End the surveillance of migrants and refugees!
Gareth Hills, Director of FNO, Returns and Detention Operations
*Update: Since the original publication of this petition, the Home Office has proposed using facial recognition technology as another mode of immigration control. We oppose this development as part of our continued push to end GPS monitoring and all forms of surveillance that uphold the hostile environment.
About this statement
The UK Home Office is using GPS monitoring to surveil migrants and refugees. The Abolish Reporting campaign in London is calling on organisations across sector boundaries to stand with us and condemn this development. We demand an end to GPS tagging!
About the Abolish Reporting Campaign
This statement was written by organisers from the Abolish Reporting campaign in London. The Abolish Reporting Campaign has branches in multiple cities, comprised of organisers from various grassroots migrant justice organisations from the Solidarity Knows No Borders Network (including Migrants Organise, These Walls Must Fall, SOAS Detainee Support, Haringey Welcome and CARAG).
We invite any individuals interested in supporting this campaign to get in touch with one of the organisations above.
When signing this statement, you have the option of receiving further updates from the Abolish Reporting Campaign, such as invitations to collaborate further on work related to ending Home Office GPS surveillance. You can opt out of further communications when signing the statement by choosing "Edit Subscription Preferences," and can also opt out at any time afterwards.
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Gareth Hills, Director of FNO, Returns and Detention Operations
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The Home Office has recently introduced GPS monitoring as a condition of bail for people facing deportation and in other cases ‘where it is considered that this may be an appropriate condition of immigration bail’. GPS monitoring enables 24/7 real-time location tracking, giving the Home Office access to a minute-by-minute history of people’s geolocation data and providing a deep insight into their personal lives.
Individuals are not given a say in whether or not they will be forced to wear a GPS tracking anklet. Those who do not or are not able to comply are considered to have breached their conditions of immigration bail, which will affect the outcome of their asylum and immigration case. Likewise, data from the anklet would also be used when considering a person’s substantive application. This amounts to a significant intrusion on people’s privacy and restricts individuals’ liberty.
Importantly, GPS tags cause serious psychological harm, impacting every area of people’s lives and leading to increased anxiety, dehumanisation, and stigma. GPS monitoring is not, by any means, a safer or more humane alternative to the already harmful and stigmatising practice of in-person immigration bail reporting.
We reject GPS monitoring and all electronic monitoring as an extension of the hostile environment and of systems that surveil, criminalise, and harm migrants under the guise of care.
Bearing in mind that new forms of digital surveillance are routinely trialled on individuals most subject to state coercion and control, we see the use of electronic monitoring to be a threat to all of our safety.
We demand that the Home Office end the use of GPS monitoring and end the surveillance of migrants!