There are few places in the world where an individual is as vulnerable as at the border of a foreign country.
When travelling across the world, people are being subjected to multiple forms of tracking and profiling by unaccountable state agencies.
Local and international travel is changing radically as concerns about terrorism and migration increase. Security agencies require access to travellers’ information before they leave their homes, compulsory identification of travellers now includes the collection of fingerprints and facial images, and secret watchlists, dossiers and profiles are being developed. These policies and procedures are extremely costly, the potential for abuses and miscarriages of justice is high, and the benefits are debatable.
Our work includes investigating the systems that are planned and deployed, evaluating the methods and techniques, raising awareness about the implications of these new policies for the human rights of citizens and foreigners, and advocating for policy change.
The UK parliamentary committee’s report following their investigation into electronic monitoring and GPS tagging questions its use in the context of immigration and highlights the ethical and legal concerns of this practice, as raised by PI.
