Brussels
Human rights bodies accused the justice commissioner of the European
Union of trying to create a "fortress Europe" after he called for a
register of fingerprints and pictures of all visitors in order to
keep out illegal immigrants.
Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini urged the adoption of a hi-tech
satellite surveillance system, saying member-states had to use "the
most advanced technology to reach the highest level of security".
"We Europeans are now obliged to put our fingerprints in our
passports. It's very strange that I don't oblige third (non-EU)
country nationals to put their fingerprints either in documents like
a visa or another register," he said in an address Wednesday.
"We want to be generous toward honest people coming from outside
Europe, but we want to be very tough and very clear to Mafia groups,
traffickers, criminals, terrorists," Frattini added.
He said the controls - if approved by all the member-states - would
be introduced between 2010-2015.
A key reason was to tackle immigrants who entered Europe legally but
stayed on.
"The factor number one is over-stayers in Europe," he said, adding
that tougher screening in the "borderless area" - the 24
member-states of the Schengen agreement - was essential to prevent
over-staying as well as entry by terrorists.
Proposals for a security shake-up, outlined in December, include the
electronic recording of entry and exit dates for visitors with
short-stay visas, which would alert authorities when visas expired.
Biometric data from foreign nationals without visas would be
collected and stored.
However, rights and asylum groups slammed the proposals.
The European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) said the
restrictions would make it difficult for people fleeing persecution
to find a safe haven in Europe.
"With few ways to travel legally to the EU, refugees are usually
forced to travel irregularly in so-called mixed flows with other
migrants...The reality is that the numerous border control measures
now in place prevent most refugees from physically reaching the EU.
It's not surprising that asylum applications in EU countries are at
their lowest level for 20 years," ECRE Secretary General Bjarte
Vandvik said.
"The idea is to make any migrant a potential criminal, and that's
very dangerous," said Meryem Marzouki, president of European Digital
Rights, an umbrella group.
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