WP 14 : Securitization, Liberty and Law

Articles

• Security versus Justice? Police and Judicial Cooperation in the European Union

  4 June 2008, by Geyer Florian , Guild Elspeth
  One of the most dynamic areas of recent EU law has been cooperation in the fields of policing and criminal justice. This book enables readers to understand the changes that have taken place by examining how and why they occurred, along with the subsequent outcomes.

• Discrimination in the Name of Integration, Migrants’ Rights Under the Integration Abroad Act

  21 May 2008, by Human Rights Watch
  The Netherlands should abolish the overseas «integration test» that discriminatorily targets only migrants of certain nationalities trying to join their families, while citizens from other, «western» countries are exempt, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released yesterday. People of Moroccan and Turkish origin – two of the three largest «non-western» migrant communities in the Netherlands – have been especially affected.

• Seminar : Language and Integration Tests for Newcomers and Future Citizens

  8 January 2008, by Radboud University
  Language and integration tests are a topical issue in various European Union Member States. Several Member States have introduced language and integration courses in their domestic legislation. Immigrants have to pass language and integration tests in order to prove that they have obtained a certain level of knowledge, sometimes even before entering the country. Though the modalities of the integration tests and courses vary between the Member States, the introduction of the tests reflects a change in ideas on the relationship between legal status and integration.

• EU Policy on Labour Migration: A First Look at the Commission’s Blue Card Initiative

  19 November 2007, by Guild Elspeth
  On 23 October 2007, the European Commission adopted a long-awaited legislative proposal on economic migration: a draft Framework Directive on the admission of highly-qualified migrants to the EU (the so-called ‘Blue Card’ initiative). This briefing note looks at the key issues arising in the proposed directive and set out the main debates.

• Report of the Symposium : Security and Migration: challenges to the liberal state

  15 October 2007, by Ciobanu Oana, Hunter Alistair
  Symposium co-organised by the CHALLENGE Project and the Migration and Citizenship Research Group, University of Edinburgh; co-funded by the Radboud University of Nijmegen and the Europa Institute, University of Edinburgh.

• Digital Borders and Real Rights: Effective Remedies for Third-Country Nationals in the Schengen Information System

  24 September 2007, by Brouwer Evelien
  This study examines the right to effective remedies by third-country nationals reported in the Schengen Information System or SIS. Since its launch in 1995, the majority of personal data held in the SIS concerns third-country nationals to be refused entry to the Schengen territory. The use of SIS (and the second generation SIS or SIS II) entails a risk to the protection of human rights such as the right to privacy and the right to data protection, but also the freedom of movement of persons and the principle of non-discrimination.

• Building an area of freedom, security and justice

  3 July 2007, by European Commission
  The second political assessment of progress in implementing the Hague Programme. («The Scoreboard»)

• Belgium: RFID passports containing sensitive information discovered to be unencrypted, and encrypted ones are easy to decipher

  13 June 2007, by Statewatch
  A team of cryptography researchers discovered that around 720,000 passports issued by Belgium between late 2004 and July 2006 are not encrypted and the sensitive material they contain, including the holder’s signature and photograph, could be read using a commercial RFID chip reader held 10 centimetres away, reported Belgian website Rue 89 on 6 June 2007.

• Dick Marty strongly deplores ‘flagrant injustice’ of UN Security Council blacklisting people suspected of terrorist links without evidence of wrong-doing

  9 May 2007, by Conseil de l’Europe
  Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) investigator Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE) today strongly deplored the UN Security Council for the «flagrant injustice» of blacklisting individuals suspected of having links to terrorism without evidence of any wrong-doing, flouting its own principles.

• Merging Security from the Two Level Game : Inserting the Treaty of Prüm into EU law ?

  17 avril 2007, par Guild Elspeth
  This paper examines the proposal to incorporate parts of the Prüm Treaty into EU law. Particular attention is paid to the issues that were highlighted as problematic in an earlier assessment of the treaty when it first come into operation and comment on how they have been dealt with.

• International Migration, Border Controls and Human Rights: Assessing the Relevance of a Right to Mobility

  16 April 2007, by Guchteneire (de) Paul , Pécoud Antoine
  This article discusses the arguments in favor of and against a right to mobility. It argues that contemporary migration and border policies are largely restrictive but still fail to meet their proclaimed objectives which call for alternative approaches to international human flows. From a human rights perspective, tight border controls are accompanied by major challenges; including trafficking, the asylum crisis, and the death and vulnerability of irregular migrants; which ultimately threaten the moral foundations of liberal democracies. In this context, a right to mobility may constitute a relevant answer and the article examines the implications of such a right in terms of world justice, social cohesion, economic wealth, security, and border/migration governance.

• The New Digital Borders of Europe : EU Databases and the Surveillance of Irregular Migrants

  16 April 2007, by Broeders Dennis
  This article analyses the development of three migration databases and their significance for the internal control of irregular immigrants. The Schengen Information System, Eurodac and the Visa Information System. It is argued that the digital infrastructure that is now growing past its infancy is developing into a formidable tool for the surveillance of irregular migrants in Europe

• Conference : Terrorism, Migration and Asylum: EU perspectives

  22 January 2007, by Centre for European Policy Studies, Centre for Migration Law
  This conference, jointly organised by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) and the Centre for Migration Law (CMR), Nijmegen seeks to shed light on the question how access to the European Union and the legal status of immigrants and asylum seekers has changed in recent years and how this trend is related to counterterrorism measures adopted at national and EU level. A topic, particularly addressed will be whether and how far situations have come into existence, which would be considered to be in conflict with human rights and fundamental principles, like the rule of law.

• The Policy of the EU in the Field of Border Control and the Fight against Organised Crime: How does it impact on the promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms in third countries?

  16 January 2007, by Guild Elspeth
  How does the intersection of the EU policy and law in the field of border control and organised crime engage with human rights compliance in third countries? The starting place for any analysis of this area must be with the human rights obligations engaged and from that perspective the consequences of EU external policies.

• A Typology of different types of Centres in Europe

  4 December 2006, by Guild Elspeth
  There has been an increase in the use of detention of foreigners in EU Member States over the past four years. The sources and political discussion regarding this change of policy has given rise to substantial concern in civil society. Researchers, policy makers and non-governmental organisations have expressed concern at the stigmatisation of foreigners which accompanies and is expressed in their detention. The European Parliament itself has already commissioned and received a detailed report on the return of foreigners from EU Member States (Hailbronner: 2005) which includes substantial information on this issue. In this paper we seek to examine three issues around the detention of foreigners in the EU: the law that governs camps; who is found in the camps; and what types of camps are missing. The starting place of this examination is the law of the European Union – what are the parameters within which national law applies and how does national law comply with those parameters.

• Centres for Third Country Nationals

  4 December 2006, by Bietlot Mathieu
  The term ‘camp’ identifies all the premises where those third country nationals intending to enter the European Union are involuntarily placed. This concept includes all the systems of imprisonment by which the immigrant is deprived of his/her rights and liberties. While the camp can be ‘open’ or ‘closed’, the close nature usually predominates in practice. An EU policy dealing with the reception of asylum seekers and their accommodation in camps is still in its infancy. The discretionary power exercised by the Member States in this field is very important. Also, there is a wide diversity of camps for third country nationals in Europe. Special attention needs to be paid to the respect of fundamental rights and the individual needs by each third country national who might be residing in camps. This is at times difficult to ensure due to size of the camps, the lack of resources as well as because of the negative image linked to those immigrants who are placed in these camps. Also, in practical terms there is some confusion among the different statuses of the immigrants who are might be found in the camps. Finally, the statistical data concerning how many third country nationals are actually inside camps has not been yet centralized nor at EU level neither at national level.

• The Coherence of the adopted measures, during the last years by the EU with regard to organised crime, namely the fight against human trafficking and the UN Convention on organised crime - the Palermo Convention and its 3 Protocols

  20 November 2006, by Mitsilegas Valsamis
  The fight against organised crime has been at the forefront of the EU JHA agenda for the past decade. However, the EU has not been acting in a void. It has been instrumental in the development of global action in the field, in particular by participating in and concluding- within its respective powers- the UN Palermo Convention. This has resulted in a comprehensive EU criminal law and enforcement framework in the field of organised crime, money laundering and human trafficking and smuggling. The EU framework is largely consistent with global standards, with the exception perhaps of the prevention/rights field. In the light of the plethora of legal and policy instruments in place, the primary emphasis at this stage must be on the implementation of these instruments in Member States and an evaluation on how they work in practice. Particular emphasis must be placed on the protection of the rights of victims, in particular in the field of trafficking in human beings, but also the protection of fundamental rights and civil liberties, which may be challenged by the proliferation of enforcement tools and a broad definition of organised crime which may lead to the expansion of surveillance and the uncritical use of the European Arrest Warrant. Last, but not least, emphasis must be placed on the prevention of organised crime and trafficking to the extent that the EU has competence to act on these issues. The note contains a number of specific recommendations on each of these points.

• La cohérence des mesures adoptées ces dernières années par l’UE concernant le crime organisé, particulièrement la lutte contre le trafic et la traite d’êtres humains et la Convention de l’ONU sur le crime organisé – la Convention de Palerme et ses 3 protocoles

  20 novembre 2006, par Mitsilegas Valsamis
  La lutte contre le crime organisé a occupé une place privilégiée dans l’agenda JAI cette dernière décennie. Cependant, l’UE n’a pas agi dans le vide. Elle a favorisé le développement de l’action globale et internationale dans ce domaine, notamment en participant et en signant – dans les limites de ses pouvoirs respectifs – la Convention de Palerme de l’ONU. Il en a découlé un important cadre de droit pénal et d’action au niveau de l’UE dans les domaines du crime organisé, du blanchiment d’argent et du trafic et de la traite d’êtres humains. Le cadre de l’UE est largement conforme aux normes internationales, à l’exception peut-être des domaines de la prévention et des droits. Considérant la pléthore d’instruments légaux, l’accent doit être mis au stade actuel sur la mise en oeuvre de ces instruments dans les Etats Membres ainsi que sur l’évaluation de leur fonctionnement effectif. Il faut insister plus particulièrement sur la protection des droits des victimes, notamment dans le domaine du trafic d’êtres humains, mais aussi sur la protection de droits fondamentaux et des libertés civiles qui pourraient être remises en cause par la prolifération des instruments répressifs ainsi que par la définition large du crime organisé qui risque de conduire à un renforcement de la surveillance ainsi qu’à un recours indiscriminé au Mandat d’Arrêt Européen. Enfin, l’accent doit être mis sur la prévention du crime organisé et du trafic d’êtres humains dans les limites des compétences de l’UE. Cette note propose des recommandations spécifiques sur chacun de ces points.

• Minderhoud Paul : curriculum vitae

  5 November 2006, by Minderhoud Paul
  Dr. Paul Minderhoud is a senior researcher at the Centre for Migration Law of the Radboud University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. His main research interests are the legal and socio-legal aspects of immigrants and social security. He is co-editor of the European Journal of Migration and Law and co-ordinator of the Network on Free Movement of Workers in the EU.

• Brouwer Evelien : curriculum vitae

  5 November 2006, by Brouwer Evelien
  Evelien Brouwer is researcher at the Centre for Migration Law, Radboud University Nijmegen. She is member of the Standing Committee of experts on international immigration, asylum, and criminal law and member of the editorial board of the journal Privacy & Informatie.

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