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Data exchange, exclusion and denial at the borders

This project aims to improve lawyers' and refugee and migrant rights organisations’ ability to challenge the use of secret evidence against an immigration or/and asylum decision in the states that make up the Schengen area. It will do this by:

• investigating the scale and scope of the use of secret evidence, the extent to which target groups make use of data protection law in all stages and types (administrative, pre-judicial, judicial) of proceedings against the use of secret evidence and the extent to which authorities, supervisory bodies and courts are enforcing data protection standards;
• informing the target groups about the possibilities of using data protection law as a means to seek access to an effective remedy for individuals threatened by a migration or asylum decision informed by secret evidence;
• pushing for more rigorous oversight and enforcement of data protection law by EU bodies in relation to existing and forthcoming databases and information exchange mechanisms through advocacy and campaigning with other civil society organisations, and by supporting the work of other organisations addressing related issues.

The project will explore a new avenue to support due process rights in immigration and asylum proceedings, in particular the equality of arms between the applicant and the authority in the context of the use of secret evidence, in accordance with articles 8 and 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights (the rights to a fair trial and an effective remedy in this proposal should be understood as reference to general questions of due process, and not freestanding rights in and of themselves).