Archive
European Commission must take a “decisive and unequivocal stand against” Poland’s suspension of asylum
More than sixty organizations, including Statewatch, and 10 MEPs, have signed a letter to the European Commission demanding a "decisive and unequivocal stand against" the Polish government's decision to suspend the right to seek asylum. The country's prime minister, Donald Tusk, announced the plan last month in response to people arriving across the Polish-Belarussian border. Read More
Tracking the Pact: Derogations all round in Council’s latest crisis Regulation edit
Of the five legislative proposals in the EU's Pact on Migration and Asylum, there is only one for which the Council has not so far adopted a negotiating position: the crisis and force majeure Regulation. The main purpose of the law is to set out derogations from other measures in the Pact, which are all due to be approved by next spring. The latest version of the text (published here) was up for discussion yesterday at the Justice and Home Affairs Council, which failed to reach agreement on it. Another attempt will reportedly be made on Monday. Read More
EU: The ‘weaponised migration’ discourse dehumanises asylum-seekers
Following the arrival of a substantial number of people in Poland and Lithuania after having crossed the border from Belarus, the EU and its member states have accused the regime of Alexander Lukashenko of "weaponising migration" - a discourse that legitimises the treatment of asylum-seekers "as other than human". Read More
Belarussian government’s “hybrid attack” on European borders: statement from Lithuanian, Latvian, Polish and Estonian prime ministers
A declaration signed by four EU member state prime ministers reasserts the argument that the arrival of people at their borders from Belarus is a "hybrid attack... planned and systemically organized by the regime of Alexander Lukashenka," and calls for a coordinated EU and UN response. Read More
EU: Rule of law: reports of Council hearings of Hungary and Poland
On 22 June the Council held hearings of Hungary and Poland as part of the Article 7 procedure concerning the risk of a breach of the EU's founding values. The Council's summary reports, published here, give an overview of what was discussed. Read More
Polish and Hungarian pushbacks violated human rights, court rules
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the Polish and Hungarian authorities violated the prohibitions on torture and collective expulsion and breached the right to an effective remedy in two separate pushback cases. Read More
ECHR-Poland: Admission of evidence obtained through ill-treatment was in breach of the European Convention
The ECHR has ruled that evidence obtained via torture and ill-treatment inflicted by private individuals renders criminal proceedings unsafe, as is the case when it is inflicted by public officials. Read More
EU: Suspension of extradition to Poland: legal experts call for political intervention to protect rule of law
The Meijers Committee, made up of experts on immigration, refugee and criminal law, highlights a number of issues that must be considered following increasing suspension by national courts of European Arrest Warrant extraditions to Poland. National courts are halting procedures and requesting advice from the Court of Justice of the EU due to the Polish government's attack on judicial independence and the impact on individual rights in criminal proceedings. Read More
Drone video shows scale of Poland’s abortion protests
Impressive drone footage of protests against the Polish government's attempt to essentially outlaw abortion show the size of the movement opposed to the new measures. The protests are reportedly more militant and with a broader base than those that have taken place in previous years. Read More
Romania, Poland and Czech Republic acquiring drones for border surveillance, military purposes
A number of NATO member states in Eastern Europe - namely Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic - are acquiring a variety of drones with the aim of stepping up border surveillance activities, amongst other things. Read More