes Jail for Asylum-Seekers by David Cronin. See also: Green group in the European Parliament: Returns directive: Vote of shame mocks standards of civilisation (Press statement, link); GUE (European United Left) group in the European Parliament: Europe no longer the cradle of human rights (link to statement) EU: RETURNS DIRECTIVE: The European Parliament has voted this morning (18 June) 367 in favour, 206 against and 109 abstentions on the amended text approving the "compromise" text with the Council. EU: UNITED: "Fortress Europe": More than 8800 Deaths, 20 June 2007, International Refugee Day. UNITED has co-ordinated an international refugee campaign since several years, which consists of two complimentary parts: - Protesting against the restrictive asylum and migration policies, that are often referred to as "Fortress Europe": especially focusing attention on the deaths of already more than 8800 people who tried to find a safe haven in Europe and Promoting a safe environment for refugees and asylum seekers where they do not have to fear racism and intolerance. 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 6,623,598 user sessions and 29,770,617 "hits" (June 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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