Eurodac

Roadmap on asylum and migration and rotating Council presidencies: what implications for EU asylum and migration law?

The signature of the Joint Roadmap on Asylum and Migration by the European Parliament and Council heralds a busy legislative period that could have significant and lasting impact, not only on legislation, but on the direction European Asylum and migration law takes in the future. The proposed large overhaul of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) seems unlikely to pass in time and the Czech Council presidency is attempting to pass smaller, more consensual pieces of legislation; but according to critics also more problematic in their implications such as the instrumentalization regulation.This regulation, according to some, would make permanently accessible emergency opt out mechanisms, weakening EU asylum law and the international asylum system as a whole

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News Highlights: Ethiopia-Tigray negotiations appear to stall, Famine looms in Somalia, Six die from dehydration on Mediterranean

In this week’s News Highlights: Ethiopia negotiations stall despite public commitment by both parties; 12 dead in Tigray airstrikes; Tigray command gives statement on ongoing fighting; portrait of Kenyan president Ruto; Ethiopia faces war and inflation; Floods in South Sudan; FAO says 300.000 face famine in Somalia; al-Shabab loses ground in Somalia; Anti-military protests in Sudan; Migrant shot and killed by Moroccan police; Six people die from dehydration in mediterranean; Denmark reaches agreement to transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda; Frontex says migrant and refugee arrivals up 75% in last 8 months; State of the Union speech; EU unveils legislation for forced labour produce ban; Ukraine shows EU possible alternative migration policy, says ECRE; Spanish expulsion of Ivorian migrant to Morocco cancelled; Syrians form caravan from Turkey to EU; and IOM says 50 million modern slaves in 2021. 

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“A powerful tool of mass surveillance”: NGOs warn that proposed Eurodac reforms will fundamentally undermine the rights of migrants and refugees

33 NGOs, including EEPA, addressed an open letter to the Members of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament, expressing concern regarding the amended proposal to revise the Eurodac Regulation. Eurodac is a database that records fingerprints of asylum seekers entering the European Union (EU). The amendment, formulated by the European Commission and published in September 2020, extends the database to include more biometric data, including of minors. The NGOs warn about the risk of erosion of the fundamental rights of migrants and asylum seekers that could result from this extension.

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