Thursday, 16 February 2023 — Statewatch
Issue 03/23, 16 February (also available as a PDF)
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Frontex and interoperable databases: a vast data trove
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Social media profiles to facilitate deportations
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Spain: 88 organisations condemn undercover police abuse
And three new analyses: child migration to Spain; the European Union and its crises; EU support for authoritarian regimes.
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Frontex and ‘interoperable’ databases: a vast data trove
The EU’s border agency, Frontex, will be able to access vast quantities of data once the EU’s ‘interoperable’ policing and migration databases are fully operational. Those databases contain biometric and biographic data on hundreds of millions of non-EU nationals – over whom greater control has been a political priority since 2015.
Our latest briefing considers the agency’s use of data from two different perspectives – operational and statistical. Operational access allows members of Frontex “teams” to carry out border control or deportation tasks. Meanwhile, vast quantities of new statistical data aim to make Frontex’s policy recommendations more fine-grained, detailed and influential. The briefing also examines the emerging field of “travel intelligence”.
This briefing follows our previous report on the new powers granted to police agency Europol, which includes an overview of its access to the EU’s interoperable databases. Our online map helps make sense of the interoperability architecture.
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Social media profiles to facilitate deportations
Thirteen non-EU countries sometimes accept “social media profiles and phone contacts” as evidence of identity for the purpose of deportations, according to an internal Commission assessment of third country cooperation on readmission. The assessment, which is produced annually, is used to determine where and how to apply pressure on third states not deemed to be sufficiently cooperative with deportations from EU member states.
The news emerged at the same time as the European Council reaffirmed its support for an increasingly hardline approach to asylum and immigration – as indicated by draft conclusions and a letter from eight EU member states that we published. The final conclusions put heavy emphasis on stepping up deportations. They make one mention of “the protection of fundamental rights” – but there is nothing included about how to make that happen.
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88 organisations speak out against undercover police abuse in Spain
Following the recent unmasking of three undercover police officers infiltrating social movements in Spain – two in Barcelona and one in Valencia – 88 organisations from 20 countries have published a statement calling for answers and for justice.
The most recent officer unmasked in Barcelona used sexual and intimate relationships “to create and consolidate a bond of trust with those movements. His actions were endorsed and backed up by the rest of the police structure,” says the statement, which calls for the Spanish authorities to “respond with consequences for the perpetrators,” undertake a “thorough, effective and independent investigation” and “cease any further police operations of a similar nature.”
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News
“Police have crossed the line”: Statement on police infiltration in social movements in recent years in Barcelona
EU: Deportations organized on the basis of “social media profiles”?
Eight states appeal to European Council: more fortification, deportation, externalisation, and “strategic communication”
EU preparing new efforts to increase Libyan border controls
EU: Interoperable migration and police databases: a data trove for Frontex
Tarajal Manifesto 2023: justice for the dead
Analysis
Unaccompanied and separated children: patterns of child migration are changing at the southern Spanish border
Pushbacks, migration policy and returns at the core of EU support for authoritarian regimes
The European Union and its crises
News
Following recent revelations about undercover police officers infilitrating social mvoements by using sexual and intimate relationships as cover, 88 organisations – including Statewatch – have joined a statement initiated by the legal centre Irídia calling for a “thorough, effective and independent investigation” and for an end to “any further police operations of a similar nature”. Two undercover officers have been unmasked in Barcelona in the last nine months, and more recently another was outed in Valencia. Referring to similar cases in the UK, the statement notes that “the infiltration of police officers into social and political movements is a practice that has also been used in other countries.”
13 February
EU: Deportations organized on the basis of “social media profiles”?
Thirteen non-EU countries sometimes accept “social media profiles and phone contacts” as evidence of identity for the purpose of deportations, according to an internal Commission assessment of third country cooperation on readmission. The assessment, which is produced annually, is used to determine where and how to apply pressure on third states not deemed to be sufficiently cooperative with deportations from EU member states.
The call comes in a letter signed by the prime ministers of Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Latvia and Slovakia that argues “the current asylum system is broken and primarily benefits the cynical human smugglers who take advantage of the misfortune of women, men and children.”
7 February 2023
EU preparing new efforts to increase Libyan border controls
A draft “action file on Libya” is circulating within the Council of the EU. A version from January obtained by Statewatch indicates that there will be a fresh push to improve the ability of authorities in Libya to control the country’s southern borders and to prevent refugees from leaving the country by sea.
6 February
EU: Interoperable migration and police databases: a data trove for Frontex
The EU’s border agency, Frontex, will be able to access vast quantities of data once the EU’s ‘interoperable’ policing and migration databases are fully operational. In particular, its access to extensive new sets of statistics is intended to increase the detail, influence and reach of its risk analyses and policy recommendations.
4 February
Tarajal Manifesto 2023: justice for the dead
Today, the 10th March For Dignity will take place in Ceuta to commemorate and demand justice for the 14 people who died attempting to cross the border into Spain on 6 February 2014. The Tarajal Manifesto 2023 has been produced to mark the occasion.
Analysis
13 February 2023
Unaccompanied and separated children: patterns of child migration are changing at the southern Spanish border
Since the early 1990s thousands of “unaccompanied and separated children” have arrived on Spanish territory. The authorities have frequently violated their rights. Policy changes and other events have led to migration patterns shifting over the years. A debate is needed over the facilities and care provided for child migrants, who at the moment are often housed in large facilities that do not meet their needs or uphold their rights.
8 February 2023
Pushbacks, migration policy and returns at the core of EU support for authoritarian regimes
The ongoing debate on pushbacks and rights violations at external EU borders neglects an important aspect: the EU and its states betray their claimed goal to promote human rights, the rule of law and civil society development worldwide by helping authoritarian regimes oppress their citizens, and also to stop them from leaving.
8 February 2023
The European Union and its crises
Since the Amsterdam Treaty of 1999, various crises have served as a pretext for expanding EU security structures and the powers of repressive authorities. Politically motivated human rights abuses remain the order of the day and have been exacerbated by the recent “migration crisis” at the EU’s eastern borders.
New material
Material we have shared on our Twitter and Facebook accounts. See the PDF of this newsletter for the new material section.
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The New Dark Age 