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 our RSS feed to get instant alerts.
"Passengers arriving at British airports and ports will be placed in quarantine for up to a fortnight, under plans for the "second phase" of the Government's response to the coronavirus pandemic."
"At 11am today, new Regulations came into force that amend the “lockdown” law in England"
Seven EU member states are in favour of a mandatory relocation procedure as part of a revamped 'Common European Asylum System', according to two recent documents obtained by Statewatch - the first, a letter to the European Commission from the Italian, Spanish, French and German governments and the second, a 'non-paper' drafted by Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Spain and Malta.
"Leaked German government report shows Britain has been requesting special access."
"As the government announces that NHS England and Public Health England will lead an inquiry into the disproportionate impact of coronavirus on BAME communities, a Black health activist warns that the vague social construct of ‘race’ is being used to explain the mortality and morbidity of diverse populations, and more must be done to hold NHS England and Public Health England to account."
"Delegations will find attached a note on the "Twenty Years of Europol - what next?" discussed during the infonnal COSI meeting on 8-9 July 2019 in The Hague."
"The European Commission is refusing to release a preliminary legal assessment into Greece's decision to temporarily shelve asylum applications."
"I find myself obliged to extend the temporary border control at internal land and air borders with Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Denmark, Italy and Spain, as well as the sea border with Denmark, effective from 15 April 2020 for an additional period of 20 days..."
"In April 2015, 69 members of Golden Dawn — including its leader Nikos Michaloliakos and the entire 2013 parliamentary group — went on trial accused of orchestrating murder, arson, assault and weapons possession. The indictment describes a political party that is “working as a cloak [for] a criminal conspiracy” authorizing attacks against political opponents, migrants and anti-fascists, Kampagiannis says."
"The government has won an appeal over its controversial right to rent scheme, which was last year ruled by the high court to be racially discriminatory."
"The Commissioner observes that in 2019 as in previous years, there have been growing challenges to human rights standards and principles all over the continent. In some cases, hostility to human rights as universal, indivisible and legally binding has increased, fuelling a corrosive narrative that endangers the principles and standards on which Europe has been built over the past seven decades."
"The coronavirus pandemic is further threatening media freedom worldwide, according to the annual World Press Freedom Index."
"...we hereby appeal to the competent Belgian authorities: be careful with the corona app! Such an app faces not only legal, but also ethical, social, political and technical problems (both in the case of voluntary and mandatory implementation)."
"The coronavirus pandemic represents an urgent global challenge. Governments and EU institutions must act decisively to control its spread, protect citizens, and limit economic damage in the European Union."
"The Right to Remain asylum navigation board is a way to understand each step of the UK asylum system. Participants can learn about what people going through the system and those supporting them can do to be in a better position."
"Twelve people have died after a series of acts of non-assistance by EU and national authorities. Over 50 people have been pushed back to Libya and 182 remain stranded on civilian rescue vessels. The Council of Europe stresses that states should ensure rescue at sea and allow safe disembarkation during the COVID-19 crisis."
"The EU must swiftly propose and adopt sanctions against the latest ‘democratic backsliding’ by the Hungarian government, say leading European politicians, media and civil society leaders in an open letter whose signatories include former Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, and EURACTIV founder Christophe Leclercq."
Including: the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on refugees and migrants in Europe's camps; the situation in the Greek islands four years after the EU-Turkey statement; 12 Left to Die and 182 Stranded as EU States Refuse Rescue; privatised pushbacks, and; Free the #ElHiblu3
The organisation ACAT (Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture) recently published a report on the policing of protests in France, examining the period between November 2018 and January 2020. A summary has now been published in English, highlighting multiple failings of and abuses by French police forces in the policing of protests. The report also sets out the structure of French policing and its formal approach to public order situations.
A new report examines how six states - France, Germany, Israel, Spain, the UK and the USA - as well as the EU and UN have adapted their legal frameworks to try to address online terrorist and extremist content and the effects on privacy and freedom of expression. It focuses on blocking and filtering; online surveillance; criminal law; and administrative law.
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