Since 2022, the United Kingdom has contracted with Anduril Industries, a defence company, and Sirius Insight for the provision of autonomous surveillance towers (AST)s along Channel coastline, with almost zero public knowledge or accountability.
These towers use AI and machine learning to scan for activity, including capturing images of small boats and those inside them. According to PILC, the UK Government has, to date, fiercely guarded even basic details about their operation of ASTs in their border enforcement practices.
The use of digital technologies to assist in the identification, detention and prosecution of migrants is likely to breach several rights protected by the Data Protection Act 2018, GDPR and Article 8 ECHR (the right to privacy) and is incompatible with the Refugee Convention.
PILC will mount a dual legal strategy with the aim of challenging both the Government’s refusal to disclose information about this technology before challenging any unlawful elements of their operation. They also plan to use the litigation to further expose the use of this technology in border enforcement.
Migrants’ Rights Network are the claimants and the litigation will initially take place as a complaint through the Information Commissioner’s Office complaints procedure, followed by judicial review at the High Court.
Surveillance towers used to prosecute migrants and deny asylum
Organisation Name
Public Interest Law Centre
Country/Jurisdiction
United Kingdom
Grant Amount
EUR 55,000
Current Status
Ongoing
Image credit: Migrant Rights Network
Grant type
Litigation Track Support
Description
According to the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC), since 2022, the United Kingdom has contracted with Anduril Industries, a defence company, and Sirius Insight for the provision of autonomous surveillance towers (AST)s along Channel coastline, with almost zero public knowledge or accountability.
PILC state that these towers use AI and machine learning to scan for activity, including capturing images of small boats and those inside them. According to PILC, the UK Government has, to date, fiercely guarded even basic details about their operation of ASTs in their border enforcement practices.
The use of digital technologies to assist in the identification, detention and prosecution of migrants is likely to breach several rights protected by the Data Protection Act 2018, GDPR and Article 8 ECHR (the right to privacy) and is incompatible with the Refugee Convention.
PILC will mount a dual legal strategy with the aim of challenging both the Government’s refusal to disclose information about this technology before challenging any unlawful elements of their operation. They also plan to use the litigation to further expose the use of this technology in border enforcement and challenge the criminalisation of migrants.
Migrants’ Rights Network are the claimants and the litigation will initially take place as a complaint through the Information Commissioner’s Office complaints procedure, followed by judicial review at the High Court.
"The use of digital technologies to assist in the identification, detention and prosecution of migrants is likely to breach several rights"
Strategic Goals
- To halt the use of digital surveillance to prosecute and remove migrants and deny asylum to those with valid claims.
- To establish a precedent that it is in the public interest for the Government to disclose information about mass data collection and surveillance of people crossing the Channel to seek asylum.
- To bring heightened scrutiny on the private companies profiteering from blurring boundaries between civil and military purposes and who are involved in border surveillance.