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Major concerns on fundamental rights

01 August 2003

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Statewatch has submitted a dossier covering 22 concerns on civil liberties issues to the EU Network of Independent Experts on Fundamental Rights (the Network was set up to follow up the Charter on Fundamental Rights) for its report on the year 2003. The introduction to the submission says:

It is our view that the effects of the "war on terrorism" is having a detrimental effect on peoples' rights and liberties and democratic standards both at the national and European levels. There has been a "sea change" since 11 September 2001 which is not temporary but permanent. The "war on terrorism" has replaced the "Cold War" as a legitimating ideology in the EU and the USA which requires the surveillance and control of those entering and the wholesale surveillance and control of their own populations.

There is no longer a balance between freedoms and liberties on the one hand and the demands of security on the other. The demands of security, the law enforcement and internal security agencies are dominant and "emergency powers" are becoming the norm.

Left unchecked basic freedoms and democratic standards - freedom of movement, freedom of expression and the right to protest, freedom from surveillance in everyday life, accountability, scrutiny and data protection - will be whittled away one by one threatening the very democracy being defended by the "war on terrorism". Your Network, together with many others in civil society, can play an important role in attempting to halt and reverse the present direction."

The submission covers: surveillance and data exchange, the rights of migrants and refugees, policing and security, judicial cooperation, criminal law, constitutional issues and access to EU documents, accountability and scrutiny.

The submission is on: www.statewatch.org/news/2003/oct/22swsub.htm

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