The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) issued an "Opinion" today (Wednesday) attacking a proposal to revise the rules governing the EU’s large-scale biometrics database, Eurodac.
According to the "Opinion", the proposed revision "may jeopardise or enhance the rights of migrant children". It examines the impact on children and suggests greater emphasis on child protection, to ensure they are not coerced to give fingerprints, they understand what is happening to them and their right to asylum is not affected.
The full text of the "Opinion" can be seen here.
The European Parliament asked the Agency to provide its "Opinion" on the fundamental rights impact of the proposals on children. Some of the suggestions to ensure that the Regulation fully respects the EU Charter for Fundamental Rights and international human rights treaties include:
- Replacing the term illegal immigration with ‘irregular immigration’ throughout the proposal to avoid the use of criminalizing language.
- Avoiding force when taking fingerprints which should also be carried out in a child-friendly and gender-sensitive manner;
- Adequately informing children in an age appropriate manner so that they understand what is happening and why.
Eurodac was created to help determine which EU Member State should examine asylum applications for international protection. It currently stores the fingerprints that all asylum seekers and migrants apprehended at the EU’s external borders must provide. It allows Member States to check if someone has already elsewhere applied for asylum or been apprehended when crossing external EU borders. Law enforcement authorities can also access it to help fight serious crime and terrorism.
The European Commission has proposed revising the Eurodac Regulation to expand its scope so it can also be used to control illegal immigration and movement within the EU. Facial images and personal data would also be stored instead of just fingerprints and basic data such as gender and Member State. Personal data would also be kept for longer (ten years for international protection applicants and five years for those who have been apprehended) and the age for capturing data from children would be lowered from 14 to 6.