A Voice for the Voiceless

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BRUSSELS, European Union – European Union officials responded to emergency calls for review of illegal immigration. At the same time, EU critics claim that countries cannot afford providing full benefits to migrants.

An early October 2013 shipwreck caught worldwide attention as over 300 African migrants died off the coast of Italian island, Lampedusa. Nevertheless, migrants have continued to begin journeys from northern Africa in hope of crossing the Mediterranean to hit Europe. As a result, EU leaders began a review of the bloc’s immigration policies.

European Union border agency Frontex estimates that a minimum of 72,000 people illegally migrate to the EU via land and sea, and expects that the actual figure is much higher. Of all illegal residents, Frontex believed that most arrived with plane tickets and valid travel visas only to remain beyond the visa’s expiration date.

EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom issued a statement giving Frontex sufficient resources to operate a wide “search and rescue mission in the Mediterranean, from Cyprus to Spain.”

The EU plans to establish a new border surveillance system and task force; however, observers believe boats will continue their regular flow.

Recently, Frontex released its “Annual Risk Analysis 2013” report, which states that immigrants taking illegal routes often travel through Greece and continue by land or ferry to Italy and the western Balkans. An increasing number has attempted central Mediterranean journeys. In many cases, the migrants have fled violence and poverty in regions like Syria and Libya.

The EU also said it is setting up a new border surveillance system and Mediterranean task force to bolster its efforts and will review its asylum immigration policies next summer.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, current holder of the EU presidency, said, “Today, Europe is not ready to accept as many refugees as probably can flow in.” Also, Grybauskaite denied that immigration policies would be business as usual.

National governments within the EU pledged assistance to several “gateway” countries, such as Italy, Malta, and Greece.

Although human rights groups criticize Greece often for its lack of an asylum service, the country has created such.

Not all parts of the bloc are ready to support immigration. For instance, anti-EU commentators in Britain have been pointing to statistics that suggest the UK cannot afford to allow EU migrants access to full benefits.

While immigration has created concerns in nearly every nation throughout history, now, every nation must remember what immigration most often means for the world: progress.

For further information, please see:

BBC News – Greece Immigration: Look inside New Asylum Service – October 31, 2013

CNN International – How Do Illegal Immigrants Get into the European Union? – October 30, 2013

Wall Street Journal – EU: Mulling Security, Defense Operation to Stem Illegal Migration – October 30, 2013

Telegraph – True Scale of European Immigration – October 12, 2013

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

WASHINGTON, D.C. – More details have developed after the German magazine Spiegel reported last week that the U.S. National Security Agency had tapped into phone conversations on German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone.

Reports have indicated that the United States has been operating a global network of 80 “eavesdropping centers”, including 19 European listening posts in cities including Paris, Berlin, Rome and Madrid, according to the German magazine.

Spiegel said that the new details were based on American intelligence documents, leaked as a part of the Edward Snowden controversy. The magazine also reported that Angela Merkel has allegedly been listened to by the NSA since 2002, while she was a leader of the opposition party. She was allegedly under surveillance all the way up until U.S. President Barack Obama visited Berlin in June. Obama assured Merkel that her phone is not being and will not be listened to in the future, but U.S. officials have consistently declined to address reports of past surveillance.

Germany had already stated it would send a delegation to Washington D.C. to seek details of its own from the White House, even before the latest reports surfaced.

Spiegel has broken a series of stories about U.S. surveillance of its allies and neighbors from documents leaked by Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor.

In the latest reports, Spiegel stated that the NSA and Central Intelligence Agency established the 80 worldwide listening posts under a joint unit established in the 1970’s. Several were based in the capitals of European allies, apparently operating out of U.S. embassies.

The report states that the United States ran two posts in Germany, one in the U.S. embassy in the Germany’s capital, Berlin, and another in Frankfurt. German counter-intelligence officials told the magazine that they would increase their monitoring of the U.S. embassy as a result.

According to an additional leaked U.S. memo last week, the U.S. sought to monitor the telephone numbers of 35 world leaders. Last week, the U.S. ambassadors in Paris and Berlin were both summoned for explanations and clarification regarding these reports by their host countries.

Reportedly the U.S. does not operate similar surveillance operations in Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand under intelligence-sharing agreements with those countries. The spying row prompted leaders meeting at a European Council summit to demand a new deal with Washington on intelligence gathering.

For more information, please see: 

Fox News – Report Claims US Had Merkel’s Phone Monitored Since 2002 – 27 October 2013

Kyiv Post – US Bugged Merkel’s Phone From 2002 Until 2013, Report Claims – 27 October 2013

BBC News – US Bugged Merkel’s Phone From 2002 Until 2013, Report Claims – 26 October 2013

The Telegraph – US Operates 80 Listening Posts Worldwide, 19 in Europe, and Snooped on Merkel Mobile 2002-2013 – 26 October 2013