Euro-Med Monitor At HRC: EU Commission Must Halt Expansion Of Asylum Seeker Surveillance Programme

Geneva - In a joint statement to the UN Human Rights Council’s 51st session, Euro-Med Monitor and Youth Parliament for SDG warned against the EU Commission’s planned expansion of its asylum seeker surveillance programme, citing its biased and groundless manner.

The mass surveillance project, named PeDRA (Processing of Personal Data for Risk Analysis), started in 2016 with the collaboration of Frontex and the European police agency Europol. Initially intended to prevent terrorist attacks and human trafficking, the current expansion plan raises serious concerns about the privacy of migrants and asylum seekers.

“The expansion of PeDRA will now allow for the targeting of not just suspects, but witnesses and victims of cross-border crimes such as terrorism, human trafficking, and people smuggling”, Nour Sabbagh, a research intern at Euro-Med Monitor, explained in her statement to the Council. “which virtually means all migrants and asylum seekers arriving through means the EU considers irregular”.

Moreover, the mass surveillance programme will collect sensitive personal data of migrants and asylum seekers without restrictions—including genetic and biometric data such as DNA, fingerprints and photographs, information on political and religious beliefs, and sexual orientation.

“Linking migration flows with crime without any evidence, PeDRA’s expansion will criminalise innocent people”, Euro-Med’s statement said, “by collecting their most sensitive personal data to impede their right to seek asylum, facilitate their expulsion, and nurture the misconception that migration and terrorism go hand in hand”.

The European Commission must halt this expansion immediately and ensure full respect for migrants and asylum seekers’ human dignity and fundamental right to privacy.

Full statement:

Mr President,

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor and Youth Parliament for SDG would like to draw your attention to the EU Commission’s planned expansion of its migrant surveillance programme, due to its biased and groundless manner.

The mass surveillance project, named PeDRA, started in 2016 by the EU’s Frontex agency and Europol with the aim of exchanging data easily to prevent terrorist attacks and human trafficking.

The recently greenlit expansion of PeDRA will now allow for targeting not just suspects, but witnesses and victims of cross-border crimes such as terrorism, human trafficking, and people smuggling, which entails that virtually all migrants and asylum seekers must arrive through means the EU considers irregular.

Sensitive personal data will be collected without restrictions—including genetic and biometric data such as DNA, fingerprints and photographs, information on political and religious beliefs, and sexual orientation. In collaboration with Europol, this sensitive private information will be cross-checked and stored within criminal databases.

Linking migration flows with crime in the absence of any evidence, PeDRA’s expansion will criminalise innocent people by collecting their most sensitive personal data to impede their right to seek asylum, facilitate their expulsion, and nurture the misconception that migration and terrorism go hand in hand.

We call on the European Commission to halt this expansion immediately and ensure full respect for migrants and asylum seekers’ human dignity and fundamental right to privacy.

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