EU plan for international border data-sharing system “should not proceed”
The European Commission’s plan for a “security-related information sharing system between frontline officers in the EU and key partner countries” should be scrapped, says a paper signed by 10 organisations, including Statewatch, who warn that it may aid political repression and underpin human rights violations.
The aim of the plan is to allow reciprocal police and border guard access to data for EU member states and non-member states alike.
“At present, there is no EU mechanism in place to systematically make critical and actionable partner-country sourced information available directly and in real time to frontline border guards or police officers in the Member States” says a document published by the Commission.
Thus, despite a wealth of existing information-sharing schemes – many of which, as the submission points out, have yet to be put into use – the Commission is seeking yet another system, which it says will “ensure increased security in the EU as frontline officers will have direct access to security-related information from partner countries, enabling them to take instant action in case someone representing a threat is located.”
The submission argues that the documentation published so far by the Commission fails to demonstrate the necessity of the scheme, raises the risks of data obtained via torture or other human rights violations being used by EU member states, may aid political repression via the sharing of data on suspected or alleged dissidents, and will further bolster the externalisation of EU borders. It calls for the plan to be scrapped.
The submission includes case studies looking at the Middle East and North Africa, and the Western Balkans regions, to highlight some of the potential problems with such a scheme.
The article was first published by Statewatch here.
Contribution by: EDRi member, Statewatch