Asylum-seekers set to face fingerprint rule across EU

Date: 16/01/03

By David Cronin

THE fingerprints of every asylum-seeker in the EU over the age of 14 will be stored in a central database, which was launched yesterday (15 January).

Known as Eurodac, it is aimed at helping governments implement the Dublin Convention, which lays down common rules for those seeking asylum. For instance, one of the rules requires that applications must be made in the first EU state that they arrive in.

António Vitorino, the Union's justice commissioner, said Eurodac was designed to "streamline the system" for asylum requests.

It will allow national authorities to check if an applicant had previously filed for asylum in another member state. Where this is the case, an asylum-seeker could be returned to the state where the first request was made.

Defenders of the new system claim it is necessary to prevent "asylum-shopping" - searching for asylum in several countries.

But civil liberty activists feel it is tantamount to criminalising people who could have been victims of repression.

Tony Bunyan, a spokesman for the campaign group Statewatch, said:

"It subjects refugees and asylum-seekers - who are fleeing from poverty and persecution - to a form of surveillance. There were long discussions in the European Parliament about the age limit and there were attempts made to raise it to 18. The fact that an extremely low age limit will apply is extremely worrying."

He was unconvinced by European Commission assurances that the fingerprints will be subject to the full rigour of data protection rules.

"If you think that a person who's been fingerprinted is then excluded from the EU because they are deported, how are they going to lodge a complaint through the EU mechanisms?" he added.

"It is one of those cases where the EU is doffing its cap to data protection rules, knowing they are not going to be used."

All EU states, apart from Denmark, will be using the system: Copenhagen was granted an opt-out in the justice and home affairs sector after its voters rejected the Maastricht Treaty in a 1992 referendum.

Norway and Iceland are also taking part in the Eurodac scheme. A Commission official said they would be the only two non-EU countries with access to the database for the time being.

It is not yet foreseen that data kept in it could be transferred to the US as part of moves to boost transatlantic cooperation, the official added.

The fingerprints of every asylum-seeker in the EU over the age of 14 will be stored in a central database known as Eurodac, which was launched on 15 January 2003. This will allow national authorities to check if an applicant had previously filed for asylum in another Member State.