Archive
Networks of (in)security: how global counter-terrorism and security norms threaten civic space and human rights
Global counter-terrorism and security norms are propelling the introduction of pre-emptive, automated and algorithmic forms of surveillance and profiling, says new research published today by Statewatch. This is reinforcing racism and discrimination, inhibiting free movement, and giving authoritarian states new tools of control. The research calls for an organised response to this long-term state project, and sets out some guiding questions for future work. Read More
Data Protection Handbook on Asylum and Migration in Europe
The EU’s immigration and asylum system is governed by a complex set of rules. As well as being regularly amended by legislators, those rules are also subject to frequent interpretation (and re-interpretation) by the courts. The increasing use of digital technologies and databases for the enforcement of immigration and asylum law adds a further twist to this complicated scenario. Read More
Exporting Borders: Frontex and the Expansion of Fortress Europe in West Africa
The EU is pushing its migration control far beyond Europe’s borders. This report, co-published with the Transnational Institute, exposes how Frontex operates in West Africa under the cover of cooperation, entrenching neo-colonial influence, undermining rights, and reshaping the Sahel into a securitised buffer zone. Read More
New Technology, Old Injustice: Data-driven discrimination and profiling in police and prisons in Europe
Police and criminal legal system authorities across Europe are increasingly using data-based systems and tools to ‘predict’ where crime will occur, to profile people as criminals and to assess the ‘risk’ of crime or criminality in the future. Read More
Automating Authority: Artificial intelligence in European police and border regimes
Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are being embedded into everyday life by powerful actors, primarily motivated by profit. Police, border and criminal justice agencies are also looking to take advantage of the new powers AI offers for “security” policies, at both national and EU level. The EU is creating new infrastructure, away from the public eye, to allow the swift development and deployment of “security AI.” This will also reinforce the existing discrimination, violence and harm caused by policing, border and criminal justice policies. Exposing and understanding this emerging security AI complex is the first step to challenging it. Read More
Automating Authority: Artificial intelligence in European police and border regimes
Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are being embedded into everyday life by powerful actors, primarily motivated by profit. Police, border and… Read More
ByLock Prosecutions and the Right to Fair Trial in Turkey: The ECtHR Grand Chamber’s Ruling in Yüksel Yalçınkaya v. Türkiye
This report analyses the European Court of Human Rights' judgement in the case Yalçınkaya v Türkiye, which found that a conviction based on the use of the encrypted messaging app ByLock violated a number of rights: no punishment without law; the right to a fair trial; and freedom of assembly and association. The judgement represents a milestone in the legal and political discourse surrounding ByLock convictions, and should be used as the basis for retrials for the tens of thousands of people who have been punished for their alleged use of the app. Read More
Telling the story of EU border militarization
Addressing and preventing European border violence is a huge but necessary strategic challenge. This guide offers framing messages, guiding principles, and suggested language for people and organisations working on this challenge. It emerges from a process of discussion online and in-person between over a dozen organisations working in the European migrant justice space. Read More
Europe’s techno-borders
The digital technologies deployed as part of Europe’s techno-borders underpin invasions of privacy, brutal violations of human rights, and make the border ‘mobile’, for example through the increased use of biometric identification technologies, such as handheld fingerprint scanners. This report analyses the past, present and future of Europe’s “techno-borders,” the infrastructure put in place over the last three decades to provide authorities with knowledge of – and thus control over – foreign nationals seeking to enter or staying in EU and Schengen territory. Read More
Access denied: Secrecy and the externalisation of EU migration control
For at least three decades, the EU and its Member States have engaged in a process of “externalisation” – a policy agenda by which the EU seeks to prevent migrants and refugees setting foot on EU territory by externalising (that is, outsourcing) border controls to non-EU states. The EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum, published in September 2020, proposed a raft of measures seeking to step up operational cooperation and collaboration in order to further this agenda. Read More