Brussels, 28/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament civil liberties committee delivered its view on Tuesday 27 November on the new border surveillance system presented by the European Commission in December of last year. In an opinion drafted by Jan Mulder (ALDE, Netherlands), MEPs stressed that the goal of protecting migrants and refugees should be given priority in the new system. When they use Eurosur, EU countries will have to respect the human rights and personal information of the migrants, the committee said.
In December 2011, the Commission brought forward a regulation proposing to establish a pan-European border surveillance system - Eurosur - that would allow member states' agencies responsible for border surveillance (border guards, coast guards, police forces, customs services and navies) to share operational information and to cooperate with one another and with Frontex and neighbouring countries. Increased exchange of information and use of state of the art surveillance technologies introduced by Eurosur will help detect and tackle the activities of criminal networks, such as preventing migrants illegally crossing EU borders, and will also constitute a key instrument for saving migrants who put their lives in danger when trying to reach the EU, the commissioner in charge, Cecilia Malmstrom said at the time.
In their opinion, MEPs laid stress on respect for human rights and the principle of “non-refoulement”, and on protection of personal information, says a committee press release. They amended the draft in order to reduce the range of cases where sharing of personal information could be authorised under the Eurosur system and to prevent any sharing of such information with third countries. Eurosur should in theory, be up and running by 1 October 2013. (SP/transl.fl)