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@picum.org.

New EU Strategy 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.

UN condemns police brutality against migrants at Croatian borders

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.

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 (200 children in police custody on average since August 2019) and Malta deprivation of liberty could last for months.

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 hate speech, more than once in the previous 12 months.

EU to create massive database to match biometric data for immigration control

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.

European Parliament adopts new regulation on migration statistics

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 and sex 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 as the 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.

UN migration group releases guidance on services for migrants during COVID-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 the risk of immigration enforcement; and measures to prevent, and support victims of, gender-based violence, regardless of their residence status.

European Parliament calls for better protections for migrant seasonal workers

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.

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 the required criteria are yet to be known.