2020

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.

08 January 2020

Malta: MV Lifeline captain conviction overturned on appeal

"MV Lifeline captain Claus Peter Reisch is a free man, after the Court of Criminal Appeal overturned his conviction for ship registration irregularities."

08 January 2020

New analysis: Shadow army or isolated cases? Right-wing structures in the security authorities

Over two years after the case of Franco A (an army lieutenant who had created a false identity as a refugee, seemingly in order to commit terrorist attacks) came to light, public attention and official sensitivity to the problem of right-wing attitudes and structures in the military and police have decreased significantly.

08 January 2020

Migration-related deaths: open access book provides "first interdisciplinary overview" of causes, dynamics and consequences

A new book that is freely-available online claims to offer the "first interdisciplinary overview" of the causes, dynamics and consequences of migration-related deaths, with eight chapters examining issues such as the collection and use of data; the process of mourning missing migrants; and the causes of border deaths.

08 January 2020

Malta: 24 arrests made in Safi migrants' centre protest

"The police made 24 arrests late on Monday after a violent protest by migrants at Safi Detention Centre."

08 January 2020

UK: DNA supplied by public to trace their ancestry should be available to police, according to majority of Britons

"DNA that the public supply to private firms to trace their ancestry should be available to police investigating crimes, says a majority of Britons."

06 January 2020

Libya militias rake in millions in European migration funds: AP

An Associated Press investigation has founded that traffickers and militias are receiving millions of euros from EU funds.

06 January 2020

Italy Faces Complaint at UN Over ‘Abusive’ Libya Asylum Returns

"Campaigners filed a complaint with the United Nations on Wednesday against Italy over a teenage migrant who was sent back to Libya in 2018 along with other migrants, where he was shot, beaten, and subjected to forced labor."

06 January 2020

50 countries ranked by how they’re collecting biometric data and what they’re doing with it

An assessment of national policies on the processing of biometric data.

06 January 2020

Pole and Hungarian brothers be – EU member states fuel the rise of pro-government propaganda with taxpayers money

The Hungarian government has funnelled state advertising spending into pro-government media outlets, and the Polish government is following suit.

06 January 2020

UK: More police, more prosecutions, more punishment

An analysis published by the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies foresees an expansion of the criminal justice system under the newly-elected Conservative government.

06 January 2020

Facial recognition fails on race, government study says

An analysis of 189 different facial recognition algorithms by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has discovered some major flaws.

06 January 2020

The ever-rising securitisation of mixed migration

"Over the last decade there has been a surge in the securitisation of different aspects of migration, especially in relation to mixed flows, including refugees, using irregular pathways. This essay outlines what securitised and criminalised mixed migration looks like and how security concerns are used to justify and normalise what were previously exceptional policies and practices around the world. It will also explore how these trends might change in the future."

06 January 2020

Decade of dissent: how protest is shaking the UK and why it’s likely to continue

The number of protest events in the UK in 2019 was almost double that in 2010.

06 January 2020

UK Police Snowden Probe Declared "Inactive"

The Metropolitan Police appear to have shelved their investigation into journalists whose reporting made use of the documents leaked by Edward Snowden.

01 January 2020

EU to target violent right-wing extremism, terrorism and "other extreme political movements"

The EU is taking action to counter "right-wing violent extremism and terrorism" through information-sharing, the development of anti-radicalisation and risk analysis programmes, online censorship and cooperation with third countries. As well as the far-right, "this work shall also address violent extremism and terrorism stemming from other extreme political movements," according to a document produced by the Council Presidency in November 2019.

 

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