In December, over 50 civil society organisations called on co-legislators in the Parliament, Commission and Council to ensure the EU’s New Pact on Migration maintained safeguards from the Parliament’s position on the Pact and to protect the fundamental rights of people on the move. Instead, the political agreement reached greenlighted abuses across Europe in sweeping concessions to the Council. Ahead of the Plenary vote on April 10, 161 CSOs called on MEPs to reject the Pact.

The EU’s New Pact ushers  in a deadly new era of digital surveillance, expanding the digital infrastructure for an EU border regime based on the criminalisation and punishment of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

The entire European Parliament nevertheless voted to endorse the Pact on 10 April. It is important to disrupt the notion that this is a big political win, with unilateral support across the Parliament. There has been lots of commentary from a broad spectrum of civil society about how the Pact is harmful and will have devastating consequences for people migrating. This statement seeks to critique the reforms from a digital perspective, looking at the intersection of migration and digitalisation.