Financement régional de drones policiers : l’Île-de-France dans l’embarras
▻https://www.laquadrature.net/2022/09/05/financement-regional-de-drones-policiers-lile-de-france-dans-lembarras
En début d’année, La Quadrature du Net s’associait aux élu·es de la région Île-de-France mobilisé·es contre le subventionnement illégal de drones municipaux par la région. Mise sous pression, la majorité régionale, embarrassée, commence à admettre…
Analizzare la deforestazione tramite l’utilizzo di droni
La foresta Mau, situata nella parte occidentale del Kenya, ha subito processi di deforestazione già in epoca coloniale, inizialmente per soddisfare la richiesta di legname da usare come combustibile per lo sviluppo della ferrovia dell’Uganda. Ma è soprattutto durante la fase di transizione verso la democrazia, tra gli anni Ottanta e primi anni Duemila, che si assiste a una maggiore perdita di superficie forestale, in quanto in questo momento sono state illecitamente attribuite terre tramite programmi di insediamento rurale come mezzo per ottenere consenso politico.
Missione in Kenya
In agosto 2019, con la supervisione del professor Valerio Bini e il supporto dell’associazione italiana Mani Tese e dell’organizzazione svizzera #Drone_Adventures, mi sono recato in Kenya per mappare una parte della foresta #Ndoinet tramite l’ausilio di droni ad ali fisse, con l’intento di quantificare e localizzare la presenza di pascoli di bovini e ovini e analizzare la tipologia di foresta.
Durante la missione, con 22 voli, è stata coperta una superficie forestale di 6’000 ettari. In seguito Drone Adventures ha realizzato una ortofoto di tutta l’area mappata, utile per avere un’idea generale ma non per raggiungere gli obiettivi preposti.
Analisi delle immagini
Si è quindi deciso di suddividere le fotografie dei singoli voli, circa 300-400 immagini per cartella, tra più studenti. Nella mia ricerca ho quindi incluso un capitolo dedicato specificatamente allo scopo di fornire linee guida ad altri studenti su come gestire ed elaborare le fotografie in modo uniforme e ottimale. Nell’ultimo capitolo ho invece analizzato le fotografie di uno specifico volo, confermando ad esempio che l’area analizzata è composta perlopiù da foresta di transizione e spazio aperto contro una minima parte di foresta densa.
Il dato più rilevante emerso da questa analisi è rappresentato dalla distribuzione degli animali che si trovano tuttora nelle zone di insediamento abbandonate nei decenni scorsi. Ciò può influenzare in modo diretto la ricrescita o meno della foresta in quelle zone.
Attraverso le fotografie ho potuto riscontrare la presenza indiretta dell’uomo, grazie all’osservazione di alberi caduti, ciò che fa pensare, vista la vicinanza a strade o insediamenti abbandonati, all’abbattimento volontario antropico e non a cause naturali.
Lo stesso si può dire anche per le possibili tracce di incendio che sono raggruppate in una specifica area “corridoio” tra le due strade. In un caso si è anche potuto osservare la presenza di fuoco vivo.
Conclusioni
L’utilizzo dei droni in questo contesto si è dimostrato molto utile in quanto permette, in un tempo ristretto, di avere una panoramica su un determinato settore di foresta. Questo facilita l’ottenimento di informazioni vitali per proteggere la foresta, come l’individuazione di fuoco vivo, che può indicare un principio di incendio o produzione illegale di carbone, senza la necessità di ricorrere all’uso di elicotteri, molto più costosi e inquinanti.
L’analisi della deforestazione tramite droni si è rivelata efficace e conferma che questi nuovi strumenti possono essere utilizzati anche per foreste in altre aree, così come per analizzare altre situazioni in cui è difficile accedere in altri modi.
▻https://www.geograficamente.ch/analizzare-la-deforestazione-tramite-lutilizzo-di-droni
#drones #déforestation #cartographie #forêt #Mau #Kenya
EU’s Drone Is Another Threat to Migrants and Refugees
Frontex Aerial Surveillance Facilitates Return to Abuse in Libya
“We didn’t know it was the Libyans until the boat got close enough and we could see the flag. At that point we started to scream and cry. One man tried to jump into the sea and we had to stop him. We fought off as much as we could to not be taken back, but we couldn’t do anything about it,” Dawit told us. It was July 30, 2021, and Dawit, from Eritrea, his wife, and young daughter were trying to seek refuge in Europe.
Instead, they were among the more than 32,450 people intercepted by Libyan forces last year and hauled back to arbitrary detention and abuse in Libya.
Despite overwhelming evidence of torture and exploitation of migrants and refugees in Libya – crimes against humanity, according to the United Nations – over the last few years the European Union has propped up Libyan forces’ efforts to intercept the boats. It has withdrawn its own vessels and installed a network of aerial assets run by private companies. Since May 2021, the EU border agency Frontex has deployed a drone out of Malta, and its flight patterns show the crucial role it plays in detecting boats close to Libyan coasts. Frontex gives the information from the drone to coastal authorities, including Libya.
Frontex claims the surveillance is to aid rescue, but the information facilitates interceptions and returns to Libya. The day Dawit and his family were caught at sea, Libyan forces intercepted at least two other boats and took at least 228 people back to Libya. One of those boats was intercepted in international waters, inside the Maltese search-and-rescue area. The drone’s flight path suggests it was monitoring the boat’s trajectory, but Frontex never informed the nearby nongovernmental Sea-Watch rescue vessel.
Human Rights Watch and Border Forensics, a nonprofit that uses innovative visual and spatial analysis to investigate border violence, are examining how the shift from sea to air surveillance contributes to the cycle of extreme abuse in Libya. Frontex’s lack of transparency – they have rejected ours and Sea-Watch’s requests for information about their activities on July 30, 2021 – leaves many questions about their role unanswered.
Dawit and others panicked when they saw the Libyan boat because they knew what awaited upon return. He and his family ended up in prison for almost two months, released only after paying US$1,800. They are still in Libya, hoping for a chance to reach safety in a country that respects their rights and dignity.
▻https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/08/01/eus-drone-another-threat-migrants-and-refugees
#Frontex #surveillance_aérienne #Méditerranée #asile #migrations #réfugiés #drones #contrôles_frontaliers #frontières #push-backs #pull-backs #refoulements #Libye #interception
Libia: il drone anti-migranti di Frontex
Frontex, la controversa agenzia di sorveglianza delle frontiere esterne dell’Unione europea, pur avendo smesso la vigilanza marittima delle coste, attraverso l’utilizzo di un drone, sta aiutando la guardia costiera libica a intercettare i barconi dei migranti e rifugiati che tentano di raggiungere le coste italiane. I migranti, perlopiù provenienti dall’Africa subsahariana, sono così ricondotti in Libia dove sono sfruttati e sottoposti a gravi abusi.
Lo denuncia l’organizzazione internazionale Human Rights Watch. È dal maggio del 2021 che Frontex ha dislocato un drone a Malta: secondo l’ong i piani di volo dimostrerebbero che il velivolo ha un ruolo cruciale nell’individuazione dei battelli in prossimità delle coste libiche; Frontex trasmette infatti i dati raccolti dal drone alle autorità libiche.
L’agenzia europea sostiene che l’utilizzo del drone ha lo scopo di aiutare il salvataggio dei barconi in difficoltà, ma Human Rights Watch ribatte che questa attività manca di «trasparenza». Il rapporto vuole sottolineare che all’Europa non può bastare che i migranti non arrivino sulle sue coste. E non può nemmeno fingere di non sapere qual è la situazione in Libia.
L’instabilità politica che caratterizza la Libia dalla caduta di Gheddafi nel 2011 ha fatto del paese nordafricano una via privilegiata per decine di migliaia di migranti che cercano di raggiungere l’Europa attraverso le coste italiane che distano circa 300 km da quelle libiche. Non pochi di questi migranti sono bloccati in Libia, vivono in condizioni deprecabili e in balia di trafficanti di esseri umani.
▻https://www.nigrizia.it/notizia/libia-il-drone-anti-migranti-di-frontex
À #Calais, une #surveillance du ciel au tunnel
#Drones, #reconnaissance_faciale, #capteurs_de_CO2 et de battements cardiaques : face à l’afflux de réfugiés, la frontière franco-britannique est surveillée à grands coups d’#intelligence_artificielle. Premier volet de notre série sur la #cybersurveillance des frontières.
Pablo lève les yeux au ciel et réfléchit. Brusquement, il fixe son ordinateur. Le chargé de communication et plaidoyer chez Human Rights Observers (HRO) fouille dans ses dossiers, ouvre un document d’une quinzaine de pages. « Tu vois, ce jour-là, ils ont utilisé un drone », indique-t-il en pointant l’écran du doigt. Le 9 juin, l’association pour laquelle il travaille assiste à une expulsion de réfugié·es à #Grande-Synthe. Dans son compte-rendu, elle mentionne la présence d’un drone. Des vols d’aéronefs, hélicoptères ou avions, devenus routiniers.
En cette matinée de fin juin, Pablo a donné rendez-vous sur son lieu de travail, « l’entrepôt », comme il l’appelle. Ce vaste bâtiment désaffecté d’une zone industrielle à l’est de Calais héberge plusieurs associations locales. Les bureaux de HRO sont spartiates : un simple préfabriqué blanc planté dans la cour.
C’est ici que ses membres se réunissent pour documenter les #violences d’État perpétrées contre les personnes en situation d’exil à la frontière franco-britannique, plus spécifiquement à Calais et à Grande-Synthe. Depuis plus de 20 ans, la ville est érigée en symbole de la crise migratoire. L’évacuation et la destruction de la jungle en octobre 2016 n’ont rien changé. Désormais réparties dans de multiples camps précaires, des centaines de migrants et migrantes tentent le passage vers l’Angleterre au péril de leur vie. Selon le ministère de l’intérieur, ils et elles étaient 52 000 en 2021, un record, contre « seulement » 10 000 en 2020.
Sous l’impulsion des pouvoirs publics, Calais se barricade. Plus que les maisons de briques rouges, ce sont les #clôtures géantes, les rangées de #barbelés et les #marécages_artificiels qui attirent la vue. Tout semble construit pour décourager les exilé·es de rejoindre la Grande-Bretagne. « Avant, il n’y avait pas tout ça. C’est devenu assez oppressant », regrette Alexandra. Arrivée il y a sept ans dans le Pas-de-Calais, elle travaille pour l’Auberge des migrants, association qui coordonne le projet HRO.
Quatre #caméras empilées sur un pylône à l’entrée du port rappellent que cette frontière n’est pas que physique. #Vidéosurveillance, #drones, #avions, #détecteurs_de_CO2… Le littoral nord incarne le parfait exemple de la « #smart_border ». Une frontière invisible, connectée. Un eldorado pour certaines entreprises du secteur de l’intelligence artificielle, mais un cauchemar pour les exilé·es désormais à la merci des #algorithmes.
Si des dizaines de #caméras lorgnent déjà sur le port et le centre-ville, la tendance n’est pas près de s’inverser. La maire LR, #Natacha_Bouchart, qui n’a pas donné suite à notre demande d’interview, prévoit d’investir 558 000 euros supplémentaires en #vidéosurveillance en 2022.
« C’est la nouvelle étape d’une politique en place depuis plusieurs décennies », analyse Pierre Bonnevalle, politologue, auteur d’un long rapport sur le sujet. À Calais, la #bunkérisation remonte, selon le chercheur, au milieu des années 1990. « À cette époque commencent les premières occupations des espaces portuaires par des personnes venues des pays de l’Est qui souhaitaient rejoindre la Grande-Bretagne. Cela entraîne les premières expulsions, puis un arrêté pris par la préfecture pour interdire l’accès au port. »
Les années suivantes, c’est à #Sangatte que se dessinent les pratiques policières d’aujourd’hui. Dans cette commune limitrophe de Calais, un hangar préfigure ce que sera la « #jungle » et héberge jusqu’à 2 000 exilé·es. « La police cible alors tous ceux qui errent dans la ville, tentent d’ouvrir des squats, de dormir dans un espace boisé. » Une manière de « contenir le problème », de « gagner du temps ».
En parallèle, la ville s’équipe en vidéosurveillance et en barbelés. En 2016, l’expulsion de la jungle fait émerger la politique gouvernementale actuelle : l’#expulsion par les forces de l’ordre, toutes les 24 ou 48 heures, des camps où vivent les personnes exilées.
Calme et grisâtre en ce jour de visite, le ciel calaisien n’est pas épargné. Depuis septembre 2020, l’armée britannique fait voler un drone #Watchkeeper, produit par l’industriel français #Thales, pour surveiller la mer. « Nous restons pleinement déterminés à soutenir le ministère de l’intérieur britannique alors qu’il s’attaque au nombre croissant de petits bateaux traversant la Manche », se félicite l’armée britannique dans un communiqué.
Selon des données de vol consultées par Mediapart, un drone de l’#Agence_européenne_pour_la_sécurité_maritime (#AESM) survole également régulièrement les eaux, officiellement pour analyser les niveaux de pollution des navires qui transitent dans le détroit du Pas-de-Calais. Est-il parfois chargé de missions de surveillance ? L’AESM n’a pas répondu à nos questions.
Au sein du milieu associatif calaisien, la présence de ces volatiles numériques n’étonne personne. « On en voit souvent, comme des hélicoptères équipés de caméras thermiques », confie Marguerite, salariée de l’Auberge des migrants. Chargée de mission au Secours catholique, Juliette Delaplace constate que cette présence complexifie leur travail. « On ne sait pas si ce sont des drones militaires, ou des forces de l’ordre, mais lorsque l’on intervient et que les exilés voient qu’un drone nous survole, c’est très compliqué de gagner leur confiance. »
En décembre 2021, à la suite d’une demande expresse du ministre de l’intérieur, Gérald Darmanin, l’agence européenne #Frontex a dépêché un #avion pour surveiller la côte pendant plusieurs semaines. « Une mission toujours en cours pour patrouiller aux frontières française et belge », précise Frontex.
« On sent une évolution des #contrôles depuis l’intervention de cet avion, qui a œuvré principalement la nuit, confie le maire d’une ville du Nord. Beaucoup de gens tentaient de monter dans des camions, mais cela a diminué depuis que les contrôles se sont durcis. »
Il faut dire que la société #Eurotunnel, qui gère le tunnel sous la Manche, ne lésine pas sur les moyens. En 2019, elle a dépensé 15 millions d’euros pour installer des sas « #Parafe » utilisant la reconnaissance faciale du même nom, mise au point par Thales. Lors du passage de la frontière, certains camions sont examinés par des capteurs de CO2 ou de fréquence cardiaque, ainsi que par de l’#imagerie par #ondes_millimétriques, afin de détecter les personnes qui pourraient s’être cachées dans le chargement.
« C’est un dispositif qui existe depuis 2004, lorsque Nicolas Sarkozy a fait évacuer le camp de Sangatte, informe un porte-parole d’Eurotunnel. Depuis 2015, il y a tellement de demandes de la part des routiers pour passer par ce terminal, car ils peuvent recevoir des amendes si un migrant est trouvé dans leur camion, que nous avons agrandi sa capacité d’accueil et qu’il fait partie intégrante du trajet. »
Des outils de plus en plus perfectionnés qui coïncident avec l’évolution des modes de passage des personnes exilées, analyse le politologue Pierre Bonnevalle. « Pendant longtemps, il s’agissait de surveiller les poids lourds. Le #port et le #tunnel sont aujourd’hui tellement bunkérisés que les exilés traversent en bateau. »
Les technologies employées suivent : en novembre 2021, le ministère de l’intérieur annonçait la mise à disposition de 4 x 4, de lunettes de vision nocturne ou de #caméras_thermiques pour équiper les gendarmes et policiers chargés de lutter contre l’immigration clandestine sur les côtes de la Manche.
« Ces technologies ne servent à rien, à part militariser l’espace public. J’ai encore rencontré des associatifs la semaine dernière qui me disaient que cela n’a aucun impact sur le nombre de passages et les risques pris par ces gens », tempête l’eurodéputé et ancien maire de Grande-Synthe Damien Carême.
Elles ont malgré tout un #coût : 1,28 milliard d’euros depuis 1998, selon Pierre Bonnevalle, dont 425 millions pour la seule période 2017-2021. « C’est une estimation a minima, pointe-t-il. Cela ne prend pas en compte, par exemple, le coût des forces de l’ordre. »
Publié en novembre 2021, un rapport de la commission d’enquête parlementaire sur les migrations détaille les dépenses pour la seule année 2020 : l’État a investi 24,5 millions dans des dispositifs humanitaires d’hébergement, contre 86,4 pour la mobilisation des forces de l’ordre. Des sommes qui désespèrent Pablo, le militant de Human Rights Observers. « Cela aurait permit de bâtir de nombreux centres d’accueil pour que les exilés vivent dans des conditions dignes. » L’État semble avoir d’autres priorités.
#technologie #frontières #contrôles_frontaliers #asile #migrations #réfugiés #surveillance_des_frontières #militarisation_des_frontières #IA #AI #complexe_militaro-industriel #Manche #La_Manche #France #UK #Angleterre
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Enquête sur 30 ans de Fabrique Politique de la #Dissuasion. L’Etat français et la gestion de la présence des personnes exilées dans la frontière franco-britannique : harceler, expulser, disperser
Slovenia e flussi migratori: via il filo spinato, arrivano i droni
▻https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/aree/Slovenia/Slovenia-e-flussi-migratori-via-il-filo-spinato-arrivano-i-droni-219
Il nuovo governo sloveno ha promesso, entro fine hanno, la rimozione delle famigerate barriere di filo spinato anti-migranti al confine con la Croazia. Non sarà un “liberi tutti”, ma solo la sostituzione di un rozzo meccanismo di controllo con altri più sofisticati
#Slovénie #murs #asile #migrations #réfugiés #frontières #barrières_frontalières #drones #fil_barbelé #Croatie #frontière_sud-alpine #Rigonce #technologie #vidéosurveillance #complexe_militaro-industriel
voir aussi:
Slovenia to dismantle border fence with Croatia
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/965347
La Slovénie, la frontière et les réfugiés : des drones à la place des barbelés
Le 15 juillet, le nouveau gouvernement slovène de gauche a entrepris la destruction du « mur » de barbelés érigé sur les frontières du pays avec la Croatie. Cela ne veut pas dire que celles-ci seront moins surveillées, bien au contraire : après les barbelés, place aux drones !
Les premiers rouleaux de fil de fer barbelé à la frontière avec la Croatie avaient été posés en novembre 2015 près de Rigonce, dans le sud de la Styrie, un village qui était devenu l’une des principales voies d’accès à la Slovénie le long de la route des Balkans. Ensuite, les barrières se sont étendues sur toute la frontière, au grand étonnement de la population locale, qui a vu les soldats du génie militaire arriver pour placer des « barrières techniques » parfois jusque dans les jardins ou les cours des maisons. Cela n’avait pas manqué de soulever de vives protestations en Croatie et quelques manifestations symboliques ont été organisées ces dernières années le long de la frontière. La dernière a eu lieu au début de ce mois en Carniole Blanche (Bela Krajina), où des organisations non gouvernementales, l’office local du tourisme et des institutions culturelles ont descendu un tronçon de la rivière Kolpa avec une trentaine de bateaux, pour appeler le gouvernement à ôter sans attendre les barrières et à changer de politique de contrôle aux frontières.
Durant la campagne électorale, le centre-gauche avait promis qu’en cas de victoire, il retirerait très rapidement les barbelés. Au lendemain de la victoire, certains se disaient même prêts, non sans enthousiasme, à former des équipes de volontaires pour aller détruire les barrières. Le gouvernement de Robert Golob s’est néanmoins empressé de dire aux citoyens de ne pas se ruer à l’assaut de ces clôtures honnies…
Les 200 km de barbelés et les panneaux anti-migrants entre la Slovénie et la Croatie seront entièrement supprimés d’ici la fin de l’année, a confirmé le gouvernement. Le 15 juillet, les premiers mètres de la barrière ont été symboliquement retirés près du poste frontière de Krmačina, dans le sud-est du pays, en présence des représentants du ministère de l’Intérieur et de la police slovène. Peu avant, la ministre de l’Intérieur, Tatjana Bobnar, avait déclaré devant le Parlement que ces barrières seraient supprimées, afin que « plus personne ne meure en essayant de traverser la frontière ». La dernière victime en date est une jeune fille kurde qui s’est noyée en décembre dernier dans la Dragonja, le petit fleuve côtier qui sépare la Slovénie de la Croatie en Istrie. En tout, 23 personnes au moins sont mortes sur le sol slovène en tentant de remonter la route des Balkans. Selon les organisations qui s’occupent de l’aide aux migrants, les obstacles ont rendu la traversée des rivières plus difficile, augmentant les risques de noyade, surtout en hiver ou quand le niveau des eaux est élevé.
“Il n’est nullement question d’ouvrir la frontière mais seulement de remplacer un mécanisme de contrôle rudimentaire par d’autres moyens plus sophistiqués.”
Pour les ONG, cependant, le problème ne tient pas seulement aux barrières, mais surtout à l’attitude hostile contre les réfugiés adoptée par les institutions et la police, qui agissent de manière arbitraire en faisant obstacle aux demandes d’asile et en procédant à des refoulements forcés. Une stratégie qui n’a jamais été ouvertement assumée, mais qui a été mise en place dès le début de la crise, en 2015, par le gouvernement centriste de Miro Cerar. À l’époque, la Slovénie, qui redoutait de devenir un cul-de-sac pour les réfugiés syriens fuyant la guerre, avait lancé toute une série de mesures pour protéger l’ordre public, dont l’attribution à l’armée de tâches de contrôle des frontières ou même des manifestations. L’achat de canons à eau très modernes pour la police n’avait alors même pas fait débat. Ces gadgets ont été largement utilisés par l’ancien gouvernement conservateur pour réprimer les manifestations antigouvernementales et les protestations contre les restrictions imposées pendant l’épidémie de Covid-19.
La suppression des barrières ne va certainement pas marquer un tournant décisif dans l’attitude des Slovènes envers les réfugiés. En résumé, il n’est nullement question d’ouvrir la frontière mais seulement de remplacer un mécanisme de contrôle rudimentaire par d’autres moyens plus sophistiqués. L’accord de coalition prévoit en effet le remplacement des barbelés par le renforcement de dispositifs de contrôle alternatifs, comme des systèmes de vidéosurveillance et des drones.
Ljubljana ne veut pas du tout donner l’impression d’avoir lâché prise, mais la Slovénie tient au contraire à montrer qu’elle veut continuer à s’engager dans la lutte contre les migrations clandestines. Cela ne semble pourtant pas trop convaincre les Autrichiens, qui ont suspendu de facto le régime Schengen avec la Slovénie et ont « provisoirement » rétabli les contrôles aux frontières, depuis 2015. Les protestations de Ljubljana demandant le retour de l’ouverture de la frontière n’ont pas eu d’effets, et se sont heurtées aux réponses plutôt méprisantes de Vienne, où l’on ne cesse de répéter que le flux de migrants en provenance de Slovénie augmente.
Schengen pour améliorer les relations de voisinage
La situation devrait toutefois s’améliorer, au moins entre la Slovénie et la Croatie, mais pas à cause de la suppression des barrières. La frontière, établie il y a plus de trente ans, lors de la proclamation d’indépendance des deux pays, était initialement présentée comme une ligne de démarcation provisoire, mais elle est rapidement devenue une véritable frontière d’État. Les contrôles devraient être suspendus entre les deux pays l’année prochaine, quand la Croatie rejoindra à son tour l’espace Schengen. Une véritable libération pour les frontaliers qui, surtout en été et pendant les vacances, sont obligés de passer des heures et des heures dans les files d’attente pour pouvoir aller travailler ou rentrer chez eux. En trente ans, les deux pays n’ont pratiquement rien fait pour améliorer ce transit. L’adhésion de la Croatie à l’espace Schengen sera aussi un moyen de rétablir le dense réseau de relations qui existe au sein des populations locales, des deux côtés de la frontière. Les contacts n’ont jamais été complètement interrompus, mais s’étaient beaucoup compliqués, dans une zone qui par le passé n’avait jamais été divisée par une frontière.
▻https://www.courrierdesbalkans.fr/La-Slovenie-la-frontiere-et-les-refugies-des-drones-a-la-place-de
Droni di pattugliamento al confine italo sloveno
Droni di pattugliamento al confine italo sloveno, questa la recente notizia. I pattugliamenti dovrebbero iniziare entro un mese.
L’idea ancora allo studio prevede l’inizio di un pattugliamento congiunto fra Italia e Slovenia per il controllo dell’immigrazione in continua crescita sulla rotta balcanica, questo è quanto emerso da una serie di incontri fra il nostro Ministro dell’Interno Luciana Lamorgese, e l’omologo ministro sloveno Aleš Hojs.
L’iniziativa è stata promossa dal nostro Paese, che ha chiesto una collaborazione al governo sloveno per contrastare un flusso sempre crescente di immigrati clandestini che giungono in Italia senza i regolari permessi. Il nostro governo ha dichiarato di voler utilizzare visori notturni e droni di pattugliamento per migliorare e rendere più efficace le operatività delle forze dell’ordine che spesso si svolgono in zone impervi del confine italo-sloveno.
Il ministro Lamorgese ha dichiarato che le zone di pattugliamento via terra e con droni riguarderanno principalmente le aree di Trieste e Udine dove si hanno maggiori riscontri di immigrazione clandestina. “Ci aspettiamo che le pattuglie congiunte diano risultati concreti” ha detto il ministro solveno Hojs che conferma l’impegno della Polizia slovena a svolgere controlli più serrati e precisi di tutta l’area di loro competenza. Il territorio sloveno è infatti un’are adi particolare transito di immigrati verso l’Italia e l’Europa in generale.
Tra i primi a commentare l’incontro di Brdo è stata Tatjana Rojc, componente della commissione Esteri al Senato italiano, la quale ha dichiarato: “La ripresa delle pattuglie miste sul confine italo-sloveno conferma la volontà di collaborazione concreta che c’è tra i due Paesi – afferma la senatrice, e aggiunge “Credo sia da condividere anche l’accelerazione dell’ingresso della Croazia nell’area Schengen, come indicato dalla Commissione europea nella nuova strategia Ue che prevede misure per proteggere la libertà di movimento e la sicurezza dei confini allo stesso tempo“.
▻https://www.droneblog.news/droni-di-pattugliamento-al-confine-italo-sloveno
#drones
Par les temps qui courent, c’est pas tous les jours qu’un Etat décide de démanteler un mur...
Slovenia to dismantle border fence with Croatia
Slovenia has announced that it will be taking down its border fence on the Croatian border by the end of the year. The Interior Ministry confirmed the plan to the news agency STA.
Slovenia’s new government has vowed to remove the controversial fence that separates it from neighbouring Croatia. Construction on the fence started in late 2015 during the height of the what is often referred to as the ’European refugee crisis,’ when hundreds of thousands of people fled to EU countries from war-torn Syria.
The fence was designed to curb irregular migration into Slovenia through the Balkans. It was extended several times since 2015, and is currently about 200 kilometers long.
Many people have been insured trying to scale the structure, suffering considerable cuts on the barbed wire that was placed on top of the fence.
New government wants to change direction
Slovenia shares a 670 kilometer-long border with Croatia, meaning that roughly a third of their shared border has been fortified with a fence.
Both countries are members of the European Union, but only Slovenia is also part of the Schengen Area — a group of European countries that have abolished border controls at their shared borders. In part because of this, Slovenia has seen a lot of people trying to cross its borders to get to other Schengen countries, like Germany, Austria or Italy.
Both Croatia and Slovenia have repeatedly come under fire for their treatment of migrants and refugees; Croatia in particular has faced repeated accusations of conducting illegal pushbacks into neighboring Bosnia.
The Slovanian new government, which was sworn in last week, wants to change the country’s border policies. The left-liberal government under Prime Minister Robert Golob committed itself to demolishing the border fence in its coalition agreement, and they have announced plans to instead monitor the border with drones and cameras.
▻https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/41109/slovenia-to-dismantle-border-fence-with-croatia
#murs #barrières_frontalières #Croatie #Slovénie #frontière_sud-alpine #asile #migrations #réfugiés #Balkans #route_des_Balkans
Mais bon... au lieu des murs... des #drones #caméras_de_vidéosurveillance... c’est pas vraiment un changement de cap... voir :
Slovenia e flussi migratori : via il filo spinato, arrivano i droni
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/966571
Slovenija objavila koliko će trajati rezanje ograde na granici s Hrvatskom, mijenjaju politiku prema migrantima: Učit će ih jezik i integrirati u društvo
Slovenska vojska ovih dana počinje s uklanjanjem 200 kilometara ograde na granici prema Hrvatskoj. Kako je najavila Tatjana Bobnar, ministrica unutrašnjih poslova u vladi Roberta Goloba, vojnici dnevno mogu ukloniti 200 metara žice, što znači da će posao biti gotov za 150 radnih dana, tj. potkraj veljače naredne godine. Ministrica Bobnar najavila je i značajne promjene u migracijskoj politici zemlje
Bobnar uvjerava da će policija nakon uklanjanja žice temeljito obavljati nadzor granice te tako nastaviti osiguravati primjerenu razinu sigurnosti pograničnom stanovništvu.
’Vlada i MUP zalažu se za sigurne rute migranata i siguran prelazak granice za građane, stanovnike i migrante. Zbog toga smo osnovali novo savjetodavno tijelo koje se već sastalo s predstavnicima državnih tijela, organizacijama i predstavnicima civilnog društva koji rade na području migracija te će pripremiti cjelovitu migracijsku strategiju. Oni će se usredotočiti na osiguravanje sigurnijih putova migracija, učinkovitije procedure azila i dobivanje boravišnih dozvola kako bi se olakšali uvjeti za međunarodnu zaštitu i sustavnu integraciju u društvo. Azilante je potrebno sustavno integrirati u društvo i tržište rada te im omogućiti učenje jezika, a spriječiti iskorištavanje radnika’, smatra ministrica Bobnar.
Slovenska ministrica vanjskih poslova Tatjana Bobnar
Dakako, desna oporba smatra da je u pitanju zabrinjavajući zaokret. Oporbena Nova Slovenija (NSi) predviđa pogoršanje sigurnosne situacije jer se zbog nedostatka pšenice očekuju veće migracije iz sjeverne Afrike, a ojačat će i balkanska krijumčarska ruta, smatraju. Policijska kontrola, kako predviđa vlada, neće biti dovoljna.
’Nije realno to da dodatna tehnička sredstva, poput dronova koje ministrica često spominje, mogu pružati istu razinu sigurnosti kao tehničke barijere’, komentirao je odluku zastupnik Nove Slovenije Janez Žakelj. NSi stoga predlaže selektivno uklanjanje ograde, ne svugdje.
Podsjetimo, Slovenija je izgradila 194 kilometra ograde tijekom migrantskog vala 2015., u razdoblju u kojem je kroz državu prolazilo pola milijuna ljudi, na vrhuncu čak 14.000 dnevno. ’Tada je ta krajnja mjera bila nužna, meni je bilo krajnje neugodno, nisu se dobro osjećali ni drugi u vladi’, prisjetio se za Televiziju Slovenije tadašnji premijer Miro Cerar.
Po njegovu mišljenju, to je bio jedini način da se kontrolira gomila ljudi i da se o pravilno brine o njima. Inače, prijetilo je zatvaranje austrijske i talijanske granice, a ni južni susjed, kako kaže, nije se ponio baš susjedski.
’Hrvatska tada nije bila kooperativna, znamo da se i sama ilegalno organizirala i slala izbjeglice preko zelene granice, noću, preko rijeka’, podsjetio je Cerar.
Ogradu je privremeno postavila tadašnja vlada i najavila da će biti uklonjena u najkraćem mogućem roku.
▻https://www.tportal.hr/vijesti/clanak/slovenija-objavila-koliko-ce-trajati-rezanje-ograde-na-granici-s-hrvatskom-m
Slovenia’s interior minister faces no-confidence vote
Opposition SDS Democrats tabled a motion of no-confidence on Tuesday against Interior Minister #Tatjana_Bobnar, alleging that he should be removed from office for his government’s decision to remove the long border fence erected to fight irregular migration between 2015 and 2016.
The motion against Bobnar alleges misconduct and dereliction of duty and notes that his government’s decision to dismantle the fence built to stop the flow of irregular migrants has led to a surge in irregular migration.
The government’s decision has had “security and political consequences,” said SDS lawmaker Branko Grims. Between January and August, Slovenia saw a 13% increase in irregular border crossings compared to the whole of last year, police data shows.
Grims also pointed to the high increase in expressions of intent to apply for international protection. “Slovenia is becoming a destination country for illegal migrants,” he said.
SDS has claimed for weeks that Bobnar has been knowingly opening borders to irregular migrants and putting citizens at risk.
“If you work honestly and lawfully, you can face anyone in good conscience and defend your decisions at any time with reasonable arguments,” said Bobnar before the motion’s announcement, noting that she did not fear a motion that accused her of “solidarity and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms”.
In Slovenia, the opposition frequently uses no-confidence votes against ministers without actually being able to oust them. Instead, this allows the opposition to mount targeted attacks on the government and get significant airtime.
The coalition parties said they firmly support Bobnar.
▻https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/short_news/slovenias-interior-minister-faces-no-confidence-vote
#Suisse : Faute de rentabilité, la Poste renonce aux transports par drones autonomes ats/jop
▻https://www.rts.ch/info/sciences-tech/technologies/13140560-faute-de-rentabilite-la-poste-renonce-aux-transports-par-drones-autonom
La Poste va abandonner à la fin de l’année son projet de drones autonomes de transport. Faute de rentabilité en raison du cadre réglementaire suisse, ce mode de transport lancé en 2017 sera transféré au développeur californien Matternet.
La Poste a examiné ces derniers mois la rentabilité de ses projets. Elle est arrivée à la conclusion que celui concernant les drones pour le transport d’échantillons d’analyses entre hôpitaux et laboratoires n’était pas rentable, a indiqué l’entreprise mercredi. Elle confie le projet à Matternet, qui effectuait jusqu’à présent les vols pour le compte de la Poste.
« Les drones autonomes suscitent certes de l’intérêt dans le monde entier, mais dans l’environnement réglementaire actuel pour les véhicules aériens sans pilote, ils ne peuvent pas être utilisés à une échelle suffisamment large et ne sont pas rentables pour la Poste en Suisse », argue le communiqué.
Les clients existants, comme l’hôpital universitaire de Zurich, pourront continuer à l’avenir d’acheter des transports par drones auprès de Matternet.
« Travail de pionnier »
Malgré l’interruption de l’exercice, la Poste tire un bilan positif d’un essai pionnier. Jusqu’à présent, personne en Suisse n’avait utilisé des drones autonomes à des fins commerciales. « Nous avons dû tout élaborer à partir de zéro », a expliqué leur porte-parole, évoquant par exemple, les procédures d’autorisation auprès de l’Office fédéral de l’aviation civile (OFAC).
Le projet a également montré que les drones sans caméra et au service de la santé publique sont très bien acceptés par la population.
Ainsi, même si l’activité des drones de transport n’est pour l’instant pas rentable, la Poste continuera à garder un œil dessus. « De tels projets montrent qu’il existe des moyens de transport qui offrent une plus-value », estime la porte-parole.
#Poste #Livraison #Colis #drone #drones #aérien #transports #idée_à_la_con aux frais des #contribuables #Matternet
Rebecca Rambar sur Twitter
▻https://twitter.com/RebeccaRambar/status/1531485051631767553
Russie : Reportage vidéo d’un média d’état russe qui montre "le travail de l’équipage russe du drone Orlan-10. Le drone est contrôlé avec la manette de jeu Logitech F310.
Le jeu vidéo s’invite dans l’armée. Ici, une manette de jeu.
#guerre #propagande #russie #ukraine #drone #drone_orlan-10 #armée #armes #jeu_vidéo #jeux_vidéo #joypad #manette #logitech
[UKRAINE / RUSSIE] Progressions russes V/S montée en puissance ukrainienne : ANALYSE
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JvSTRv1OI0
Tous les 15 jours environs Xavier #Tytelman publie une vidéo bilan assez détaillée sur la guerre en #Ukraine, l’état des forces en jeu, des avancées / reculs, du matériel, des pertes, etc.
Ces images sont déjà terribles en elles-même ; il y a cette impression que les humains jouent à un jeu vidéo du style Words of Tanks grandeur nature… On y comprend comment sont utilisés les #drones d’observation pour guider les artilleries, ou découvre que l’armée Russe ressort du placard des très vieilles bombes et missiles (pour certaines déclassées), peu précises (probablement parce qu’ils ont utilisé déjà toutes celles qu’ils avaient de récent)…
Une bonne partie de ce travail provient de l’#OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) qui vise à analyser les photos, vidéos, ou toute donnée devenue publique sur les réseaux sociaux, en les vérifiant, recoupant, datant, etc...
Note : Je vous conseille d’arrêter la vidéo à 32 minutes (avant le dernier chapitre « Crimes contre l’humanité et tortures russes ») car bien qu’il ne montre pas de vidéo, le contenu est profondément *fortement choquant*.
Je suis complètement perturbé et interloqué par comment les humains peuvent se détruire les uns les autres jusqu’à commettre de tels actes barbares sur leurs congénères. Ça parait tellement invraisemblable. Ou comment en prétextant d’éliminer le nazisme, on commet des actes tout autant dégueulasses. Comment ces soldats peuvent se permettre autant d’atrocités ? C’est affreusement dingue.
#humanité #guerre #barbarie #torture #crimes_de_guerre #russie
L’ONG allemande #Sea-Watch porte #plainte contre #Frontex
L’agence européenne des #frontières de l’Union européenne est à nouveau dans la tourmente. Mi-avril, l’ONG Sea-Watch a porté plainte contre Frontex pour #non_divulgations_d'informations concernant une interception en Méditerranée, le 31 juillet 2021, d’un canot de migrants par les garde-côtes libyens. Le navire humanitaire Sea Watch 3, pourtant à proximité immédiate de l’embarcation en détresse, n’avait pas été informé par Frontex de la présence du canot.
L’ONG allemande Sea-Watch a porté plainte mi-avril contre l’agence européenne des frontière de l’Union européenne (UE), Frontex, devant le tribunal de l’Union européenne (CGE) à Luxembourg. L’agence de l’UE est poursuivie pour avoir refusé de divulguer des documents détaillant la nature de ses relations qui les lie aux garde-côtes libyens.
En clair, le préjudice remonte au 30 juillet 2021. Ce jour-là, le navire Sea Watch 3 (de l’ONG allemande éponyme) assiste à l’interception d’un canot en détresse, dans les eaux maltaises, par les garde-côtes libyens. Vingt personnes étaient à bord. Selon les déclarations de l’ONG, aucune autorité maritime n’avait informé Sea-Watch de la présence de ce canot, alors que le navire humanitaire en était le plus proche. L’ONG s’étonne aussi que les autorités maltaises ne soient pas intervenues.
Juste avant l’intervention des Libyens, un #drone de Frontex survolait la zone. L’agence européenne aurait donc dû, selon le protocole maritime internationale, envoyé un message à tous les navires de la zone pour porter secours à l’embarcation.
« Le Sea Watch 3 était le navire le plus proche doté d’une capacité de sauvetage mais n’a été informé par aucune autorité. Les autorités maltaises ont refusé de remplir leur devoir de coordonner les efforts de sauvetage et de veiller à ce que les personnes en détresse en mer soient emmenées en lieu sûr », écrit Sea-Watch dans un communiqué.
L’ONG accuse Frontex d’ignorer délibérément les navires de sauvetage européens pour faire appel de préférence aux garde-côtes libyens.
« Frontex fonctionne comme un service secret qui dissimule en permanence des informations »
À la suite de cette interception et du retour des 20 exilés en Libye, Sea-Watch aidée par la plateforme de défense de la liberté d’information FragDenStaat ont demandé des explications à Frontex sur leur déroulé des opérations ce jour-là. En vain. Les avocats des deux plaignants disent pourtant avoir identifié 73 documents liés à ce sauvetage mais Frontex refuse de les rendre publics.
« Après une demande [de Sea-Watch, ndlr] en vertu du règlement sur la #liberté_d'information concernant les opérations de Frontex le 30 juillet 2021, l’agence des frontières a refusé à plusieurs reprises de divulguer les informations demandées » peut-on encore lire sur le communiqué de l’ONG. « Parmi eux se trouvaient 36 documents sur l’échange de communications entre Frontex et les autorités libyennes, italiennes et maltaises ce seul jour précis. »
« Frontex fonctionne comme un service secret qui dissimule en permanence des informations », a également écrit l’ONG sur Twitter.
Ce n’est pas la première fois que Frontex se retrouve dans la tourmente, notamment pour des faits se déroulant en mer Égée. Au mois d’octobre 2021, un cabinet néerlandais d’avocats spécialisés dans la défense des droits de l’Homme a annoncé avoir intenté une action contre l’agence européenne pour le renvoi illégal d’une famille syrienne, demandeuse d’asile, depuis la Grèce vers la Turquie.
Au mois de mai 2021, deux demandeurs d’asile, un mineur congolais et une Burundaise, ont porté plainte contre l’agence. Après avoir atteint l’île de Lesbos, toux deux affirment avoir été refoulés illégalement vers la Turquie.
Depuis l’automne dernier, l’agence européenne de garde-frontières et de garde-côtes est également pointée du doigt dans des incidents de refoulements de bateaux de demandeurs d’asile de Grèce vers la Turquie.
▻https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/40143/long-allemande-seawatch-porte-plainte-contre-frontex
Drone Terror from Turkey. Arms buildup and crimes under international law - with German participation
In Kurdistan, Libya or Azerbaijan, Turkish “#Bayraktar_TB2” have already violated international law. Currently, the civilian population in Ethiopia is being bombed with combat drones. Support comes from Germany, among others.
For almost two decades, companies from the USA and Israel were the undisputed market leaders for armed drones; today, China and Turkey can claim more and more exports for themselves. Turkey is best known for its “Bayraktar TB2,” which the military has been using since 2016 in the Turkish, Syrian and now also Iraqi parts of Kurdistan in violation of international law. In the four-month #Operation_Olive_Branch in Kurdish #Rojava alone, the “TB2” is said to have scored 449 direct hits four years ago and enabled fighter jets or helicopters to make such hits in 680 cases. It has a payload of 65 kilograms and can remain in the air for over 24 hours.
The Turkish military also flies the “#Anka”, which is also capable of carrying weapons and is manufactured by #Turkish_Aerospace_Industries (#TAI). In a new version, it can be controlled via satellites and thus achieves a greater range than the “#TB2”. The “Anka” carries up to 200 kilograms, four times the payload of its competitors. The newest version of both drones can now stay in the air for longer than 24 hours.
Drone industry is dependent on imports
The “Anka” is also being exported, but the “TB2” is currently most widely used. The drone is manufactured by #Baykar, whose founder and namesake is #Selçuk_Bayraktar, a son-in-law of the Turkish president. The “TB2” also flew attacks on Armenian troops off #Nagorno-Karabakh, for the Tripoli government in Libya and for Azerbaijan; there it might have even - together with unmanned aerial vehicles of Israeli production - been decisive for the war, according to some observers.
The aggressive operations prompted further orders; after Qatar, Ukraine, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkmenistan, Baykar is the first NATO country to sell the drone to Poland. About a dozen countries are said to have already received deliveries, and about as many are said to be considering procurement. Interest is reportedly coming from as far away as Lithuania and even the United Kingdom.
The comparatively young Turkish drone industry is able to produce many of the components for its unmanned aerial vehicles itself or buy them from domestic suppliers, but manufacturers are still dependent on imports for key components. This applies to engines, for example, which are also produced in Turkey but are less powerful than competing products. For this reason, the “TB2” flew with Rotax engines from Austria, among others. Following Turkey’s support for the Azerbaijani war of aggression, the company stopped supplying Baykar.
Canada imposes export ban
According to the Kurdish news agency ANF, Baykar has also made purchases from Continental Motors, a U.S. corporation partly based in Germany that took over Thielert Aircraft Engines GmbH eight years ago. A cruise control system made by the Bavarian company MT-Propeller was found in a crashed “TB2”. According to the Armenian National Committee of America, a radar altimeter manufactured by SMS Smart Microwave Sensors GmbH and a fuel filter made by Hengst were also installed in the drone.
However, exports of these products are not subject to licensing, and sales may also have been made through intermediaries. Hengst, for example, also sells its products through automotive wholesalers; the company says it does not know how the filter came into Baykar’s possession.
Originally, the “TB2” was also equipped with a sensor module from the Canadian manufacturer Wescam. This is effectively the eye of the drone, mounted in a hemispherical container on the fuselage. This so-called gimbal can be swiveled 360° and contains, among other things, optical and infrared-based cameras as well as various laser technologies. Wescam also finally ended its cooperation with Baykar after the government in Ottawa issued an export ban on the occasion of the war over Nagorno-Karabakh. The country had already imposed a temporary halt to deliveries following Turkish operations in the Kurdish region of Rojava in North Syria.
“Eye” of the drone from Hensoldt
Selçuk Bayraktar commented on the decision made by the Canadian Foreign Minister, saying that the required sensor technology could now also be produced in Turkey. In the meantime, the Turkish company Aselsan has also reported in newspapers close to the government that the sensor technology can now be produced completely domestically. Presumably, however, these devices are heavier than the imported products, so that the payload of small combat drones would be reduced.
Hensoldt, a German company specializing in sensor technology, has been one of the suppliers. This was initially indicated by footage of a parade in the capital of Turkmenistan, where a freshly purchased “TB2” was also displayed to mark the 30th anniversary of the attainment of independence in Aşgabat last year. In this case, the drone was equipped with a gimbal from Hensoldt. It contains the ARGOS-II module, which, according to the product description, has a laser illuminator and a laser marker. This can be used, for example, to guide a missile into the target.
Hensoldt was formed after a spinoff of several divisions of defense contractor Airbus, including its radar, optronics, avionics and electronic device jamming businesses. As a company of outstanding security importance, the German government has secured a blocking minority. The Italian defense group Leonardo is also a shareholder.
Rocket technology from Germany
The ARGOS module is manufactured by Hensoldt’s offshoot Optronics Pty in Pretoria, South Africa. When asked, a company spokesman confirmed the cooperation with Baykar. According to the company, the devices were delivered from South Africa to Turkey in an undisclosed quantity “as part of an order”. In the process, “all applicable national and international laws and export control regulations” were allegedly complied with.
The arming of the “TB2” with laser-guided missiles was also carried out with German assistance. This is confirmed by answers to questions in the German Bundestag reported by the magazine “Monitor”. According to these reports, the German Foreign Ministry has issued several export licenses for warheads of an anti-tank missile since 2010. They originate from the company TDW Wirksysteme GmbH from the Bavarian town of Schrobenhausen, an offshoot of the European missile manufacturer MBDA.
According to the report, the sales were presumably made to the state-owned Turkish company Roketsan. Equipment or parts for the production of the missiles are also said to have been exported to Turkey. The TDW guided missiles were of the “LRAT” and “MRAT” types, which are produced in Turkey under a different name. Based on the German exports, Roketsan is said to have developed the “MAM” missiles for drones; they are now part of the standard equipment of the “TB2”. These so-called micro-precision munitions are light warheads that can be used to destroy armored targets.
Export licenses without end-use statement
Roketsan sells the MAM guided missiles in three different versions, including a so-called vacuum bomb. Their development may have been carried out with the cooperation of the Bavarian company Numerics Software GmbH, according to ANF Deutsch. Numerics specializes in calculating the optimal explosive effect of armor-piercing weapons. According to the German Foreign Ministry, however, the company’s products, for which licenses have been issued for delivery to Turkey, are not suitable for the warheads in question.
When the German government issues export licenses for military equipment, it can insist on a so-called end-use declaration. In the case of Turkey, the government would commit to obtaining German permission before reselling to a third country. The Foreign Ministry would not say whether such exchanges on missiles, sensors or other German technology have taken place. In total, export licenses for goods “for use or installation in military drones” with a total value of almost 13 million euros have been issued to Turkey, according to a response from last year.
Deployment in Ethiopia
As one of the current “hot spots”, the “Bayraktar TB2” is currently being deployed by Ethiopia in the civil war with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). As recently as December, the Tigrinese rebels were on the verge of entering the capital Addis Ababa, but the tide has since turned. Many observers attribute this to the air force. The Ethiopian military has 22 Russian MiG-23 and Sukhoi-27 fighter jets, as well as several attack helicopters.
But the decisive factor is said to have been armed drones, whose armament allows far more precise attacks. “There were suddenly ten drones in the sky”, the rebel general Tsadokan Gebretensae confirmed to the New York Times in an interview. In a swarm, these had attacked soldiers and convoys. The Reuters news agency quotes a foreign military who claims to have “clear indications” of a total of 20 drones in use. However, these also come from China and Iran.
Evidence, meanwhile, shows that the Turkish combat drones are used as before in Kurdistan and other countries for crimes under international law. On several occasions, they have also flown attacks on civilians, including in convoys with refugees. Hundreds of people are reported to have died under Turkish-made bombs and missiles.
After the “TB2” comes the significantly larger “Akıncı”
In the future, the Turkish military could deploy a significantly larger drone with two engines, which Baykar has developed under the name “Akıncı”. This drone will be controlled via satellites, which will significantly increase its range compared to the “TB2”. Its payload is said to be nearly 1.5 tons, of which 900 kilograms can be carried under the wings as armament. According to Baykar, the “Akıncı” can also be used in aerial combat. Unarmed, it can be equipped with optical sensors, radar systems or electronic warfare technology.
Baykar’s competitor TAI is also developing a long-range drone with two engines. The “#Aksungur” is said to have capabilities comparable to the “#Akıncı” and was first flown for tests in 2019.
▻http://kurdistan-report.de/index.php/english/1282-drone-terror-from-turkey-arms-buildup-and-crimes-under-interna
#Turquie #Kurdistan #Kurdistan_turque #drones #armes #Allemagne #drones_de_combat #drones_armés #industrie_militaire #Rotax #Continental_Motors #SMS_Smart_Microwave_Sensors #Hengst #Wescam #Aselsan #technologie #ARGOS-II #Airbus #Optronics_Pty
#Robo_Dogs and Refugees: The Future of the Global Border Industrial Complex
The future is here, and it’s a nightmare for migrants. Robo-dogs are joining the global arsenal of border enforcement technologies. The consequences will be deadly.
A painting of an eye shedding a single tear adorns the concrete rampart of the rusty wall bisecting the city of Nogales at the U.S.-Mexico border. Elsewhere, other kinds of eyes scan the Sonoran Desert—drones, artificial intelligence (AI) surveillance towers, and now military-grade “robo-dogs,” which, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in a February 1 article, might soon be deployed in this vast area of the Arizona-Mexico borderlands, a frequent crossing point for refugees and people on the move from Latin America, the Caribbean, and beyond.
The robo-dogs, built by Ghost Robotics, are the latest border tech experiment. Originally designed for combat and tactical training operations, these quadruped autonomous machines are strong, fast, and sometimes armed. They can break down doors and right themselves when kicked over. Police departments are already using them, such as in Honolulu and New York (although the latter city cut short its use of them after a public outcry). On the border, DHS first tested what they call “programmable pooches” in El Paso, but officials didn’t give a clear indication of when nor where the machines would eventually be deployed.
While these mechanical dogs may be a surprising addition to U.S. border enforcement, they join a technological infrastructure on the U.S.-Mexico border that has been developing for decades, often constructed by private companies and now championed by the Biden administration. The idea of mechanized Border Patrol agents is not exactly new either; in 2015, for example, the GuardBot company proposed that rolling, rubber spheres full of surveillance cameras (first designed for exploring Mars) “swarm” the borderlands in packs of 20 or 30. While that contract was never issued, it was a preamble to the robo-dogs. Here, now, is a glimpse into the future: an aggressive techno border fueled by a global industrial complex.
The robo-dogs form part of a long process of border robotization on the U.S. Mexico border—from autonomous and integrated fixed towers (built by Anduril and Elbit Systems, respectively) to Predator B and medium-size drones (General Atomics), to university experiments to create miniature drones the size of locusts (as was done at the University of Arizona via a grant it received from the Department of Homeland Security for R&D).
Petra, who was at the Arizona-Mexico border when DHS announced the robo-dogs, has been studying surveillance technologies and their effects on people crossing borders for years in Europe and globally, focusing on the real harms of automation, surveillance, and border tech experiments in spaces that have become testing grounds for innovation. The very real impacts these technologies will have is all the more stark, given the sheer number of people dying in the desert. In 2021, deaths at the U.S.-Mexico border were the highest ever recorded. Thus, although it is difficult to write about surveillance technologies—since they are hidden by design—the real-world impacts of “technosolutionism” are clear enough.
On the rumbling roads of the West Arizona desert, Petra and colleagues traced the routes that people take after crossing the border, and this led them to various gravesites, like the modest orange cross that marks the arroyo where Elías Alvarado, a young husband and father, perished in 2020. His son was never able to see him again, only leaving a scratchy voice recording saying “I love you, papa,” which was played at Alvarado’s ceremony by a group called Battalion Search and Rescue, whose volunteers comb the desert for survivors and remains. It’s terrifying to imagine a not-so-distant future in which people like Alvarado will be pursued by high-speed, military-grade technology designed to kill. The future is not just more technology, it is more death.
Virtual Fortress Europe
The U.S.-Mexico frontier is by no means the only place where experimental border technology is being tested. For example, the European Union has been focusing on various surveillance and high-tech experiments in migration and border enforcement, including maritime and land drone surveillance; long-range acoustic devices (LRADs), or sound cannons; and AI-type technologies in newly built camps in Greece. The violence in many of these technologies is obvious: the sound cannons that were rolled out at the land border between Greece and Turkey emit a high-pitched sound that can hurt people’s eardrums in an attempt to deter them from getting close to the EU’s border, while AI “threat detection” surveillance monitors refugees in Greece’s new prisonlike refugee camps on the Aegean Islands. AI-driven surveillance using unpiloted drones and other types of technologies is also increasingly used along Europe’s maritime borders by actors such as Frontex, the EU’s border enforcement agency. As in the U.S.-Mexico desert, border surveillance makes the crossing more dangerous, since it forces them to take riskier routes to avoid detection.
The increasing reliance on automation in border enforcement also brings with it a host of concerns, from privacy infringements when data is shared with repressive governments to discrimination and bias, particularly against groups that have historically borne the brunt of violent state action. For example, facial recognition has proved time and again to be biased against Brown and Black faces, as well as female faces, and yet it is increasingly used for migration control in the U.S., Canada, and soon various EU countries. These issues around discrimination and bias are not merely theoretical; they have had palpable impacts on people on the move such as Addisu, a young man from East Africa in his early 30s. He was living in an occupied building in Brussels when he told Petra, “We are Black, and border guards hate us. Their computers hate us too.”
Tech pilot projects have also introduced AI-type lie detection into border enforcement, relying on emotion recognition and micro-expressions to apparently determine whether someone is telling the truth at the border. Yet what about differences in cross-cultural communication? Or the impact of trauma on memory, or the overreliance on Western norms of plausibility and lie detection grounded in biased and discriminatory determinations? Immigration and refugee decision-making by border enforcement officers is already replete with discretionary, opaque, and often biased reasoning that is difficult to challenge.
Through the phenomenon of “border externalization,” the EU is also pushing its geographic borders further and further afield through biometric data collection and migration surveillance into North and sub-Saharan Africa. The United States is extending its border as well into southern Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, among other places. As these sorts of technological systems extend all over the world, so does the global border industrial complex, which is worth billions of dollars. Each new place becomes a testing ground for the next one.
A Regulatory Free-for-All: Border Tech Unchecked
Border technologies are political; they are developed and deployed in an ecosystem of private and public partnerships that are largely unregulated and unchecked. Big Tech interests are given free rein to develop and deploy technologies at the border and set the agenda of what counts as innovation and whose perspectives really matter when conversations around borders happen in national, regional, and international policy circles.
There is big money to be made in the sharpening of borders with draconian technologies. According to the market forecast company Market and Markets, the global homeland security market will grow more than 6 percent by 2026, reaching $904.6 billion. As border and immigration budgets only continue to rise in Europe, the United States, and places beyond, there will only be more armed “robo-dogs,” drones with tasers, and border AI-lie detectors filling border zones. This coincides with forecasts for more and more people on the move in the coming decades—for various reasons, including catastrophic climate change. The collision of aggressive tech borders with human mobility has the makings of a monumental human rights disaster.
Participation in discussions around technologies at the border is still limited to a select few, often in the suffocating constraints of the public-private nexus. The viewpoints of those most affected are routinely excluded from the discussion, particularly regarding no-go zones and ethically fraught uses of technology. Much of the discussion, such as it is, lacks contextual analysis or consideration of the ethical, social, political, and personal harm that these new technologies will have. While border and immigrant rights groups such as Mijente, Just Futures Law, the Immigrant Defense Project and others have been fighting the use of high-risk surveillance along the U.S.-Mexico border, the lucrative political climate of exclusion and border enforcement at all costs is what animates the move toward a surveillance dragnet. This dragnet will only increase the suffering and death along the frontier. “It’s a slow-motion genocide,” James Holeman, founder of Battalion Search Rescue, recently told Petra Molnar in the Arizona desert.
Borders are the perfect testing ground for technologies: unregulated, increasingly politicized, and impacting groups already struggling with adequate resources. Ultimately, Big Tech and quick fixes do not address the systemic causes of marginalization and migration—historical and present-day decisions that perpetuate vast inequalities in the world and that benefit the fortressed West while disenfranchising and displacing the rest. Whether it be armed agents, imposed walls, or robo-dogs, border militarization ensures that rich countries can keep looting, exploiting, and polluting the rest of the world.
▻https://www.theborderchronicle.com/p/robo-dogs-and-refugees-the-future
#robots_dogs #complexe_militaro-industriel #robots #robots_chiens #frontières #surveillance #technologie #asile #migrations #réfugiés #robo-dog #Ghost_Robotics #Nogales #Mexique #USA #Etats-Unis #désert_du_Sonora #DHS #El_Paso #programmable_pooches #GuardBot #Anduril #Elbit_Systems #Predator_B #general_atomics #drones #robo_dog
Je viens de faire un petit tour sur Flightradar 24 dans la région de l’Ukraine, par pure curiosité, et pour voir à quoi ressemble le trafic aérien dans le secteur. On y voit des trucs assez rigolo.
En effet. 15000 personnes qui consultent la balade de l’avion américain au dessus du pays assiégé.
Et on voit que les russes sont tellement fourbes qu’ils laissent leurs avions commerciaux voler à proximité de leur frontière, où les combats vont commencer incessamment.
Status agreement with Senegal : #Frontex might operate in Africa for the first time
The border agency in Warsaw could deploy drones, vessels and personnel. It would be the first mission in a country that does not directly border the EU. Mauretania might be next.
As a „priority third state“ in West Africa, Senegal has long been a partner for migration-related security cooperation with the EU. The government in Dakar is one of the addressees of the „#North_Africa_Operational_Partnership“; it also receives technical equipment and advice for border police upgrading from EU development aid funds. Now Brussels is pushing for a Frontex mission in Senegal. To this end, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen travelled personally to the capital Dakar last week. She was accompanied by the Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, who said that a contract with Senegal might be finalised until summer. For the matter, Johansson met with Senegal’s armed-forces minister and foreign minister.
For operations outside the EU, Frontex needs a so-called status agreement with the country concerned. It regulates, for example, the use of coercive police measures, the deployment of weapons or immunity from criminal and civil prosecution. The Commission will be entrusted with the negotiations for such an agreement with Senegal after the Council has given the mandate. The basis would be a „model status agreement“ drafted by the Commission on the basis of Frontex missions in the Western Balkans. Frontex launched its first mission in a third country in 2019 in Albania, followed by Montenegro in 2020 and Serbia in 2021.
New EU Steering Group on migration issues
The deployment to Senegal would be the first time the Border Agency would be stationed outside Europe with operational competences. Johansson also offered „#surveillance equipment such as #drones and vessels“. This would take the already established cooperation to a new level.
Frontex is already active in the country, but without uniformed and armed police personnel. Of the only four liaison officers Frontex has seconded to third countries, one is based at the premises of the EU delegation in #Dakar. His tasks include communicating with the authorities responsible for border management and assisting with deportations from EU member states. Since 2019, Senegal has been a member of Frontex’s so-called AFIC network. In this „Risk Analysis Cell“, the agency joins forces with African police forces and secret services for exchanges on imminent migration movements. For this purpose, Frontex has negotiated a working agreement with the Senegalese police and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The new talks with Senegal are coordinated in the recently created „Operational Coordination Mechanism for the External Dimension of Migration“ (MOCADEM). It is an initiative of EU member states to better manage their politics in countries of particular interest. These include Niger or Iraq, whose government recently organised return flights for its own nationals from Minsk after Belarus‘ „instrumentalisation of refugees“ at the EU’s insistence. If the countries continue to help with EU migration control, they will receive concessions for visa issuance or for labour migration.
Senegal also demands something in return for allowing a Frontex mission. The government wants financial support for the weakened economy after the COVID pandemic. Possibilities for legal migration to the EU were also on the agenda at the meetings with the Commission. Negotiations are also likely to take place on a deportation agreement; the Senegalese authorities are to „take back“ not only their own nationals but also those of other countries if they can prove that they have travelled through the country to the EU and have received an exit order there.
Deployment in territorial waters
Senegal is surrounded by more than 2,600 kilometres of external border; like the neighbouring countries of Mali, Gambia, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, the government has joined the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Similar to the Schengen area, the agreement also regulates the free movement of people and goods in a total of 15 countries. Only at the border with Mauritania, which left ECOWAS in 2001, are border security measures being stepped up.
It is therefore possible that a Frontex operation in Senegal will not focus on securing the land borders as in the Western Balkans, but on monitoring the maritime border. After the „Canary Islands crisis“ in 2006 with an increase in the number of refugee crossings, Frontex coordinated the Joint Operation „Hera“ off the islands in the Atlantic; it was the first border surveillance mission after Frontex was founded. Departures towards the Canary Islands are mostly from the coast north of Senegal’s capital Dakar, and many of the people in the boats come from neighbouring countries.
The host country of „Hera“ has always been Spain, which itself has bilateral migration control agreements with Senegal. Authorities there participate in the communication network „Seahorse Atlantic“, with which the Spanish gendarmerie wants to improve surveillance in the Atlantic. Within the framework of „Seahorse“, the Guardia Civil is also allowed to conduct joint patrols in the territorial waters of Senegal, Mauritania and Cape Verde. The units in „Hera“ were also the only Frontex mission allowed to navigate the countries‘ twelve-mile zone with their vessels. Within the framework of „Hera“, however, it was not possible for Frontex ships to dock on the coasts of Senegal or to disembark intercepted refugees there.
Spain wants to lead Frontex mission
Two years ago, the government in Madrid terminated the joint maritime mission in the Atlantic. According to the daily newspaper „El Pais“, relations between Spain and Frontex were at a low point after the border agency demanded more control over the resources deployed in „Hera“. Spain was also said to be unhappy with Frontex’s role in the Canary Islands. The agency had seconded two dozen officers to the Canary Islands to fingerprint and check identity documents after a sharp increase in crossings from Senegal and Mauritania in 2020. According to the International Organization for Migration, at least 1,200 people died or went missing when the crossing in 2021. The news agency AFP quotes the Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras which puts this number at over 4,400 people. Also the Commissioner Johansson said that 1,200 were likely underestimated.
The new situation on the Canary Islands is said to have prompted Frontex and the government in Madrid to advocate the envisaged launch of the joint operation in Senegal. With a status agreement, Frontex would be able to hand over refugees taken on board to Senegalese authorities or bring them back to the country itself by ship. The Guardia Civil wants to take over the leadership of such an operation, writes El Pais with reference to Spanish government circles. The government in Dakar is also said to have already informed the EU of its readiness for such an effort.
The idea for an operational Frontex deployment in Senegal is at least three years old. Every year, Frontex Director Fabrice Leggeri assesses in a report on the implementation of the EU’s External Maritime Borders Regulation whether refugees rescued in its missions could disembark in the respective eligible third countries. In the annual report for 2018, Leggeri attested to the government in Senegal’s compliance with basic fundamental and human rights. While Frontex did not even consider disembarking refugees in Libya, Tunisia or Morocco, the director believes this would be possible with Senegal – as well as Turkey.
Currently, the EU and its agencies have no concrete plans to conclude status agreements with other African countries, but Mauritania is also under discussion. Frontex is furthermore planning working (not status) arrangements with other governments in North and East Africa. Libya is of particular interest; after such a contract, Frontex could also complete Libya’s long-planned connection to the surveillance network EUROSUR. With a working agreement, the border agency would be able to regularly pass on information from its aerial reconnaissance in the Mediterranean to the Libyan coast guard, even outside of measures to counter distress situations at sea.
►https://digit.site36.net/2022/02/11/status-agreement-with-senegal-frontex-wants-to-operate-in-africa-for-t
#Sénégal #asile #migrations #réfugiés #externalisation #frontières #contrôles_frontaliers #Afrique #Mauritanie #Afrique_de_l'Ouest #renvois #expulsions #AFIC #Risk_Analysis_Cell #services_secrets #police #coopération #accord #MOCADEM #Operational_Coordination_Mechanism_for_the_External_Dimension_of_Migration #accords_de_réadmission #accord_de_réadmission #frontières_maritimes #Atlantique #Seahorse_Atlantic #Hera
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ajouté à la métaliste sur l’externalisation des contrôles frontaliers :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/731749
et plus précisément ici :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/731749#message765327
L’Union européenne veut déployer Frontex au large des côtes sénégalaises
À l’occasion de la visite au Sénégal de cinq commissaires européennes, l’UE propose au gouvernement le déploiement de Frontex, l’agence européenne de garde-côtes et de gardes-frontières. La Commission européenne envisagerait un déploiement d’ici à l’été en cas d’accord avec les autorités sénégalaises.
C’est pour l’instant une proposition faite par Ylva Johansson. La commissaire chargée des Affaires intérieures a évoqué la question avec les ministres des Affaires étrangères, des forces armées et de l’Intérieur ce vendredi à Dakar.
Pour l’Union européenne, l’intérêt immédiat est de contrôler le trafic d’êtres humains avec les embarcations qui partent des côtes sénégalaises vers l’archipel espagnol des Canaries. Mais le principe serait aussi de surveiller les mouvements migratoires vers l’Europe via la Mauritanie ou bien la route plus longue via l’Algérie et la Libye.
L’idée est une collaboration opérationnelle des garde-côtes et gardes-frontières de l’agence Frontex avec la gendarmerie nationale sénégalaise et sous sa direction. L’UE envisage le déploiement de navires, de personnel et de matériel. La commissaire européenne aux Affaires intérieures a évoqué par exemple des drones.
L’agence Frontex de surveillance des frontières extérieures de l’Union est en train de monter en puissance : son effectif devrait s’élever à 10 000 gardes-côtes et gardes-frontières dans quatre ans, soit dix fois plus qu’en 2018. Elle n’a jamais été déployée hors d’Europe et cette proposition faite au Sénégal illustre à l’avance la priorité que va mettre l’Europe sur les questions migratoires lors du sommet avec l’Union africaine dans une semaine.
▻https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20220211-l-union-europ%C3%A9enne-veut-d%C3%A9ployer-frontex-au-large-des-c%C3%B4
EU seeks to deploy border agency to Senegal
European Commissioner Ylva Johansson on Friday offered to deploy the EU’s border agency to Senegal to help combat migrant smuggling, following a surge in perilous crossings to Spain’s Canary Islands.
At a news conference in the Senegalese capital Dakar, Johansson said the arrangement would mark the first time that the EU border agency Frontex would operate outside Europe.
Should the Senegalese government agree, the commissioner added, the EU could send surveillance equipment such as drones and vessels, as well as Frontex personnel.
Deployed alongside local forces, the agents would “work together to fight the smugglers,” she said.
“This is my offer and I hope that Senegal’s government is interested in this unique opportunity,” said Johansson, the EU’s home affairs commissioner.
The announcement comes amid a sharp jump in attempts to reach the Canary Islands — a gateway to the EU — as authorities have clamped down on crossings to Europe from Libya.
The Spanish archipelago lies just over 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the coast of Africa at its closest point.
But the conditions in the open Atlantic are often dangerous, and would-be migrants often brave the trip in rickety wooden canoes known as pirogues.
About 1,200 people died or went missing attempting the crossing in 2021, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras last month put the figure at over 4,400 people.
Johansson also said on Friday that the 1,200-person figure was likely an underestimate.
She added that she had discussed her Frontex proposal with Senegal’s armed-forces minister and foreign minister, and was due to continue talks with the interior minister on Friday.
An agreement that would see Frontex agents deployed in Senegal could be finalised by the summer, she said.
EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who was also at the news conference, said a Frontex mission in Senegal could also help tackle illegal fishing.
Several top European Commission officials, including President Ursula von der Leyen, arrived in Senegal this week to prepare for a summit between the EU and the African Union on February 17-18.
►https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220211-eu-seeks-to-deploy-border-agency-to-senegal
EU: Tracking the Pact: Plan for Frontex to deploy “vessels, surveillance equipment, and carry out operational tasks” in Senegal and Mauritania
The EU’s border agency is also due to open a “risk analysis cell” in Nouakchott, Mauritania, in autumn this year, according to documents obtained by Statewatch and published here. The two “action files” put heavy emphasis on the “prevention of irregular departures” towards the Canary Islands and increased cooperation on border management and anti-smuggling activities. Earlier this month, the Council authorised the opening of negotiations on status agreements that would allow Frontex to operate in both countries.
Senegal: Fiche Action - Sénégal - Renforcement de la coopération avec l’agence Frontex (WK 7990/2022 INIT, LIMITE, 7 June 2022, pdf)
Action 1: Jointly pursue contacts with the Senegalese authorities - and in particular the Ministry of the Interior, as well as other relevant authorities - at political and diplomatic level to achieve progress on the commitments made during the visit of President von der Leyen and Commissioners on 9-11 February 2022, in particular with regard to the fight against irregular immigration, and Frontex cooperation, as part of a comprehensive EU-Senegal partnership on migration and mobility. Take stock of Senegal’s political context (i.a. Casamance) and suggestions in order to agree on next steps and a calendar.
Action 2: Taking up the elements of the previous negotiations with the relevant Senegalese authorities, and in the framework of the new working arrangement model, propose a working arrangement with Frontex in the short term, depending on the will and the interest of the Senegalese authorities to conclude such an arrangement.
Action 3: Depending on the response from the Senegalese authorities, initiate steps towards the negotiation and, in the medium term, the conclusion of a status agreement allowing direct operational support from Frontex to Senegal, particularly in terms of prevention of crime and irregular migration, including in the fight against migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings.
Action 4 Give substance to the messages expressed by the Senegalese authorities in the framework of policy exchanges and work on joint programming (Joint Strategy Paper - JSP). Identify support and cooperation measures of major interest to the Senegalese authorities (e.g. explore with Senegal the interest in concluding a Talent Partnership with voluntary Member States, if progress is made in other aspects of migration cooperation; propose an anti-smuggling operational partnership and explore possibilities to strengthen cooperation and exchange of information with Europol). Make use of the Team Europe Initiative (TEI) on the Western Mediterranean and Atlantic route to frame cooperation projects on migration issues. Promote cooperation with Frontex on border management also in the broader framework of cooperation and exchanges with the Senegalese authorities.
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Mauretania: Fiche Action - Mauritanie - Renforcement de la coopération avec l’agence Frontex (WK 7989/2022 INIT, LIMITE, 7 June 2022, pdf):
Action 1: On the basis of the exchanges initiated and the cooperation undertaken with the Mauritanian authorities, identify the main priorities of the migration relationship. Determine the support and cooperation measures of major interest (e.g. support for the implementation of the National Migration Management Strategy, continuation of maritime strategy actions, protection of refugees and asylum seekers, support for reintegration, fight against smuggling networks, deployment of an additional surveillance and intervention unit of the “GAR-SI” type, creation of jobs for young people, involvement of the diaspora in the development of the country, etc.). Use the Team Europe Initiative (TEI) on the Western Mediterranean and Atlantic route to coordinate cooperation projects on migration issues, including on root causes.
Action 2: Propose to the Mauritanian authorities the holding of an informal migration dialogue between the EU and Mauritania, focusing notably on the fight against migrant smuggling and border management, in order to best determine their needs in this area and identify the possibilities for Frontex support.
Action 3: On the basis of the exchanges that took place between Frontex and the Mauritanian authorities in the first semester of 2022, finalise the exchanges on a working arrangement with Frontex, depending on their interest to conclude it.
Action 4: Depending on the interest shown by the Mauritanian authorities, initiate diplomatic steps to propose the negotiation and conclusion of a status agreement allowing direct operational support from Frontex at Mauritania’s borders, in particular in the area of prevention of irregular departures, but also in the fight against migrant smuggling and other areas of interest to Mauritania, in the framework of the Frontex mandate.
▻https://www.statewatch.org/news/2022/july/eu-tracking-the-pact-plan-for-frontex-to-deploy-vessels-surveillance-equ
#Mauritanie #surveillance
France: New surveillance cameras to stop migrant smuggling
Dozens of new surveillance cameras are to be installed along the coast of northern France. The aim is to prevent migrant smuggling across the English Channel.
Surveillance equipment will be installed in more than 20 locations on France’s northern coast to detect migrant smugglers, the broadcaster BFMTV reported on Thursday. The cameras will be installed on roads near the coast with the aim of filming smugglers’ vehicles and recording their license plates.
Dubbed ’Terminus’, the operation is financed by the UK. The total cost is not yet known, according to the news agency dpa.
About 50 cameras are to be installed between Montreuil and Calais by the middle of this year, the newspaper La Voix du Nord reported. The prefecture of Pas-de-Calais said more than 20 municipalities wished to register for the surveillance devices, according to the AFP news agency.
Laurence Prouvot, the mayor of #Wissant, told AFP that the cameras will be more advanced than those already existing in the town. Wissant, about 20 km from Calais, will need 14 of the cameras, he said.
British will not have access
Local government authorities in France as well as French police will have access to the images, but they will not be shared with their British counterparts, dpa reports.
Meanwhile some local authorities were critical of the surveillance project. The mayor of Merlimont, Mary Bonvoisin Alves Dos Santos, told BFMTV that the money would have been better spent on supporting those who rescue migrants in distress trying to cross the Channel.
“I have the impression that we are the armed guard of British migration policy,” she said. At the same time, nothing is being done to provide the children, women and men with a decent place to live, she added.
Record number of Channel crossings in 2021
The UK and France have been discussing the issue of Channel crossings for years. In 2021 relations between the two countries became strained as the number of arrivals in the UK, compared to the previous year, tripled to around 28,000, and 27 people died in a shipwreck in November.
A large amount of surveillance equipment has already been installed in an effort to prevent crossings. In November the French Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, announced the deployment of ultra-modern equipment.
In December, Frontex, the European Border and Coastguard Agency, provided a plane to support border control in the Channel and the North Sea coast region which it said was “equipped with modern sensors and radars.” A surviellance drone was also deployed in January in #Pointe_aux_Oies, #Wimereux, according to the local prefecture.
Migrants have continued to cross the Channel this year despite the increased surveillance measures. In January, more than 1,300 people reached the United Kingdom, five times as many as at the same time last year.
▻https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/38473/france-new-surveillance-cameras-to-stop-migrant-smuggling
#surveillance #caméras_de_surveillance #migrations #frontières #contrôles_frontaliers #asile #réfugiés #Calais #Manche #France #UK #Angleterre #drones
Les drones policiers autorisés par le Conseil constitutionnel
21 janvier 2022 – La Quadrature du Net
▻https://www.laquadrature.net/2022/01/21/les-drones-policiers-autorises-par-le-conseil-constitutionnel
Le Conseil constitutionnel vient de rendre sa décision sur la loi « responsabilité pénale et sécurité intérieure ». Ce texte, adopté le 18 novembre 2021 par le Parlement, prévoyait notamment de ré-autoriser les drones policiers. Si les drones avaient été interdits à quatre reprises depuis 2020 (deux fois par le Conseil d’État, une fois par la CNIL et une fois par le Conseil constitutionnel), l’entêtement du gouvernement a porté ses fruits. Après deux années d’illégalité, les drones vont ré-occuper le ciel et restaurer la surveillance de masse.
Cette mauvaise nouvelle ne vient pas seule : le Conseil constitutionnel valide aussi les caméras embarquées sur les véhicules de police (hélicoptères, voitures…) ainsi que la vidéosurveillance des cellules de garde-à-vue. À côté, le Conseil ne prend même pas la peine d’examiner les nombreuses autres dispositions de cette loi qui s’en prennent à d’autres libertés fondamentales (amendes forfaitaires, prise d’empreintes forcée, répression des mineurs isolés, modification du régime d’irresponsabilité pénale – voir notre analyse commune avec le SAF, le SM et la LDH). (...)
« Je me sens dans un drône d’état »
Affiche collée sur les murs de Toulouse en septembre 2020.
▻https://affiches.blackblogs.org/2021/12/12/je-me-sens-dans-un-drone-detat
With drones and thermal cameras, Greek officials monitor refugees
Athens says a new surveillance system will boost security, but critics raise alarm over its implications for privacy.
“Let’s go see something that looks really nice,” says Anastasios Salis, head of information and communications technology at the Greek Migration and Asylum Ministry in Athens, before entering an airtight room sealed behind two interlocking doors, accessible only with an ID card and fingerprint scan.
Beyond these doors is the ministry’s newly-installed centralised surveillance room.
The front wall is covered by a vast screen. More than a dozen rectangles and squares display footage from three refugee camps already connected to the system.
Some show a basketball court in a refugee camp on the island of Samos. Another screen shows the playground and another the inside of one of the containers where people socialise.
Overhead, lights suddenly flash red. A potential threat has been detected in one of the camps. This “threat” has been flagged by Centaur, a high-tech security system the Greek Migration Ministry is piloting and rolling out at all of the nearly 40 refugee camps in the country.
Centaur includes cameras and motion sensors. It uses algorithms to automatically predict and flag threats such as the presence of guns, unauthorised vehicles, or unusual visits into restricted areas.
The system subsequently alerts the appropriate authorities, such as the police, fire brigade, and private security working in the camps.
From the control room, operators deploy camera-equipped drones and instruct officers stationed at the camp to rush to the location of the reported threat.
Officers carry smartphones loaded with software that allows them to communicate with the control centre.
Once they determine the nature and severity of the threat, the control room guides them on the ground to resolve the incident.
Video footage and other data collected as part of the operation can then be stored under an “incident card” in the system.
This particular incident is merely a simulation, presented to Al Jazeera during an exclusive tour and preview of the Centaur system.
The aim of the programme, according to Greek officials, is to ensure the safety of those who live inside the camps and in surrounding communities.
“We use technology to prevent violence, to prevent events like we had in Moria – the arson of the camp. Because safety is critical for everyone,” Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi told Al Jazeera at the November inauguration of a new, EU-funded “closed-controlled” refugee camp on Kos island, one of the first facilities to be connected to the Centaur system.
‘Dystopian’ surveillance project
Nearly 40 cameras are being installed in each camp, which can be operated from the control room.
There will also be thermal cameras, drones, and other technology – including augmented reality glasses, which will be distributed to police and private security personnel.
“This was not to monitor and invade the privacy of the people [in the camps],” said Salis, one of the architects of Centaur. “You’re not monitoring them. You’re trying to prevent bad things from happening.”
Greek authorities headline this new surveillance as a form of security but civil society groups and European lawmakers have criticised the move.
“This fits a broader trend of the EU pouring public money into dystopian and experimental surveillance projects, which treat human beings as lab rats,” Ella Jakubowska, policy and campaigns officer at European Digital Rights (EDRi), told Al Jazeera. “Money which could be used to help people is instead used to punish them, all while the surveillance industry makes vast profits selling false promises of magical technology that claims to fix complex structural issues.”
Recent reporting, which revealed Centaur will be partly financed by the EU COVID Recovery fund, has led a group of European lawmakers to write to the European Commission with their concerns about its implementation.
Homo Digitalis, a Greek digital rights advocacy group, and EDRi said they made several requests for information on what data protection assessments were carried out before the development and deployment of Centaur.
Such analysis is required under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). They have also asked what data will be collected and how long it will be held by authorities. Those requests, they said, have gone unanswered.
The Greek Migration Ministry did not respond to Al Jazeera’s query on whether an impact assessment was completed, and on policies regarding data retention and the processing of data related to children.
In Samos, mixed feelings
Advocates in Samos told Al Jazeera they raised concerns about camp residents being adequately notified about the presence of these technologies.
But Salis, at the control centre, said this has been achieved through “signs – a lot of signs”, in the camps.
The system does not currently incorporate facial recognition technology, at least “not yet”, according to Leonidas Petavrakis, a digital software specialist with ESA Security Solutions S.A., one of the companies contracted for the Centaur project.
The potential use of facial recognition in this context is “a big concern”, said Konstantinos Kakavoulis of Homo Digitalis.
Facial recognition systems often misidentify people of colour and can lead to wrongful arrests and convictions, according to studies. Human rights organisations globally have called for their use to be limited or banned.
An EU proposal on regulating artificial intelligence, unveiled by the European Commission in April, does not go far enough to prevent the misuse of AI systems, critics claim.
For some of those living under the glare of this EU-funded surveillance system, the feeling is mixed.
Mohammed, a 25-year-old refugee from Palestine living in the new Samos camp, said that he did not always mind the cameras as he thought they might prevent fights, which broke out frequently at the former Samos camp.
“Sometimes it’s [a] good feeling because it makes you feel safe, sometimes not,” he said but added that the sense of security came at a price.
“There’s not a lot of difference between this camp and a prison.”
▻https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/24/greece-pilots-high-tech-surveillance-system-in-refugee-camps
#Grèce #réfugiés #asile #migrations #surveillance #complexe_militaro-industriel #drones #caméras_thérmiques #Samos #îles #camps_de_réfugiés #Centaur #algorythme #salle_de_contrôle #menace #technologie #EU_COVID_Recovery_fund #reconnaissance_faciale #intelligence_artificielle #AI #IA
–—
sur ces nouveaux camps de réfugiés fermés (et surveillés) dans les #îles grecques notamment :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/917173
ping @etraces
Greece plans automated drones to spot people crossing border
The Greek Migration Ministry announced it would use EU-funded drones with “Artificial Intelligence” to track people seeking refuge at the border. Promises that they will also improve search and rescue operations ring hollow.
At the opening of the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair this September, Greek migration minister Notis Mitarakis – otherwise known for dismissing the ongoing evidence of Greek border guards’ brutal and illegal pushbacks of asylum seekers as “fake news” – made national headlines when he introduced his ministry’s latest project: €3.7m funding for drones with “innovative algorithms” that can “automatically identify defined targets of interest” at the Greek border.
What did he mean? In a demo video, two men – one in sunglasses and a red shirt, another blurred – walk next to a line drawn through a field, with boxes marking them as “person”. As the guy in sunglasses walks closer towards the line, he gets labeled as “person of interest”. He starts running, jumps over the line, runs, lies down on a bench, disappearing from view. When he gets up, the box keeps tracking him.
EU funding for Greek security projects
“I actually recognize people from my department in this video”, one IT researcher told us, chuckling, at the Greek Ministry for Migration’s stall at the Thessaloniki Trade Fair on 13 September.
His department – the Information Technologies Institute at the Center for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH) – is in a quiet building in the outskirts of Thessaloniki. Here, researchers work on 27 different projects, mostly funded by the European Commission.
The first time CERTH got funding for a security project was in 2017, when the European Union’s research and innovation program Horizon 2020 paid them to coordinate “ROBORDER”, an €8m project which aimed to develop and pilot “a fully autonomous border surveillance system” where, researchers said, robots will be able to identify humans and independently decide if they represent a threat. These days, the CERTH researcher says, there is a lot of interest from European institutions for funding “security projects”.
REACTION
Now, REACTION, or “Real-Time Artificial Intelligence for Border Surveillance” will also be CERTH-coordinated and funded by the European Commission’s Migration and Home Affairs Fund. It is set to start in November 2022, and run for 36 months.
Computer scientist Stathes Hadjiefthymiades, who is part of the REACTION team, said they want to combine the research from ROBORDER and “AIDERS” – another EU-funded project aimed at processing data from drones, sensors and cameras to “improve emergency responses” in case of a fire, flood or shipwreck. The aim, he says, is to bring the technologies – “or goodies”, as he calls them – into the hands of the police, who want drones (as well as thermal sensors, motion detectors and cameras already installed at the Greek border) to alert them of border crossings.
Once alerted, law enforcement will “not necessarily” stop people from crossing into Greece, Mr Hadjiefthymiades said. They could also be arrested or brought to camps and be instructed on how to apply for asylum. He added that pushbacks, which Amnesty International describes as “Greece’s de facto border policy”, are “in the news” but he does not believe that Greek border guards are pushing boats of asylum seekers back to Turkey.
“Innovative algorithms”
In his speech at the Thessaloniki Trade Fair, migration minister Mr Mitarakis said REACTION’s “use of artificial intelligence” will allow drones to identify and monitor “targets of interest”. However, one young man from the research consortium told us that “[the Migration Ministry] do not really know anything about what we are doing”, because they are “in a different field” and are “end users”.
At the Thessaloniki Trade Fair, three drones were on display at the Greek Migration Ministry’s stall. Two were from the Chinese commercial drone maker DJI. The third was wrapped in wires and was, a presenter explained, trained to do what Mr Mitarakis said: scan an area, and, if it spots something “more interesting”, like a person crossing a border, independently change its course to track this person. However, the presenter told us, it is the only drone they have that can do this, because “on-board processing” is very expensive and requires a lot of energy.
Mr Hadjiefthymiades confirmed that they were “dealing with reduced-size drones with limited on-board power. We are struggling to do on-board intelligence with off-the-shelf drones.”
In the brochure for REACTION, the Greek migration ministry says that one of the project’s aims is “to use the funding to buy equipment needed for the border project.”
Search and Rescue
After police are alerted about a person or vehicle crossing the Greek border, “they will go see what is happening”, the young man from the research consortium told us. A woman, overhearing this, said angrily, “I will tell you what they do, they will either come with guns to shoot, or they will beat them”. Later, the young man admitted, “For me, the one thing is, I don’t know exactly what the police will do to the migrants after we alert them.” He grimaced. “But what can I do,” he said.
When asked about REACTION’s claim that it will be used for “search and rescue”, the young man said he believed that people at the “Multimedia Knowledge Lab” at CERTH are training an algorithm to spot if someone is injured at the border. But Yiannis Kompatsiaris, a senior researcher there, told us that his lab is not currently training such an algorithm.
In recent years, the Greek Coast Guard, like other European authorities, was repeatedly accused of delaying rescue operations. Earlier this month, Deutsche Welle published a report which showed that Greek authorities left a group of 38 asylum-seekers stranded on an islet on the Evros river, which marks most of the border between Greece and Turkey, despite a nearby pylon with heat sensors and cameras, which should have been able to immediately locate the group.
Since 2017, open-source researcher Phevos Simeonidis tracks local and EU-funded border surveillance projects in Greece. So far, he says, “this ever-increasing apparatus always seems to fall short of assisting search and rescue, and also evidently turns a blind eye when footage or data could help individuals substantiate claims that they have been victims of human rights violations.”
▻https://algorithmwatch.org/en/greece-plans-automated-drones
#AI #IA #intelligence_artificielle #Real-Time_Artificial_Intelligence_for_Border_Surveillance #REACTION #ROBORDER #AIDERS #CERTH
Attaque au drone en août | Pas de sanctions après la mort de civils dans une frappe à Kaboul | La Presse
▻https://www.lapresse.ca/international/etats-unis/2021-12-13/attaque-au-drone-en-aout/pas-de-sanctions-apres-la-mort-de-civils-dans-une-frappe-a-kaboul.php
Parce que, dit le porte-parole du Pentagone :
« Ce qu’il s’est passé, c’est un dysfonctionnement du processus de décision et d’exécution, et ce n’est le résultat ni d’une négligence, ni d’une faute, ni d’un mauvais commandement »
Etats-Unis : Des ingénieurs conçoivent un robot capable d’agir comme un oiseau
▻https://www.20minutes.fr/sciences/3187443-20211202-etats-unis-ingenieurs-concoivent-robot-capable-agir-comme
Au final, l’oiseau robot est parvenu à attraper des objets qu’on lui lançait, comme des balles de tennis, et de se poser en conditions réelles dans des forêts du nord-ouest des Etats-Unis.
L’industrie de la #sécurité tire profit de la crise climatique
Les pays riches, pires contributeurs au #changement_climatique, dépensent bien plus d’argent à renforcer leurs #frontières qu’à contribuer au #développement des pays pauvres : c’est ce qu’a étudié un rapport du Transnational Institute. Les habitants de ces pays sont pourtant les premières victimes de l’alliance occidentale entre business du #pétrole et de la sécurité.
Le changement climatique est bon pour le #business. Du moins celui de la sécurité. C’est ce que démontre un #rapport publié ce lundi 25 octobre par l’organisation de recherche et de plaidoyer Transnational Institute. Intitulé « un mur contre le climat », il démontre que les pays les plus riches dépensent bien plus pour renforcer leurs frontières contre les migrants que pour aider les pays pauvres, d’où ils viennent, à affronter la crise climatique.
Il décortique les #dépenses, dans ces deux domaines, des sept pays riches historiquement les plus émetteurs de gaz à effet de serre que sont les États-Unis, l’Allemagne, la France, le Japon, l’Australie, le Royaume-Uni et le Canada. Ils sont à eux sept responsables de 48 % des émissions de gaz à effet de serre dans le monde. Le Brésil, la Chine et la Russie, qui font partie des dix plus gros émetteurs aujourd’hui, ne sont pas inclus car, s’étant enrichis beaucoup plus récemment, ils ne sont pas considérés comme des responsables historiques.
2,3 fois plus de dollars pour repousser les migrants que pour le climat
Pour les États étudiés, les auteurs ont regardé leur contribution au « #financement_climatique » : prévu par les négociations internationales sur le climat, il s’agit de fonds que les pays riches s’engagent à verser aux pays dits en développement pour les aider à faire face à la crise climatique. Ils ont ensuite traqué les sommes allouées par chaque pays aux contrôles frontaliers et migratoires. Résultat : entre 2013 et 2018, ces sept pays ont en moyenne dépensé chaque année au moins 2,3 fois plus pour repousser les migrants (33,1 milliards de dollars) que pour contribuer au financement climatique (14,4 milliards de dollars). Et encore, les auteurs du rapport signalent que les pays riches ont tendance à surestimer les sommes allouées au financement climatique.
Une disproportion encore plus criante quand on regarde en détail. Le Canada a dépensé 15 fois plus, l’Australie 13,5 fois plus, les États-Unis 10,9 fois plus. À noter que ces derniers sont en valeur absolue les plus dépensiers, ils ont à eux seuls mis 19,6 milliards dans la sécurité de leurs frontières sur la période, soit 59 % de la somme totale allouée par les sept pays réunis.
Le cas des pays européens est moins explicite. La France pourrait avoir l’air de bon élève. A priori, elle dépense moins dans les contrôles aux frontières (1 milliard) que dans le financement climatique (1,6 milliard). Idem pour l’Allemagne (3,4 milliards dans la militarisation des frontières contre 4,4 milliards dans le financement climatique). Mais ce serait oublier qu’une grande partie des dépenses sécuritaires est déportée au niveau de l’Union européenne et de l’agence de contrôle des frontières Frontex. Celle-ci a vu son budget exploser, avec une augmentation de 2 763 % entre 2006 et 2021.
Cet argent est très concrètement dépensé dans diverses #technologies — #caméras, #drones, systèmes d’#identification_biométriques, et dans l’embauche de #gardes-frontières et de #gardes-côtes. « Il y a aussi une #externalisation, avec par exemple l’Union européenne qui conclue des accords avec les pays d’Afrique du Nord et des régimes totalitaires, pour qu’ils empêchent les migrants d’arriver jusqu’à leurs frontières », décrit Nick Buxton, un des auteurs du rapport interrogé par Reporterre. Ces partenariats contribuent à la multiplication des murs anti-migrants partout dans le monde. « La plupart des grands constructeurs de murs du monde ont reçu une aide des programmes d’externalisation de l’Union européenne ou des États-Unis (ou des deux, dans le cas de la Jordanie, du Maroc et de la Turquie) », pointe le rapport.
L’édification de ces murs empêche-t-elle les pays riches de voir le drame qui se déroule derrière ? À travers divers exemples, les auteurs tentent de montrer l’injustice de la situation : en Somalie, à la suite d’une catastrophe climatique en 2020, un million de personnes ont dû se déplacer. Pourtant, le pays n’est responsable que « de 0,00027 % du total des émissions depuis 1850. » Au Guatemala, l’ouragan Eta ainsi que les inondations fin 2020 ont provoqué le déplacement de 339 000 personnes. Le pays « a été responsable de seulement 0,026 % des émissions de gaz à effet de serre ». Nombre de ces migrants Guatémaltèques tentent désormais d’atteindre les États-Unis, responsables à eux seuls de 30,1 % des émissions depuis 1850.
Pourtant, parmi les pays riches, « les stratégies nationales de #sécurité_climatique, depuis le début des années 2000, ont massivement présenté les migrants comme des « menaces » et non comme les victimes d’une injustice », indique la synthèse du rapport. Le 11 septembre 2001, en particulier, a accéléré la tendance. Qui s’est maintenue : les budgets de militarisation des frontières ont augmenté de 29 % entre 2013 et 2018. Une orientation politique mais aussi financière, donc, saluée par l’industrie de la sécurité et des frontières.
Taux de croissance annuel : 5,8 %
« Des prévisions de 2019 de ResearchAndMarkets.com annonçaient que le marché de la sécurité intérieure des États allait passer de 431 milliards de dollars en 2018 à 606 milliards en 2024, avec un taux de croissance annuel de 5,8 % », indique le rapport. Une des raisons majeures invoquée étant « l’augmentation des catastrophes naturelles liées au changement climatique ». Il cite également la sixième entreprise mondiale en termes de vente de matériel militaire, Raytheon. Pour elle, l’augmentation de la demande pour ses « produits et services militaires […] est le résultat du changement climatique ».
Transnational Institute, qui travaille sur cette industrie depuis un certain temps, a ainsi calculé qu’aux États-Unis, entre 2008 et 2020, les administrations de l’immigration et des frontières « ont passé plus de 105 000 contrats d’une valeur de 55 milliards de dollars avec des entreprises privées. » Si le mur de Trump a défrayé la chronique, « Biden n’est pas mieux », avertit Nick Buxton. « Pour financer sa campagne, il a reçu plus d’argent de l’industrie de la sécurité des frontières que Trump. »
L’Union européenne aussi a droit à son lobbying. « Ces entreprises sont présentes dans des groupes de travail de haut niveau, avec des officiels de l’UE. Ils se rencontrent aussi dans les salons comme celui de Milipol », décrit Nick Buxton.
#Pétrole et sécurité partagent « le même intérêt à ne pas lutter contre le changement climatique »
Le rapport souligne également les liens de cette industrie de la sécurité avec celle du pétrole. En résumé, il décrit comment les majors du pétrole sécurisent leurs installations en faisant appel aux géants de la sécurité. Mais il souligne aussi que les conseils d’administration des entreprises des deux secteurs ont beaucoup de membres en commun. Des liens concrets qui illustrent, selon Nick Buxton, le fait que « ces deux secteurs ont le même intérêt à ne pas lutter contre le changement climatique. L’industrie pétrolière car cela va à l’encontre de son business model. L’industrie de la sécurité car l’instabilité provoquée par la crise climatique lui apporte des bénéfices. »
Autant d’argent dépensé à protéger les énergies fossiles et à refouler les migrants, qui « ne fait que maintenir et générer d’immenses souffrances inutiles » dénonce le rapport. Les pays riches avaient promis d’atteindre 100 milliards de financements climatiques annuels pour les pays en développement d’ici 2020. En 2019, ils n’en étaient qu’à 79,6 milliards selon l’OCDE. Et encore, ce chiffre est très surévalué, estime l’ONG Oxfam, qui en déduisant les prêts et les surévaluations aboutit à environ trois fois moins. C’est cette estimation que les experts du Transnational Institute ont adoptée.
« Il est évident que les pays les plus riches n’assument pas du tout leur responsabilité dans la crise climatique », conclut donc le rapport. Il prône des investissements dans la lutte contre le changement climatique, et des aides pour que les pays les plus pauvres puissent gérer dignement les populations contraintes de se déplacer. À l’inverse, le choix de la militarisation est « une stratégie vouée à l’échec, même du point de vue de l’intérêt personnel des pays les plus riches, car elle accélère les processus d’instabilité et de migration induite par le climat dont ils s’alarment. »
►https://reporterre.net/L-industrie-de-la-securite-tire-profit-de-la-crise-climatique
#complexe_militaro-industriel #climat
–-
déjà signalé ici par @kassem
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/934692
Global Climate Wall. How the world’s wealthiest nations prioritise borders over climate action
This report finds that the world’s biggest emitters of green house gases are spending, on average, 2.3 times as much on arming their borders as they are on climate finance. This figure is as high as 15 times as much for the worst offenders. This “Global Climate Wall” aims to seal off powerful countries from migrants, rather than addressing the causes of displacement.
Executive summary
The world’s wealthiest countries have chosen how they approach global climate action – by militarising their borders. As this report clearly shows, these countries – which are historically the most responsible for the climate crisis – spend more on arming their borders to keep migrants out than on tackling the crisis that forces people from their homes in the first place.
This is a global trend, but seven countries in particular – responsible for 48% of the world’s historic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – collectively spent at least twice as much on border and immigration enforcement (more than $33.1 billion) as on climate finance ($14.4 billion) between 2013 and 2018.
These countries have built a ‘Climate Wall’ to keep out the consequences of climate change, in which the bricks come from two distinct but related dynamics: first, a failure to provide the promised climate finance that could help countries mitigate and adapt to climate change; and second, a militarised response to migration that expands border and surveillance infrastructure. This provides booming profits for a border security industry but untold suffering for refugees and migrants who make increasingly dangerous – and frequently deadly – journeys to seek safety in a climate-changed world.
Key findings:
Climate-induced migration is now a reality
- Climate change is increasingly a factor behind displacement and migration. This may be because of a particular catastrophic event, such as a hurricane or a flash flood, but also when the cumulative impacts of drought or sea-level rise, for example, gradually make an area uninhabitable and force entire communities to relocate.
– The majority of people who become displaced, whether climate-induced or not, remain in their own country, but a number will cross international borders and this is likely to increase as climate-change impacts on entire regions and ecosystems.
– Climate-induced migration takes place disproportionately in low-income countries and intersects with and accelerates with many other causes for displacement. It is shaped by the systemic injustice that creates the situations of vulnerability, violence, precarity and weak social structures that force people to leave their homes.
Rich countries spend more on militarising their borders than on providing climate finance to enable the poorest countries to help migrants
– Seven of the biggest emitters of GHGs – the United States, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, France and Australia – collectively spent at least twice as much on border and immigration enforcement (more than $33.1 billion) as on climate finance ($14.4 billion) between 2013 and 2018.1
- Canada spent 15 times more ($1.5 billion compared to around $100 million); Australia 13 times more ($2.7 billion compared to $200 million); the US almost 11 times more ($19.6 billion compared to $1.8 billion); and the UK nearly two times more ($2.7 billion compared to $1.4 billion).
- Border spending by the seven biggest GHG emitters rose by 29% between 2013 and 2018. In the US, spending on border and immigration enforcement tripled between 2003 and 2021. In Europe, the budget for the European Union (EU) border agency, Frontex, has increased by a whopping 2763% since its founding in 2006 up to 2021.
- This militarisation of borders is partly rooted in national climate security strategies that since the early 2000s have overwhelmingly painted migrants as ‘threats’ rather than victims of injustice. The border security industry has helped promote this process through well-oiled political lobbying, leading to ever more contracts for the border industry and increasingly hostile environments for refugees and migrants.
- Climate finance could help mitigate the impacts of climate change and help countries adapt to this reality, including supporting people who need to relocate or to migrate abroad. Yet the richest countries have failed even to keep their pledges of meagre $100 billion a year in climate finance. The latest figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reported $79.6 billion in total climate finance in 2019, but according to research published by Oxfam International, once over-reporting, and loans rather than grants are taken into account, the true volume of climate finance may be less than half of what is reported by developed countries.
– Countries with the highest historic emissions are fortifying their borders, while those with lowest are the hardest hit by population displacement. Somalia, for example, is responsible for 0.00027% of total emissions since 1850 but had more than one million people (6% of the population) displaced by a climate-related disaster in 2020.
The border security industry is profiteering from climate change
- The border security industry is already profiting from the increased spending on border and immigration enforcement and expects even more profits from anticipated instability due to climate change. A 2019 forecast by ResearchAndMarkets.com predicted that the Global Homeland Security and Public Safety Market would grow from $431 billion in 2018 to $606 billion in 2024, and a 5.8% annual growth rate. According to the report, one factor driving this is ‘climate warming-related natural disasters growth’.
– Top border contractors boast of the potential to increase their revenue from climate change. Raytheon says ‘demand for its military products and services as security concerns may arise as results of droughts, floods, and storm events occur as a result of climate change’. Cobham, a British company that markets surveillance systems and is one of the main contractors for Australia’s border security, says that ‘changes to countries [sic] resources and habitability could increase the need for border surveillance due to population migration’.
– As TNI has detailed in many other reports in its Border Wars series,2 the border security industry lobbies and advocates for border militarisation and profits from its expansion.
The border security industry also provides security to the oil industry that is one of main contributors to the climate crisis and even sit on each other’s executive boards
- The world’s 10 largest fossil fuel firms also contract the services of the same firms that dominate border security contracts. Chevron (ranked the world’s number 2) contracts with Cobham, G4S, Indra, Leonardo, Thales; Exxon Mobil (ranking 4) with Airbus, Damen, General Dynamics, L3Harris, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin; BP (6) with Airbus, G4S, Indra, Lockheed Martin, Palantir, Thales; and Royal Dutch Shell (7) with Airbus, Boeing, Damen, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, Thales, G4S.
– Exxon Mobil, for example, contracted L3Harris (one of the top 14 US border contractors) to provide ‘maritime domain awareness’ of its drilling in the Niger delta in Nigeria, a region which has suffered tremendous population displacement due to environmental contamination. BP has contracted with Palantir, a company that controversially provides surveillance software to agencies like the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), to develop a ‘repository of all operated wells historical and real time drilling data’. Border contractor G4S has a relatively long history of protecting oil pipelines, including the Dakota Access pipeline in the US.
- The synergy between fossil fuel companies and top border security contractors is also seen by the fact that executives from each sector sit on each other’s boards. At Chevron, for example, the former CEO and Chairman of Northrop Grumman, Ronald D. Sugar and Lockheed Martin’s former CEO Marilyn Hewson are on its board. The Italian oil and gas company ENI has Nathalie Tocci on its board, previously a Special Advisor to EU High Representative Mogherini from 2015 to 2019, who helped draft the EU Global Strategy that led to expanding the externalisation of EU borders to third countries.
This nexus of power, wealth and collusion between fossil fuel firms and the border security industry shows how climate inaction and militarised responses to its consequences increasingly work hand in hand. Both industries profit as ever more resources are diverted towards dealing with the consequences of climate change rather than tackling its root causes. This comes at a terrible human cost. It can be seen in the rising death toll of refugees, deplorable conditions in many refugee camps and detention centres, violent pushbacks from European countries, particularly those bordering the Mediterranean, and from the US, in countless cases of unnecessary suffering and brutality. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) calculates that 41,000 migrants died between 2014 and 2020, although this is widely accepted to be a significant underestimate given that many lives are lost at sea and in remote deserts as migrants and refugees take increasingly dangerous routes to safety.
The prioritisation of militarised borders over climate finance ultimately threatens to worsen the climate crisis for humanity. Without sufficient investment to help countries mitigate and adapt to climate change, the crisis will wreak even more human devastation and uproot more lives. But, as this report concludes, government spending is a political choice, meaning that different choices are possible. Investing in climate mitigation in the poorest and most vulnerable countries can support a transition to clean energy – and, alongside deep emission cuts by the biggest polluting nations – give the world a chance to keep temperatures below 1.5°C increase since 1850, or pre-industrial levels. Supporting people forced to leave their homes with the resources and infrastructure to rebuild their lives in new locations can help them adapt to climate change and to live in dignity. Migration, if adequately supported, can be an important means of climate adaptation.
Treating migration positively requires a change of direction and greatly increased climate finance, good public policy and international cooperation, but most importantly it is the only morally just path to support those suffering a crisis they played no part in creating.
voir aussi :
« Les #réfugiés sont les #cobayes des futures mesures de #surveillance »
–-> interview de Mark Akkerman :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/969367
Perquisitions dans le milieu de la drogue, 64 arrestations : « Nous estimons la production à une tonne de cocaïne par semaine à Bruxelles »
▻https://www.rtbf.be/info/societe/detail_perquisitions-dans-le-milieu-de-la-drogue-64-arrestations-nous-estimons-
Une soixantaine de personnes ont été arrêtées au cours de 114 perquisitions visant un important réseau d’importation de #cocaïne qui ont été effectuées mardi matin, dès 5h00, principalement en région bruxelloise mais également, et notamment, dans la région d’Anvers, en Brabant wallon et en quelques lieux de Flandre et de Wallonie, a annoncé mardi en fin de journée Frédéric Van Leeuw, procureur fédéral lors d’une conférence de presse. De plus, 6 laboratoires d’extraction de cocaïne ont été découverts, principalement à #Bruxelles et dans sa périphérie.
C’est de plus la 3e vague d’arrestations en une semaine, actions auxquelles s’ajoutent des actions des parquets locaux comme celui d’Anvers lundi.
Des pièces d’or
« Le dossier d’aujourd’hui porte sur une organisation criminelle soupçonnée d’être active dans le trafic de cocaïne, entre l’Amérique du Sud et l’#Europe », a précisé Eric Jacobs, directeur de la police judiciaire fédérale (PJF) de Bruxelles. « Un groupe de criminels situés en Belgique, principalement à Bruxelles, organise la réception de la cocaïne, son extraction et son reconditionnement dans des laboratoires belges. Nous estimons la production à une tonne de cocaïne par semaine à Bruxelles et en périphérie. Après ce reconditionnement, des courriers assurent la distribution vers le reste de l’Europe ».
Les policiers ont confisqué plus d’un million en liquide et une importante quantité de pièces d’or. Des voitures et objets de luxe, notamment des #montres - qui constituent un nouveau moyen d’écoulement d’importantes sommes d’argent - ont été saisis, de même que des tonnes de produits imprégnés de cocaïne, 300 m3 de tabac et du matériel technique comme des #drones, des moteurs de propulsion de sous-marin pour la plongée. Il n’y a pas eu d’incidents.
Avant l’opération de ce jour, plus de 350 kg de cocaïne via l’arrestation de courriers, 9 tonnes de cannabis, 32 tonnes d’engrais imprimés de cocaïne et plus de 2000 litres de #déchets_chimiques ont été saisis.
Au total, 455 arrestations et près de 2000 personnes ont été identifiées en lien avec le dossier SKY ECC. 77 tonnes de cocaïne ont été saisies cette année.
Une filière de blanchiment est organisée, notamment à destination des #paradis_fiscaux .
« La criminalité organisée internationale voire mondiale est manifestement très implantée en Belgique », a souligné Eric Snoeck, directeur général à la police judiciaire fédérale. « Nous savions déjà que le port d’#Anvers est le premier port européen d’importation de la cocaïne ». La région de Bruxelles apparait aujourd’hui comme le deuxième lieu d’activité de ce réseau.
#criminalité_organisée #criminalité_internationale #criminalité
Seulement un million d’euros saisis par la police belge.
On attend impatiemment les perquisitions dans les #banques de ce pays.
La criminalité organisée internationale voire mondiale est manifestement très implantée à #Bruxelles capitale bien choisie de l’#UE #union_europénne.
En #Grèce, des camps de migrants aux allures de « #prisons » vantés par Darmanin
Athènes vient d’ouvrir son premier « #centre_fermé » pour les demandeurs d’asile à #Samos, une île grecque proche de la Turquie. Érigé en exemple par le ministre de l’intérieur français, ce centre est une « prison » pour beaucoup d’ONG.
#centres_fermés #asile #migrations #réfugiés #îles #clôtures #barbelés #financement #Zervou #Prokeka #déboutés #conteneurs #G4S #camp-prison #centre_d'attente #murs #Mytilineos #Terna #business #coût #surveillance #complexe_militaro-industriel #drones #vidéosurveillance #salle_de_contrôle #intelligence_artificielle #Centaure #sécurité_digitale #Rhéa #Hypérion #programme_de_surveillance #NextGenerationEU #Facilité_pour_la_reprise_et_la_résilience (#FRR) #caméras #caméras_de_vidéosurveillance #HCR #OIM #IOM #Europol #privatisation #attente #internement #enfermement #modèle
Contre les migrants, toujours plus de #technologie
Reporterre s’est rendu au salon #Milipol pour découvrir les innovations technologiques sécuritaires. Elles sont de plus en plus déployées pour repousser les migrants.
« Viens ici pépère ! » lance un homme élancé en costume-cravate en direction d’un chien-robot en mouvement, faisant mine de lui proposer à manger. Derrière les regards amusés autour du robot développé par l’entreprise étasunienne #Ghost_Robotics, son « maître » le guide avec sa télécommande d’un œil malicieux. Ce chien-robot au look Black Mirror répond au nom de #Q-UGV et sa mission consiste à surveiller des sites ultrasensibles comme les centrales nucléaires.
Ce surveillant atypique, capable de courir, grimper et nager dans des environnements extrêmes, était l’une des nombreuses innovations présentées sur le salon Milipol de la sécurité intérieure au parc des expositions de Villepinte (Seine-Saint-Denis). Près de 1 000 exposants, dont deux tiers d’entreprises internationales, y ont élu domicile du mardi 19 au vendredi 22 octobre. Plus de 30 000 professionnels de la sécurité publique et privée de 150 pays déambulaient dans les allées. Entre une coupe de champagne et des petits fours, ils s’informaient pour en faire commerce sur les dernières grenades lacrymogènes, les dispositifs de reconnaissance faciale ou les fusils d’assaut.
L’heure est à la reprise pour le secteur de la #sécurité. « La première des libertés », comme l’a assuré le ministre de l’Intérieur, Gérald Darmanin, lors de sa visite du salon le premier jour. Après avoir subi la crise sanitaire à l’instar d’une large partie de l’économie mondiale, le marché mondial de la #sécurité_intérieure devrait rebondir. Sa prévision de croissance est de 8 % en 2021 et de 6 % en 2022, après une baisse de 3 % en 2020. En France, il n’a pas été épargné non plus et les dépenses étatiques consacrées à la sécurité ont baissé de 8,6 %, pour atteindre 3,6 milliards d’euros. Mais certains domaines, comme celui des #drones_de_surveillance, ont tiré leur épingle du jeu avec une progression de 5,8 %. Alors que l’Union européenne peine toujours à s’accorder sur une politique commune de gestion des #frontières, chaque État membre est tenté de renforcer la #surveillance des siennes grâce à des technologies toujours plus sophistiquées.
Mille et une façons de traquer les migrants
Déjà déployés, en passe d’être expérimentés ou pas encore autorisés, les dispositifs de #détection de migrants sont présentés aux quatre coins de l’immense salle d’exposition. Nichés entre deux stands de drones, les représentants de la société française #HGH, spécialisée dans les #systèmes_électro-optiques, sont ainsi très sollicités. La série de #caméras_thermiques #Spynel, qui promet une « #surveillance_panoramique 360 degrés, #jour et #nuit, jusqu’à l’horizon » sur les frontières des pays intéressés, a du succès. À l’occasion du salon, l’entreprise vient de finaliser un contrat d’un million d’euros avec un pays de l’#Otan (Organisation du traité de l’Atlantique Nord) — dont elle tait le nom — pour sécuriser et surveiller sur près de 1 000 kilomètres de côte et empêcher les passages des migrants et des trafiquants de drogues. « C’est impossible d’échapper à la #vigilance de cette caméra, et à l’inverse des drones, on ne peut pas brouiller son signal, car elle n’émet aucune onde », se félicite le responsable marketing. « Si un groupe de personnes ou un zodiac s’approche de nuit d’un littoral dans la zone surveillée, l’#intelligence_artificielle détectera automatiquement le #mouvement et une alerte sera envoyée aux forces de sécurité », poursuit-il.
De l’autre côté du salon, un groupe de gendarmes écoute attentivement les explications du représentant de l’entreprise néerlandaise #UVI-Scan. Sur la brochure commerciale, une page est consacrée à un #scanner capable de détecter les passagers clandestins sous les camions. Le visuel est explicite : accrochés sous un véhicule, deux migrants sont pris en flagrant délit. « Ce sont de vraies photos ! » assume le consultant technique. « C’est un système intégré à la chaussée qui détecte les #intrus et prend automatiquement une photo à l’approche des postes frontières et des ferrys », explique-t-il. « Nous en avons déployés un peu partout en Europe, notamment à #Dieppe, en France ». Là où de nombreux exilés tentent leur chance pour gagner les côtes anglaises par le ferry ou des embarcations de fortune.
Entre deux stands de fusils d’assaut et des tenues de camouflages, un drone blanc aux allures d’avion miniature surplombe le stand de #German_Drones. L’entreprise allemande propose un « service personnalisé » à ses clients en fonction des usages ». Pour la détection de passages de migrants à la frontière, Anis Fellahi, le chef de projet international du groupe, recommande « le modèle 150, le plus performant, qui peut voler une heure et demie, couvrir une centaine de kilomètres, et transmet une vidéo de meilleure qualité ». Le dit #Songbird est d’ores et déjà déployé aux frontières allemandes et belges, et cherche à étendre son empreinte.
Les industriels ne s’arrêtent pas là et proposent aux autorités des outils de #surveillance_aérienne toujours plus développées et intrusifs. L’entreprise française #T-ops intègre des #IMSI-Catcher directement embarqués sur les drones. Ce dispositif de #surveillance_de_masse est capable d’intercepter le trafic des communications téléphoniques, de récupérer et recouper ces informations à distance et de suivre les mouvements des utilisateurs. « Là nous proposons un produit avec une #efficacité au-delà du réel ! » s’exclame le représentant de la société. Cette technologie peut-elle être déployée pour repérer les migrants ? « C’est possible, oui. Mais nous ne fournissons qu’un service, le responsable de son utilisation est l’État », répond-il sobrement.
Certains produits attendent des évolutions législatives pour être pleinement déployés. C’est le cas du drone de surveillance très longue distance présenté par le groupe belge #John_Cockerill, traditionnel acteur de la défense, lancé depuis peu dans la sécurité intérieure. « Ce type d’appareil peut voir jusqu’à 30 kilomètres et il est en capacité d’identifier très clairement des personnes », explique #Jean-Marc_Tyberg, le président du conseil d’administration du groupe. « À ce stade, nous devons intégrer un logiciel qui floute automatiquement le visage de la personne pour ne pas la reconnaître ». Mais selon lui, « se priver de ces outils de reconnaissance revient à fermer les yeux en conduisant. Il faut que l’on rattrape notre retard législatif pour que ces solutions puissent être pleinement utilisées. » Jean-Marc Tyberg fait référence aux longs débats autour de la controversée #loi_Sécurité_globale. Le Conseil constitutionnel avait fini par censurer le dispositif d’encadrement de l’utilisation des images des drones utilisés les forces de l’ordre, jugée trop dangereux au regard du #droit_à_la_vie_privée. Mais le gouvernement est revenu à la charge à la rentrée avec une disposition remaniée dans le projet de loi relatif à la sécurité intérieure, actuellement débattu au Parlement.
Si la France n’est pas le terrain de jeu technologique idéal des industriels, d’autres États comme la #Grèce accueillent de nombreuses expérimentations plus poussées. Le pays frontalier de la Turquie est un passage obligé dans le parcours des migrants. Et il reçoit le soutien de l’agence de gardes-côtes européens #Frontex, accusée par des ONG et des médias d’opérer des refoulements illégaux à l’extérieur de l’UE. Si le gestionnaire des frontières européennes n’a pas de stand dédié ici, ses fournisseurs sont disséminés sur le salon. La société française #Cnim_Air_Space est l’un d’eux. « Notre modèle de #ballon_captif #Eagle_Owl gonflé à l’Hélium peut voler jusqu’à 600 mètres de haut, et possède une autonomie de 7 jours », expose fièrement le représentant de l’entreprise. Il est actuellement utilisé par les autorités grecques et l’agence Frontex. Un modèle plus petit a également été expérimenté autour de #Calais par la gendarmerie. Avec sa caméra embarquée, il renvoie en continu les #images vers une station positionnée au sol. « En cas d’alerte, si un zodiac débarque, les autorités grecques sont en capacité de les repérer à des kilomètres avant d’intervenir », précise-t-il. « Il mesure 22 mètres de long, donc le fait de le voir peut aussi avoir un effet dissuasif… ».
La Grèce accueille également l’expérimentation du projet #Roborder, contraction de #robot et de border (frontière en anglais), lancé en 2017, qui prévoit un #système_de_surveillance des frontières par un essaim de #drones_autonomes, capables par l’intelligence artificielle de déterminer les franchissements. Le projet #iborder_control ambitionne quant à lui de développer un #algorithme capable de détecter les #mensonges des migrants lors de leur passage à l’aéroport.
Mais sur le terrain, les associations d’aide aux personnes exilées observent que le renforcement de la surveillance des frontières ne décourage pas les candidats à l’asile, mais rend simplement leur parcours plus dangereux. Alors que la surveillance se renforce d’année en année, l’Organisation internationale des migrations a comptabilisé 1 146 décès de migrants sur les routes maritimes vers l’Europe au premier semestre 2021, contre 513 en 2020 et 674 en 2019 à la même période. Mais au salon Milipol, le rêve d’une Europe forteresse a de belles années devant lui.
▻https://reporterre.net/Contre-les-migrants-toujours-plus-de-technologie
They’re putting guns on robot dogs now - The Verge
▻https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/14/22726111/robot-dogs-with-guns-sword-international-ghost-robotics
Quadrupedal robots are one of the most interesting developments in robotics in recent years. They’re small, nimble, and able to traverse environments that frustrate wheeled machines. So, of course, it was only a matter of time until someone put a gun on one.
The image above shows a quadrupedal robot — a Vision 60 unit built by US firm Ghost Robotics — that’s been equipped with a custom gun by small-arms specialists Sword International. It seems the gun itself (dubbed the SPUR or “special purpose unmanned rifle”) is designed to be fitted onto a variety of robotic platforms. It has a 30x optical zoom, thermal camera for targeting in the dark, and an effective range of 1,200 meters.
What’s not clear is whether or not Sword International or Ghost Robotics are currently selling this combination of gun and robot. But if they’re not, it seems they will be soon. As the marketing copy on Sword’s website boasts: “The SWORD Defense Systems SPUR is the future of unmanned weapon systems, and that future is now.”
Inside new refugee camp like a ‘prison’: Greece and other countries prioritize surveillance over human rights
On the Greek island of Samos you can swim in the same sea where refugees are drowning. The sandy beaches and rolling hills, coloured by an Aegean sunset hide a humanitarian emergency that is symptomatic of a global turn against migration.
#Greece is just one of the many locations across the world where technological experimentation at the #border is given free reign. Our ongoing work at the #Refugee Law Lab attempts to weave together the tapestry of the increasingly powerful and global border industrial complex which legitimizes technosolutionism at the expense of human rights and dignity.
These technological experiments don’t occur in a vacuum. Powerful state interests and the private sector increasingly set the stage for what technology is developed and deployed, while communities experiencing the sharp edges of these innovations are consistently left out of the discussion.
Policy makers are increasingly choosing #drones over humanitarian policies, with states prioritizing #security and #surveillance over human rights.
#refugees #borders #samos #camp #Europe #pushbacks #migration #human_rights
▻https://theconversation.com/inside-new-refugee-camp-like-a-prison-greece-and-other-countries-pr