Launched in 1999 and updated regularly, Statewatch News includes our own reporting and writing as well as articles, announcements, documents and analyses from elsewhere on civil liberties, EU policies and state practices. You can receive updates in your inbox by signing up to our mailing list, or use an RSS feed to get instant alerts.
The Moroccan criminal investigation into alleged human trafficking by Spanish human rights activist Helena Maleno has been closed. The Tangiers Court of Appeal last week confirmed that there is no evidence of criminal activity by Maleno, against whom the Moroccan authorities opened an investigation in December 2017. She was accused of trafficking in persons due to her alarm calls to the Spanish authorities concerning vessels in distress on the journey between Spain and Morocco.
"Madrid – According to an International Organization for Migration (IOM) flow monitoring survey of over 1,300 migrants and refugees in Spain last year, nearly half (48%) of those interviewed indicated having at least one direct experience related to human trafficking, exploitation or abuse while traveling on the Western Mediterranean Route. Men – who outnumber women nine to one among those surveyed – reported a higher percentage (49%) of incidents than women (40%)..."
The use of force by police officers against children has increased significantly in recent years and disproportionately affects those who are black or from other ethnic minority groups, according to a new report by the Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE).
"Far-right and racist crime rose sharply last year in eastern Germany's ex-communist state of Saxony, new data showed .."
"Senior ministers have attended a British arms fair for foreign police forces, many of whom face criticism for human rights abuses and heavy-handed policing..."
Press release, background note, agenda papers for discussion, along with points legislative and non legislative.
An open letter from five NGOs calls on MEPs in the European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) to oppose the introduction of mandatory fingerprinting for national identity cards, as required by the proposed Regulation on strengthening security standards for identity cards and residence documents.
"Catastrophic impact of Europe’s migration policies Most of the people currently held in Libya’s detention centres were intercepted at sea by the Libyan coastguard, which has enjoyed all kind of support from European governments in exchange for preventing refugees and migrants from reaching European shores..."
"EU interior ministers on Thursday (7 March) failed to conclude an overhaul of the bloc’s migration policy, meaning that under the Juncker Commission, no further progress can be expected on a dossier expected to take centre stage at the European elections..."
"EU interior ministers gathering in Brussels today are expected to make it clear: The planned reform of the EU’s asylum rules is dead...."
"One man and two children died on Thursday after a boat they were on sank off the east coast of the Greek island of Samos..."
"The European commission has declared the migration crisis over, as it sharpened its attack on “fake news” and “misinformation”"
"Bulldozers and paramilitary police demolished a migrant camp near Gioia Tauro, in Calabria, in southern Italy,..."
The European Commission has agreed to publish documents on the work of a high-level group that shaped the EU's military research programme and has said that any future such groups should be subject to the same transparency rules as other Commission-appointed expert bodies.
With the takeover of the sovereign border security, the Free State is also using new technology. The extraction of telephones is supposed to help in the detection of smuggler networks“
'Travel now, pay later' schemes offered by smugglers seem to be increasing the risks to migrants and refugees, especially in parts of Africa...."
"The past decade has seen Hungary, with prime minister Viktor Orbán at the helm, on a steady course to become one of the most substantial threats to democracy and rule of law in the European Union today..."
"In this article, Remi Joseph-Salisbury and Laura Connelly of the Northern Police Monitoring Project discuss institutional racism and the limits of calls to diversify the police force (estimated read time: 6 minutes)..."
"A secret police document has revealed how the Metropolitan Police's Special Branch helped the illegal blacklisting of trade unionists - preventing them from getting jobs because of their political views..."
On 11 March the European Parliament's civil liberties committee (LIBE) will vote on the proposed 'fingerprinting Regulation', which will make it mandatory for all national identity cards in the EU to include two fingerprints and a biometric photograph.
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