Statewatch, an independent network of researchers, journalists and community activists monitoring civil liberties and justice and home affairs issues, has launched an online news service.
<http://www.statewatch.org/news>
The (free) online service will provide an alternative news source by covering stories which do not “make the news” in the mainstream media and by providing in-depth coverage of those that do.
Users of the site can register an e-mail address to receive news and announcements.
Current stories (June 2000):
[EU] "EU-FBI global telecommunications surveillance system": in- depth coverage of the background to and development of the proposed system.
[UK] Police (Northern Ireland) Bill: “Patten’s radical model of policing is emasculated in Police (NI) Bill”, plus detailed comparison of the Bill and “Implementation Plan” with the 175 recommendations in the Patten report, plus suggested amendments to the Bill.
[Italy] “Crisis in Italian prisons”: A major investigation into allegations concerning the Sassari prison in Sardinia has focussed attention on chronic overcrowding. In 1999 there were 53 suicides, 920 attempted suicides, 83 deaths, 2 murders and 5,522 hunger strikes in Italian prisons
[EU] “Mutual recognition of criminal judgments”: JHA Officials are drawing up plans for the EU-wide mutual recognition of criminal court orders and rulings. This will oblige member states to act on each other’s pre-trial orders - including arrest warrants, witness summons and evidence seizure - and final judgments. Discussions to date raise questions asd to whether the need to facilitate cross- border prosecutions will be matched by adequate rights for suspects and defendants.
[UK] “New bill extends state surveillance”: Overview of the “Regulation of investigatory powers bill, detailed clause by clause analysis, telephone-tapping figures 1937-1998 and article on the surveillance of communications in Russia..
[Ireland] “Liaison officers and readmission agreements to prepare for deportations”: Ireland has signed its first readmission agreement and is negotiating several more. A special immigration police unit is being created by the Gardai and will have liaison officers stationed in Paris and London with the power to arrest and detain deportees. Civil liberties groups have expressed concerns about the rights of refugees and migrants
[UK] “Marchioness public inquiry”: Eleven years after the Marchioness disaster, when a pleasure launch in the Thames was hit and sunk, bereaved and survivors have finally got a public inquiry.
[EU] “Europol given go-ahead to exchange data with non-EU states and agencies”: The JHA Council has given Europol the go-ahead to start negotiating with third states and agencies to exchange intelligence (both ways) on “suspects”. This is meant to be dependant on these states having data protection rules up to EU standards, but will they?
______________________________________________________ Monitoring the state & civil liberties in Europe Online news service: Statewatch, PO BOX 1516, London. N16 0EW. UK Phone: 0044-(0)20-8802-1882 Fax: 0044-(0)20-8880-1727
_______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold