012 — http://www.statewatch.org/ • e-mail: office@statewatch.org

1.    EU: European Parliament study: Evaluating current and forthcoming proposals on JHA databases and a smart borders system at EU external borders
2.    EU: Council of the European Union: Exchange of EU classified information (EUCI) with third States and international organisations
3.    Council of Europe: Human Rights Commissioner: Restrictions on defenders of migrants’ rights should stop
4.    EU: Council of the European Union: Provisional agendas of the Justice and Home Affairs Council under the Irish Council Presidency
5.    EU: Statewatch Analysis: The EU Justice and Home Affairs agenda in 2013
6.    EU: RISE OF THE FAR-RIGHT: Spanish far right grows amid memories of Franco era
7.    FRANCE: Parliament abolishes the “solidarity offence” but maintains custody for undocumented migrants
8.    EU: Detention centres: The fifth edition of Migreurop’s “Encampment Map” has been updated and is now available online
9.    UK: Institute of Race Relations: Miliband’s progress “A. Sivanandan
10   EU: European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee adopts proposal giving law enforcement authorities and Europol access to Eurodac
11.  France: Treatment of migrants and asylum-seekers in Calais and French overseas territories denounced
12.  EU: Commission rules out new law enforcement databases – but seeks more data for Europol
13.  EU: Report from the Commission to the Council: Evaluation report on the European Union Crime Prevention Network
14.  EU-USA: TFTP: European Commission: Commission Staff Working Document
15.  EU: Statewatch Analysis: Security of the spectacle The EU’s guidelines for security at major events
16.  UK: Activists receive conditional discharges and fines for London Bahraini embassy rooftop protest
17.  EU: VISA LISTS: Statewatch Analysis: Update: amending the EU’s visa list legislation
18.  EU: European Commission: Staff Working Paper on Transport Security
19.  UK: Government pays Libyan dissident’s family £2.2m over MI6-aided rendition
20.  ECHR-MASRI: Crucial judgment by the ECHR condemning an European State (FYROM) for torture
21.  EU: European Commission: Assessment of law enforcement tools: no new databases needed at EU level
22.. UK: House of Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs: Drugs: Breaking the Cycle
23.  EU: Council of the European Union: right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings

1.  EU: European Parliament study: Evaluating current and forthcoming proposals on JHA databases and a smart borders system at EU external borders: 
012/dec/ep-study-smart-borders.pdf

2.  EU: Council of the European Union: Exchange of EU classified information (EUCI) with third States and international organisations:
012/dec/eu-council-euci-third-states-17811-12.pdf

3.  Council of Europe: Human Rights Commissioner: Restrictions on defenders of migrants’ rights should stop (pdf)
012/dec/coe-restrictions-on-defend.pdf

4.  EU: Council of the European Union: Provisional agendas of the Justice and Home Affairs Council under the Irish Council Presidency (pdf)
012/dec/eu-council-jha-prov-agendas-jan-jun.pdf

5.  EU: Statewatch Analysis: The EU Justice and Home Affairs agenda in 2013 by Professor Steve Peers, University of Essex:
http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-209-jha-agenda-2013.pdf

The following analysis sets out the current and planned JHA proposals for legislation, and the likelihood of agreement on current proposals in 2013. It includes all of the current JHA proposals not yet adopted, and all of the JHA proposals which are expected in 2013, by topic (although sometimes the Commission delays its proposals into later years). It takes account of the agendas for JHA Councils announced by the incoming Irish Presidency of the EU Council, for the first half of 2011, and of the plans for the next ‘Trio Presidency’ (Ireland, Lithuania and Greece) of the EU’s Council.

6. EU: RISE OF THE FAR-RIGHT: Spanish far right grows amid memories of Franco era (BBC News, link):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20781879

“European parties of the far right are growing in the financial crisis. In Greece it is the Golden Dawn, in Finland it is the True Finns and in Hungary it is Jobbik. Espana 2000 is Spain’s answer to the Front Nationale and is seeing its membership grow by about 40 new members a week. Newsnight’s Economics Editor Paul Mason travels to Valencia in Spain and finds wounds of the Franco era are in danger of re-opening.”

7.  FRANCE: Parliament abolishes the “solidarity offence” but maintains custody for undocumented migrants
012/dec/france-abolishment-solidarity-offence.htm

On 19 December , the French Parliament abolished a legal provision that sanctions people who provide support to irregular migrants, through the adoption of a proposal on “holding migrants for the verification of the regularity of stay, and amending the offence for support to irregular stay by excluding humanitarian and non-profit based acts” (projet de loi relatif à la retenue pour vérification du droit au séjour et modifiant le délit d’aide au séjour irrégulier pour en exclure les actions humanitaires et désintéressées).

8. EU: Detention centres: The fifth edition of Migreurop’s “Encampment Map” has been updated and is now available online:

–  English: http://www.migreurop.org/IMG/pdf/Carte_Atlas_Migreurop_19122012_Version_anglaise_version_web.pdf 
– French: http://www.migreurop.org/IMG/pdf/Carte_Atlas_Migreurop_19122012_Version_francaise_version_web.pdf
– Spanish: http://www.migreurop.org/IMG/pdf/Carte_Atlas_Migreurop_19122012_Version_espagnole_version_web.pdf
– Italian: http://www.migreurop.org/IMG/pdf/Carte_Atlas_Migreurop_19122012_Version_italienne_version_web.pdf

9.  UK: Institute of Race Relations: Miliband’s progress “A. Sivanandan, known for his trenchant critiques of government ‘race’ policies, has broadly welcomed what Ed Miliband had to say last week. IRR News asks him why. What’s new about the Miliband speech? It seems to carry many of the same old themes – need to curtail immigration, need to integrate and so on”: http://www.irr.org.uk/news/milibands-progress/

10 EU: European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee adopts proposal giving law enforcement authorities and Europol access to Eurodac
012/dec/03eurodac-libe.html

On 17 December 2012, the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties (LIBE) Committee adopted a highly controversial Commission proposal that gives law enforcement authorities and Europol access to Eurodac, the Europe-wide database containing the fingerprints of asylum-seekers and intercepted irregular migrants. Access to Eurodac will be granted during prevention, detection or investigations of serious crimes or terrorist offences if checks in national fingerprint databases and the Prüm system return negative results.

See also: MEPs call for strict rules on use of asylum seekers’ fingerprint database: 
012/dec/eu-meps-eurodac-access.pdf
 
11. France: Treatment of migrants and asylum-seekers in Calais and French overseas territories denounced by national Ombudsman and European Court of Human  Rights:012/dec/02france-treatment-migrants.html

Two recent decisions by the French Ombudsman and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) have condemned illegal practices against migrants and asylum-seekers at the periphery of French territory.

12. EU: Commission rules out new law enforcement databases – but seeks more data for Europol:
012/dec/01europol-data.html

A communication from the European Commission published last Saturday states that the exchange of information amongst Europe’s law enforcement agencies “generally works well” and that “no new EU-level law enforcement databases or information exchange instruments are therefore needed at this stage. However, whilst it puts a stop to the development of any new projects, the Commission’s communication is strident about the need for greater sharing of national data with Europol. With the revision of Europol’s legal basis due next year, all the signs seem to point towards a significant expansion of the agency’s ability to collect, retain and analyse vast amounts of data from across Europe and beyond.

13. EU: Report from the Commission to the Council: Evaluation report on the European Union Crime Prevention Network (17432/12):
012/dec/eu-crime-prevention-network-report-17432-12.pdf

14. EU-USA: TFTP: European Commission: Commission Staff Working Document: Report on the second joint review of the implementation of the Agreement between the European Union and the United States of America on the processing and transfer of Financial Messaging data from the European Union to the United States for the purposes of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (SWD, 154-12): 012/dec/eu-com-tftp-review-swd-454-12.pdf

15.  EU: Statewatch Analysis: Security of the spectacle The EU’s guidelines for security at major events:
http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-207-major-events-public-order.pdf

“As major sport, political and cultural events have become increasingly international a corresponding need has been identified for greater levels of international police and security cooperation in order to ensure their smooth running. Since the late 1990s this has been formalised at EU level by numerous initiatives, including various ‘handbooks’ that seek to provide “guidelines and inspiration” for law enforcement authorities.

16. UK: Activists receive conditional discharges and fines for London Bahraini embassy rooftop protest: Two UK-based Bahraini activists last week (7 December) received conditional discharges and £100 fines for a protest that saw them occupy the roof of the Bahraini embassy in London for 24 hours in April this year:
012/dec/bahrain-embassy-protest.htm

17.  EU: VISA LISTS: Statewatch Analysis: Update: amending the EU’s visa list legislation by Steve Peeers, Professor of Law, University of Essex:
http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-208-visa-lists.pdf

012, examines the agreed text of the 2011 proposal and the border code amendments, since the EP and the Council have already reached a deal concerning both proposals. A revised text of the visa list Regulation, as it will look following the adoption of these two amendments (and taking account of all previous amendments) appears in the annex to this analysis.”

18.  EU: European Commission: Staff Working Paper on Transport Security (SWD, 143-12):
012/dec/eu-com-transport-security-swd-143-12.pdf

19.  UK: Government pays Libyan dissident’s family £2.2m over MI6-aided rendition – Sami al-Saadi, wife and four children were secretly flown from Hong Kong to Tripoli where he was tortured by Gaddafi police (Guardian, link): 012/dec/13/libyan-dissident-mi6-aided-rendition/print

20.  ECHR-MASRI: Crucial judgment by the ECHR condemning an European State (FYROM) for torture, ill treatment and secret extraordinary rendition (El Masri case): Judgment: 012/dec/ecj-masri-macedonia.pdf
and in French: 012/dec/AFFAIRE%20ELMASRI%20c.%20ecj-macedonia.pdf

21. EU: European Commission: Assessment of law enforcement tools: no new databases needed at EU level (Press release)
012/dec/eu-com-lea-databases-prel.pdf

and Communication: Strengthening law enforcement cooperation in the EU: the European Information Exchange Model (EIXM) (COM 735-12):
012/dec/eu-com-lea-databases-com-735-12.pdf

See also: Ralf Bendrath blog (link): http://bendrath.blogspot.co.uk/

22.. UK: House of Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs: Drugs: Breaking the Cycle (149 pages):
012/dec/uk-hasc-drugs-policy.pdf

and Volume II: Oral and written evidence:
012/dec/uk-hasc-drugs-policy-vol-II.pdf

23.  EU: Council of the European Union: Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings and on the right to communicate upon arrest [First reading] – Progress report:
012/dec/eu-council-access-to-lawyer-progress-report-16521-12.pdf

“In the Annex, the text as it currently stands is set out. Please note that this is a provisional text, since various issues are still under examination in the Council and in the European Parliament, and since “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.””

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