Eighty-seven European organisations and networks have issued a joint statement calling for the rejection of the ‘returns’ regulation (see EUROPE 13767/14) currently under negotiation. According to the signatories, this text aims to make “detection measures” for illegal residents widespread, obliging Member States to step up checks and reporting.
In particular, the organisations denounce police searches of private homes and humanitarian facilities, mass checks at stations and airports, the large-scale collection and exchange of biometric data, and reporting obligations imposed on certain public services. In their view, this would encourage racial profiling and discourage access to care, education or social assistance.
As mentioned in the declaration, sixteen United Nations special rapporteurs and independent experts alerted the European institutions, in a letter dated 26 January, to the risks to fundamental rights.
The signatories argued that enshrining such measures in a binding text would “legitimise” and “standardise” these practices across the European Union. They call on the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU to reject the regulation.
The declaration: https://aeur.eu/f/kqy (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)