A coalition of over 100 civil society organisations, including PICUM, has published a joint statement calling on EU institutions to protect fundamental rights by introducing key amendments to proposed EU legislation on artificial intelligence (AI).

In particular, the signatories call for meaningful transparency of AI systems, accountability for their deployment, justice and redress for people negatively impacted, and the prohibition of all AI systems that pose unacceptable risks to fundamental rights.

The proposed AI legislation recognises certain uses of AI in the context of migration as presenting a heightened risk for fundamental rights. Yet the proposed legislation would not be applicable to  the EU’s own migration databases. Such databases are currently being connected, under 2019 regulations on “interoperability”, in ways that are intended to help border officials and police better identify and expel undocumented people. While it’s still unclear how these systems will work in practice, there are concerns they will lead to more discrimination of migrants and people perceived to be migrants. Learn more on our new landing page.

Dutch border police have decided to stop using ethnic profiling as a criterion to carry out identity checks, the organisation said in a statement ahead of upcoming discussions on the issue with the Dutch parliament. The decision follows a case brought by several NGOs together with two Dutch citizens who argued they were singled out for checks because of their skin colour. Last September, the Hague District Court had ruled that border police could use ethnic profiling because ethnicity can be an important indication of nationality, and if it is not the only indicator considered and the selection decision is explainable.

Media outlet EU Observer reports clear written indications from Frontex Fundamental Rights Officer, Jonas Grimheden, around Frontex’s indirect implication in fundamental rights violations. Grimheden detailed that while Frontex may not be directly involved in such violations, “the mere fact that they are supporting national authorities that does, implicates the agency to some extent”. Grimheden further expressed impatience at Frontex’s failure in implementing his recommendations to mitigate potential violations.

A new report published in November by the Left in the EU Parliament points out the profitable industry behind the securitisation of the EU. Migrants and refugees are repeatedly shown as a threat to security in order to justify the seal-off of Europe, fuelling benefits for companies producing or involved in surveillance machinery. The report names companies in the field, and outlines the way in which security and technology are presented as a solution, all the while violating migrants’ and refugees’ rights and increasing deaths at EU borders.

The UN Human Rights Commissioner’s Office published a new report which documents human rights violations of migrants in forced expulsions from Libya. The report outlines a set of recommendations to neighbouring states and the international community to protect migrants in forced return procedures, in line with human rights standards and the principle of non-refoulement from and to Libya. The paper focuses on the lack of due process, arbitrary detentions, dangerous and poor conditions of the expulsions and the lack of access to justice.

The UK Court of Appeal will be hearing cases of people accused of smuggling and imprisoned for steering boats transporting migrants across the Channel. In the past two years, 67 cases have been prosecuted in the UK and civil society organisations warn that this extended practice will not tackle smuggling, while still criminalising and jailing people. These prosecutions have continued despite the Crown Prosecutor publishing updated guidance in July, which advises against prosecuting boats passengers, even when taking turns in steering the boat.

Doctor Paulina Bownik is facing trial after trying to help a patient initiate his asylum application at a hospital in Bialystok, Poland, where he had been brought for care after crossing the border from Belarus. The doctor, who has been providing medical assistance to migrants attempting to cross the Polish border in the past months, will face a court hearing for ‘disturbing the peace’. In a recent visit to the Polish-Belarusian border at the end of November, three socialist MEPs have described the situation as dramatic, and that those who try to help migrants are suffering from a ‘campaign of criminalisation of solidarity that knows no comparison’.

The European Council for Refugees and Exiles, the leading European asylum NGO, has published a policy note which demonstrates that linking asylum and return procedures generates serious human rights concerns while failing to meet its stated objectives. The policy note adds that combining these procedures is even more dangerous in the context of border procedures, which already entail a lower set of safeguards. It recommends EU member states to assess the risk of refoulment, private and family life considerations, state of health and the best interests of the child, before returning people who are denied international protection.

In November 2021, the Greek Council for Refugees and Oxfam published a joint briefing paper denouncing the generalised practice of detaining undocumented migrants and asylum seekers for administrative purposes in Greece in EU-funded centres. Greece changed its legislation recently in order to expand the grounds on which migrants and asylum seekers can be detained, often ignoring alternatives to detention and violating the right to freedom of movement, health and family life.

The new German coalition government has adopted a coalition agreement that includes a pledge to lift current obligations, mandated under the Residence Act, for the public body that grants access to care to report undocumented patients to immigration enforcement. National civil society has welcomed this first step, including Doctors of the World which has long been leading calls for change with their campaign “Gleich Behandeln”.

New research published in the Journal of Public Health finds that most health conditions detected among the undocumented population in Helsinki, Finland, can be treated at a low cost in basic health care facilities. Based on the results, the authors are calling for more research to evaluate the health and cost effects of extending public healthcare for undocumented migrants beyond emergency care.

Over the past year, PICUM has worked with non-profit newsroom Lighthouse Reports to develop a policy scorecard assessing access to COVID-19 vaccines for undocumented people in Europe. In their mapping, Lighthouse Reports look at how transparent countries are with their vaccination policies, how much access undocumented people have on paper, what identification and residency requirements are needed to access the vaccines and whether accessing the vaccines can lead to immigration consequences. PICUM also discussed access to the vaccines with the UK-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which has published analysis on various media outlets.

The 2021 Political Declaration on the Implementation of the UN Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 22 and 23 November, includes the need ‘to establish firewalls between immigration checks and labour inspections, and/or to ensure that labour inspections are conducted in such a way that does not put potential victims of trafficking in fear of immigration authorities or offences.’

The Irish government has announced the launch of a broad regularisation programme which will run from January 2022 for six months. The scheme will help regularise people who have lived in Ireland irregularly for the past four years or more, or three years or more if they have children living with them in Ireland. People with a deportation order and those with an expired student visa will also be eligible, if they meet criteria. The scheme is also extended to asylum seekers whose asylum procedure has been pending for at least two years.

In October, hundreds of people gathered on the streets of Valletta, Malta, to call on the government to uphold the rights of migrants and to adopt fair regularisation measures. At the centre of the protests are the country’s policies on work and residence permits, which result in the impossibility of undocumented migrants securing any form of long-lasting status in Malta. In particular, many migrants can get a work permit, work regularly and pay taxes, but get almost no social benefits in return, and no residence permit.

The British Home Office published a concession allowing young people aged between 18 and 25 who entered the UK as children or were born there, to secure an indefinite leave to remain quicker than before. These young people will be able to access the ‘five-year route’ instead of the ‘ten-year route’. The length of the ten-year route had been widely criticized as disproportionate. The policy change comes after litigation brought by Islington Law Centre and Migrant and Children’s Refugee Legal Unit and campaigning from young migrant activist group We Belong.

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has launched a report mapping regularisation schemes across the OSCE region since 2007. The report identifies key trends and noteworthy practices, including recent examples adopted in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report recommends stakeholders to strengthen and clarify legal frameworks, consult with civil society actors, promote good practices, and maintain flexible programmes to address exceptional circumstances.