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EU: Digital and migrant rights groups call for "full rejection" of new anti-smuggling powers

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20 February 2025

Two new laws against migrant smuggling should be rejected by EU legislators, says a position paper published today. The paper, by the #ProtectNotSurveil coalition, analyses two proposals: an update of a 20-year old law on criminal penalties for migrant smuggling; and new rules to give police agency Europol more powers. The approach adopted by the EU "will not provide the care and protection people need, but only aggravate the criminalisation and dehumanisation of people on the move," argues the paper. Statewatch is a member of #ProtectNotSurveil and supported the drafting of the paper.

The text that follows is the executive summary to the position paper: Stopping the unfettered expansion of Europol's digital surveillance powers against migrants (pdf)

In November 2023, the European Commission proposed a new legislative package 'to prevent and combat migrant smuggling'.

The package contains

(i) an update of the 20-year-old legislative framework (the 2002 facilitation package) under a single Directive;
(ii) a reform of the mandate of the EU law enforcement cooperation agency, Europol; and
(iii) an international 'alliance' to enrol third countries in tackling 'migrant smuggling' globally.

The #ProtectNotSurveil coalition understands the Facilitators Package as a further expansion of a digital surveillance regime that is based on the criminalisation and punishment of people on the move, as well as of those who provide humanitarian assistance to them.

We share the serious concerns already expressed by other civil society actors in the sector (such as PICUM, Equinox and BVMN) that the chosen approach will not provide the care and protection people need, but only aggravate the criminalisation and dehumanisation of people on the move.

This position paper focuses primarily on the Europol Regulation, which proposes a significant expansion of powers, especially when it comes to its digital surveillance capabilities.

We argue that the European Commission is working under an unproven and non-credible assumption that increased police powers and large-scale data processing will somehow protect migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers from ‘smugglers’.

The result is a law that will create more harm and discrimination for migrants and humanitarian actors at the hands of EU and national law enforcement and border authorities, whilst failing to counter the business model of organised smuggling networks.

The expansion of Europol’s powers can therefore be understood instead as a power-grab that is cynically and retroactively justified by feigned concern for people on the move.

We argue that:

• The legislative package, including the Europol Regulation, fails in its objective to target smuggling networks, reduce border deaths, or protect migrants;
• We reject the European Commission's premise that increased police powers and large-scale data processing will protect migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers. The result is not increased safety, but more dangerous routes and more persecution, discrimination and violence by authorities. Without providing adequate regular pathways to migration, smugglers will be able to continue their business model, while violent policing and unlawful data collection will be concentrated on the migrants the law is supposed to protect;
• The Europol Regulation fails to meet the EU’s Better Regulation and legality requirements;
• The European Commission has failed to conduct an impact assessment, and its analytical document does not substantiate the necessity and proportionality of the proposed measures and their interference with fundamental rights. Doubts about the necessity and proportionality of the proposal were not only raised by civil society, but by Member States themselves;
• The Europol Regulation unlawfully expands the EU's digital surveillance infrastructure without appropriate safeguards;
• This is particularly important in the context of biometrics, because the processing of biometric data constitutes a serious interference with the right to privacy and the protection of personal data and requires to be compliant with the principles of legality, necessity and proportionality;
• The expansion of powers, budget and resources to Europol through this Regulation circumvents the democratic process on budget allocation; and
• We fear that this proposal purporting to tackle criminal activities of migrant smuggling may in fact be a trojan horse for the actual purpose of providing Europol with increased budget, equipment and staff. It should rather be publicly debated as part of the upcoming discussions on the next EU Multi-Annual Financial Framework and weighted against other non-security, alternative approaches.

We demand the full rejection of this reform and call on the EU to take responsibility for its own role in forcing migrants into life-threatening situations with no choice but to resort to ‘smuggling' networks.

To effectively end smuggling, we need an urgent shift in logic, starting with changing the EU's hostile border and migration policies and punitive digital borders.

Read the full paper: Stopping the unfettered expansion of Europol's digital surveillance powers against migrants (pdf)

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