EU #Protect Not Surveil
The EU must end the use of surveillance technology on migrants and racialised minorities
THE EUROPOL REFORM
In November 2023, the European Commission proposed a new legislation package ‘to prevent and combat migrant smuggling’, which includes a reform of Europol Regulation. This new proposal puts forward a great expansion of the agency’s powers, especially when it comes to its digital surveillance capabilities.
The European Commission is working on a false assumption that increased police powers and large-scale data processing will somehow protect migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers from smugglers. Instead, this will lead to more dangerous routes and more prosecution, discrimination and violence by authorities.
We call on the European Parliament to reject the proposed regulation in its entirety and we call on the EU institutions to change the EU’s hostile border and migration policies.
We rely on everyone’s support to amplify our call to #ProtectNotSurveil people on the move. If you want to support, come back here - this section is updated regularly.
THE EU AI ACT
The EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act will be the first binding legislation on AI. It was proposed by the European Commission in April 2021 and it aims at promoting ‘trustworthy AI’ and, at the same time, protecting fundamental rights. However, the proposed law was not enough to address and prevent the harms stemming from the use of AI in the migration context.
Unless the EU institutions take action, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act will enable dangerous tech in migration control and threaten everyone’s rights.
From lie detectors to scanning drones, the European Union and its partners are building a vast and powerful web of surveillance and tracking at European orders, deep inside Europe, and beyond. But this is about much more than just border control.
These technologies are tested first on people on the move¹ and racialised communities where it is harder to fight back and challenge them.
Once the tech is in place, there’s no going back - and these dangerous experiments will shape how all of us live.
If the EU AI Act fails to prevent irreversible harms in migration it will undermine its very purpose - protecting the fundamental rights of all people affected by the use of AI.
So we are calling on the European Commission, the Parliament, and Council of the EU to ban the use of experimental tech against people crossing borders and effectively regulate to ensure AI is used with safety and accountability.
¹ By people on the move, we mean migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and undocumented people. We recognise that this is an imperfect term and that not all people affected by such systems are 'on the move', and some may even have lived in the EU for a long time. However, with this term, we centre that those affected by such systems are people.
ÍWe are Black and border guards hate us. Their computers hate us too.
The AI ACT must be updated in four main ways:
1) Ban harmful AI practices in the migration context
Some AI systems pose an unacceptable risk to our fundamental rights, and they will never be fixed either via technical means nor with some procedural safeguards. Lawmakers must ban:
- Predictive analytics systems used for preventing migration that will exacerbate violence at the borders and lead to push-backs;
- Automated risk assessments and profiling systems that entrench racism and bias and erode human dignity and freedom from discrimination;
- ‘Lie-detectors’ and all pseudo-scientific technology that claims to categorise people and infer emotions on the basis of their biometric data;
- Remote Biometric Identification at the border and in and around detention facilities that enable mass surveillance.
2) Regulate all AI high-risk systems in migration
Lawmakers must also ensure that the AI Act regulates any types of AI systems used in
migration, especially the surveillance technology used in the context of border control and
for identity checks. The EU AI Act will be an instrument of protection only if it does not
leave anyone behind.
All AI systems used in migration should be subject to
oversight and accountability measures, including surveillance technology used in the context
of border control and for identity checks.
3) Ensure the AI Act applies to EU’s huge migration databases
Article 83 must be amended to ensure AI as part of large-scale EU IT databases falls within the scope of the AI Act and that the necessary safeguards apply for uses of AI in the EU migration context.
4) Make the EU’s AI Act an instrument of protection
There will never be justice without a system of accountability and transparency. The violence,
the push-backs and the deaths caused by AI systems will remain unknown if the AI Act fails to
guarantee people the right to challenge the violations they have suffered, and if public
oversight is impeded.
Lawmakers must ensure the EU AI Act empowers people to seek
justice, guarantee public transparency, and prevent harm from the most harmful AI systems when
used in migration and border control.
WHERE ARE WE WITH THE NEGOTIATIONS
In June 2023, EU institutions moved into the final phase of negotiations, the so-called ‘trilogues’.
These meetings will determine the final legislation and how much it centres the human rights of every person, regardless of their migration status.
We’re urging EU institutions to ban the use of harmful tech used against people on the move and racialised communities and effectively regulate all AI systems used in migration.
Read our Joint Statement entitled "EU Trilogues: The AI Act must protect people’s rights"
RESOURCES FROM THE COALITION
Digital Technology, Policing and Migration - What does it mean for undocumented migrants?
Regulating Migration Tech: How the EU’s AI Act can better protect people on the move
The EU AI Act: How to (truly) protect people on the move
Technological Testing Grounds: Migration Management Experiments and Reflections from the Ground Up
EU has spent over €340 million on border AI technology that new law fails to regulate
Black Book of Pushbacks
OHCHR: The Role of Technology in Illegal Pushbacks from Croatia to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia
Automating Immigration and Asylum: The Uses of New Technologies in Migration and Asylum Governance in Europe
Protecting migrants at borders and beyond
Digital Criminalisation: How Big Data & Technology Police Irregular Migration
The EU AI Act proposal: a timeline
EU Trilogues: The AI Act must protect people’s rights
Artificial Intelligence: the new frontier of the EU’s border externalisation strategy (EuroMed Rights)
Europe’s Techno-Borders (Statewatch and EuroMed Rights)
Factsheet “How do the new EU regulations on interoperability lead to discriminatory policing?” (PICUM)
Historic vote in the European Parliament: dangerous AI surveillance banned, but not for migrant people at the borders
VIDEO - Nowhere to turn: How surveillance tech at the EU borders is endangering lives
AI Act: European Parliament endorses protections against AI in migration
WEBINAR - Will the AI Act #ProtectNotSurveil people on the move?
Civil society calls for the EU AI act to better protect people on the move
EU Member States’ Use of New Technologies in Enforced Disappearances
Automating Immigration and Asylum: The Uses of New Technologies in Migration and Asylum Governance in Europe
Submission to the European Commission Consultation: Security-Related Information Sharing
Migration and Tech Monitor
A clear and present danger: Missing safeguards on migration and asylum in the EU’s AI Act (Statewatch)
Digital technology, policing and migration – What does it mean for undocumented migrants? Briefing paper (PICUM)
10 threats to migrants and refugees (Privacy International)
Interactive storyboard on EU interoperable migration systems (PICUM)
IN THE NEWS
Who We Are
The #ProtectNotSurveil coalition is a group of activists, organisations, researchers and more working to ensure the EU AI Act safeguards people on the move from harms emanating from AI systems.
Our mission is to challenge the use of digital technologies at different levels of EU policies and advocate for the ability of people to move and to seek safety and opportunity without risking harm, surveillance or discrimination.
Our advocacy aims at holding accountable the EU, Member States and private companies profiting from human rights violations at and within the EU borders. We do so by connecting digital rights, migrant rights organisations and racial justice movements to challenge the techno-solutionist approaches in migration policies.
The coalition is led by:
With the support of:
Individuals:
Dr. Derya Ozkul
Dr. Jan Tobias Muehlberg
Dr. Niovi Vavoula
The coalition also includes more than 300 supporters,
who stay informed
through our newsletter,
support joint initiatives at the EU and national levels
and
participate in our events.
For more for information on the campaign and the work of the coalition,
email
us at info[at]protectnotsurveil.eu
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