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Germany’s New Surveillance Laws Raise Privacy Concerns

Police Handed Enhanced Powers to Infiltrate Phones and Computers

The German parliament amended two laws on June 10th granting enhanced surveillance powers to segments of the federal police and intelligence services. They allow the use of spyware to hack into phones and computers circumventing encryption used by…
The logo of the messenger app Whatsapp is seen on the screen of a smartphone on April 28th, 2021 in Berlin, Germany.
News

Singapore Spying on Students’ Laptops

Mandatory Order to Install Surveillance Software Infringes on Child Privacy, Expression

Singapore’s Education Ministry has made it mandatory for secondary school students to install tracking and remote access software on all laptops issued under a national digital literacy program, and on students’ personal devices that are used to…
A student uses a laptop for schoolwork while participating in remote learning, September 7, 2020.
News

Will Germany Seek Safe Housing Solutions for Asylum Seekers?

Mass Accommodations Put People at Risk During Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted risks to asylum seekers living in large-scale, shared accommodations. In Germany, where asylum seekers are obliged by law to live in reception centers while their application is considered, it’s an urgent…
Members of a security service stand in protective gear inside a reception center for asylum seekers in North Rhine-Westphalia where 70 people tested positive for the virus that causes Covid-19, May 17, 2020. 
News

Protecting Women in Germany from Violence

Tough Responses Needed to All Perpetrators

The murder of a 14-year-old girl in Wiesbaden, near Frankfurt, in late May shocked many in Germany. According to police, a 20-year-old man from Iraq, who failed in his bid to claim asylum in Germany, confessed to the crime at the…
Messages of mourning, candles and flowers are placed by people for Susanna F., the teenager who was found dead two days ago, in Wiesbaden-Erbenheim, Germany, June 8, 2018.
News

Yemen International Inquiry Offers Glimmer of Hope

Appoint Strong Experts, Press All Parties to Cooperate

Bombing and shelling of civilians. Denial of access to food and medicine. Landmines and cluster bombs. Torture and abduction. Child soldiers. For more than two years, international, regional, and Yemeni human rights groups called on the…
Saudi-led coalition aircraft struck three apartment buildings in Sanaa on August 25, 2017, killing at least 16 civilians, including seven children, and wounding another 17, including eight children. After an international outcry, the coalition admitted to
News

Why the European Union Shouldn’t Deport Afghans

Putting Lives at Risk in Kabul

This week, the German government deported to Kabul another 26 rejected Afghan asylum seekers – the second such wave of deportations in as many months. They come home to a city that is both divided and insecure. There is the Kabul of the embassies:…
Protesters hold a placard reading "Afghanistan is not secure" during a demonstration against the deportation of Afghan asylum seekers from Germany back to Afghanistan, at Frankfurt Airport, Germany, December 14, 2016.Afghans, whose asylum applications hav
News

Europe’s Court Repudiates Blanket Data Retention—Again

Says Hostile to Privacy, Democratic Freedoms

This week, the European Union’s top court once again found that blanket data retention mandates are hostile to privacy and democratic freedoms, and incompatible with EU law. Such mandates require service providers to store data on all of the provider’s…
News

Dispatches: German Judge Warns Racist Attackers

As Germany grapples with a rising tide of violence against migrants and refugees, a judge this week sent an unequivocal message to perpetrators of racially-motivated attacks. Two men and a woman received sentences ranging from four-and-a-half…
Migrants and asylum seekers wait to be registered outside the Berlin Office of Health and Social Affairs (LAGESO) in Germany, December 9, 2015.
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Dispatches: Is Germany “Backsliding” on Refugee Protection?

One of Europe’s top human rights figures has urged Germany to avoid “backsliding” and continue to show leadership in the European Union on the continent’s refugee and migration crisis. Nils Muižnieks, human rights commissioner of the Council of Europe,…
Germany refugees
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Dispatches: Alarming Attacks Against Refugees in Germany

The list of attacks against centers for asylum seekers in Germany is alarming. During the first six months of this year alone, the German Interior Ministry registered 173 such offences, the majority of which were arson attacks. And the list is getting…
Caption: Right wing protesters who are against bringing asylum seekers to an accommodation facility run down a street in Heidenau, Germany August 22, 2015
News

Dispatches: Tone Down the Scaremongering Over Migrants

In the United States, the front-running Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, accuses the Mexican government of “forcing their most unwanted people into the United States … criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc.” In the United…
calais migrants police
News

Dispatches: On Assange Anniversary, Press Freedom Held Hostage

Today Julian Assange, the Wikileaks publisher, begins his third year confined in the Ecuadorean embassy in London. He fled there, receiving political asylum, when Sweden sought his extradition to answer sexual assault allegations. Although both Assange…
News

Dispatches: Deported to Danger in Somalia

Two weeks ago, the Netherlands deported Said Ahmed Said to Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. The Dutch government has been saying for nearly a year that the situation on the ground has improved to the point where they can safely return failed asylum seekers.…
News

Dispatches: Facebook Names US as Government Coveting its Data

Today, Facebook issued its first transparency report, surprising no one in saying that the US government has made more requests for user data than any other country. US surveillance practices are only one of the reasons the country leads the pack:…

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