Brussels, 10/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 10 March, Statewatch, the NGO that defends individual freedoms, criticised secret European Commission projects to allow member states to take the digital fingerprints of migrants and asylum seekers by force, especially when the latter are in retention.
Fingerprinting asylum seekers is a compulsory Eurodac database requirement that helps retrace the movements of the asylum candidate and the country responsible for their request for protection. Statewatch highlights an un-official Commission document of October 2014, which draws up a body of best practices to ensure that these fingerprints are taken.
The Eurodac regulation is sometimes circumvented by certain countries that do not want to be identified as the countries in charge of processing an asylum seeker's application. Italy has, in fact, had to face these accusations because it is suspected of allowing migrants to go to other countries without having registered them beforehand. The previous 'Barroso II' Commission provided assurances that it would investigate these accusations.
Statewatch is particularly concerned that this document refers to the authorised use of a proportionate degree of coercion, even with regard to categories of asylum seekers deemed vulnerable, such as children and pregnant women. These “guidelines” are based on a questionnaire sent to the different member states where each situation is significantly different and point out that those who refuse to be fingerprinted could be liable to criminal proceedings. Therefore, as Statewatch indicates, the use of force in Austria or Norway, countries involved in Schengen, requires a specific administrative decision, whereas in Bulgaria, authorisation of a legal jurisdiction is needed. In four other countries (Austria, Belgium, Estonia and Finland) the NGO points out that forcing the person concerned to give their fingerprints is considered “inappropriate” and that 18 out of 26 countries have indicated that they do not have specific penalties or punishment for people who does not wish to cooperate in the taking of their fingerprints. Statewatch is therefore concerned that the Commission is possibly interested in changing this situation. When contacted in this connection on Tuesday, the services of Commissioner Avramopoulos did not provide any response. (Solenn Paulic)