----- Forwarded Message ----- From: PICUM Communications
<communications@xxxxxxxxx>To: William Mejia <wmejia8a@xxxxxxxxx>Sent: Friday,
July 10, 2020, 07:33:40 AM GMT-5Subject: PICUM July 2020 Newsletter
| Welcome to the new PICUM newsletter
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| JULY 2020 NEWSLETTER |
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Welcome to the new PICUM newsletter, where we will update you about issues
concerning undocumented people once a month. The updates will focus on systemic
issues including regularisations, criminalisation of solidarity, detention and
returns, labour rights and channels, access to health-care, access to justice,
undocumented children and families.
Let us know what you think of our newsletter on communications@xxxxxxxxx.
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New EUStrategy on Victims’ Rights supports safe reporting for undocumented
victims
The EU’s new strategy (2020-2025) on victims highlights the special
vulnerability of undocumented people to victimisation, the challenges they face
in accessing protection, services and justice, and their rights under EU law.
The strategy further urges member states to allow for the reporting of crimes
by migrants, regardless of residence status. It also underlines that detainees
are among the most vulnerable groups and that more needs to be done to ensure
they have effective access to justice.
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| BORDER MANAGEMENT |
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UN condemns police brutality against migrants at Croatianborders
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants and the Special
Rapporteur on Torture have condemned police brutality in migrant pushback
operations in Croatia. According to the statement, physical violence and
degrading treatment against migrants have been reported in more than 60 percent
of all recorded pushback cases from Croatia between January and May 2020. While
holding its first EU Presidency, Croatia’s violent management of its borders is
being reportedly tolerated by other EU member states, which are eager to curb
irregular migration to the Union. The UN experts call on Croatia to immediately
investigate reports of excessive use of force by law enforcement against
migrants, and sanction those responsible.
Civil society calls for repeal of Libyan search and rescue zone
The civil liberties organisation Statewatch has delivered an open letter with
hundreds of signatories to the Secretary-General of the International Maritime
Organization, calling on him to revoke the Libyan maritime search and rescue
zone to prevent the Libyan Coast Guard from carrying migrants back to Libya,
where they face violence and abuse.
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| CHILDREN
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Immigration detention of children in Europe is on the rise
According to the latest FRA Fundamental Rights Report, a comparison between
2018 and 2019 in those EU Member States that tend to detain children for
immigration reasons more often (France, Greece, Malta, Poland and Slovenia)
suggests that child detention is increasing. France and Slovenia held most
children for less than 48 hours before removing them or transferring them under
the Dublin Regulation, while in Greece (200children in police custody on
average since August 2019) and Malta deprivation of liberty could last for
months.
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| CRIMINALISATION OF SOLIDARITY
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Criminalisation of solidarity still a concern, finds EU agency
In its Fundamental Rights Report 2020, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency has
found that 22 percent of the surveyed organisations were subject to some form
of criminalisation of their humanitarian activities in 2019. Of the 159 CSOs
that answered the survey section on threats and attacks, employees or
volunteers in 53 percent of those organisations had experienced personal online
threats, harassment or attacks, including hatespeech, more than once in the
previous 12 months.
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| DATA RIGHTS
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EU to create massive database to match biometric data for immigrationcontrol
The EU has reportedly entered into a contract with technology companies IDEMIA
and Sopra Steria to build a system that supports immigration control through
the scaled-up use of biometric data. The shared Biometric Matching System (BMS)
will allow the cross-matching of fingerprints and facial images across several
EU information systems (Schengen Information System, Eurodac, Visa Information
System, the future Exit-Entry System and ECRIS-TCN). These systems store the
data of millions of foreigners, including those who have applied for a
short-term visa or for asylum. The BMS, which is one component of the EU’s
framework to make migration databases more interconnected (or“interoperable”),
is expected to be “one of the largest biometric systems in the world”.
Advocates have expressed concerns about the fundamental rights implications of
the BMS and the interoperability systems more generally.
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| DETENTION AND RETURNS |
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European Parliament adopts new regulation on migrationstatistics
The European Parliament has adopted a new regulation on community statistics
about migration and international protection. According to the text, statistics
on apprehensions of undocumented migrants will be disaggregated by age and sex,
by citizenship of the persons concerned, by grounds for their apprehension and
by place of apprehension. Data on returns will also be disaggregated by
citizenship of the persons returned, by the type of return and assistance
received, by the country of destination, by age andsex and unaccompanied
children. Moreover, member states will be testing on a voluntary basis the
collection of data from other areas, including border procedures, detention and
alternatives to detention, the results of which will be made public.
UK detention inspectors find alarming lack of oversight at immigration
detention sites
After visiting detention sites at eight seaports and five airports in March,
the UK prisons’ inspectors found an “alarming” lack of oversight asthe Border
Force, part of the Home Office, was unable to tell them how many short-term
detention cells it ran or how long detainees were held for. In the UK, children
are being routinely handcuffed by Border Force when they arrive in the UK
before they are detained in its short-term holding facilities, which according
to the inspectors are often in “very poor” conditions.
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| HEALTH CARE |
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UN migration group releases guidance on services for migrants duringCOVID-19
A working group of the UN Network on Migration, consisting of UN agencies and
civil society actors, has published guidance on how to improve services for
migrants in the context of COVID-19. The guidance underscores that migrants
face particular challenges in accessing care and avoiding infection due to a
range of systemic factors. The recommendations call for inclusive access to
health services, including through the creation of “firewalls” that shield
people who access care from therisk of immigration enforcement; and measures to
prevent, and support victims of, gender-based violence, regardless of their
residence status.
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| LABOUR |
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European Parliament calls for better protections for migrant seasonalworkers
The European Parliament adopted a resolution on 19 June 2020 on the protection
of cross-border and seasonal workers in the context of the COVID-19 crisis.
Recommendations include for the Commission and Member States to implement
measures to improve enforcement of labour standards related to pay, working
conditions, health and safety and equal treatment, as well as providing urgent
access to public services, trade union support, decent housing, protective
equipment, meals and healthcare.Recommendations also urge better protections of
seasonal workers in application of whistle-blower protections.
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| REGULARISATION |
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New Irish government commits to regularising undocumented people
On 26 June, three Irish parties, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party,
voted in favour of a Programme for Government, which includes a commitment to
create new pathways for long-term undocumented people and their dependents to
regularise their status within 18 months of the formation of the government.
Details over therequired criteria are yet to be known.
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| SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER |
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Platform for International Cooperation
on Undocumented Migrants
Rue du Congrès/Congresstraat 37-41, post box 5, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
General Tel. +32/2/210.17.80
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