EU Data Protection: Migrants Face Challenges in Accessing Rights
The European Union’s data protection framework raises significant concerns for migrants as their rights to privacy and access to information differ greatly from those of residents, reports 24brussels. Although the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) safeguards the privacy of individuals within the EU, there are notable exceptions for law enforcement agencies involved in crime prevention and public security.
Agencies such as Europol and Frontex must operate under specific data protection legislation, including the Law Enforcement Directive and the Europol Regulation. These institutions, along with their national counterparts, are expected to respect data privacy; however, individuals seeking to file complaints often encounter obstacles in doing so.
The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) oversees compliance for agencies like Europol and Frontex, but the willingness to lodge complaints is low among migrants. Pauline Fritz, a research and advocacy coordinator with the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN), highlights that many individuals are preoccupied with immediate threats to their safety and security. “When people are experiencing violence, they’ve lost loved ones, and they’re afraid of doing something that compromises their asylum claim,” she stated.
Fritz further emphasized the perspective of those affected: “The fact that they’re being surveilled by an AI system or that they have to give their fingerprints is secondary. The bar of basic rights is so low that you say, I can let go of my privacy if I stay alive.” This illustrates the desperate conditions faced by migrants, for whom data protection complaints are understandably not a priority amidst existential threats.
