Disproportionate Surveillance: Technology-Assisted and Automated Decisions in Asylum Applications in the EU?

Abstract

Since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States, the association between migration and security has been continuously strengthened, with multiple States working to tighten their border controls. In the European Union (EU), this trend has been shown by the frequent overlap between asylum application and migration policies and the agenda concerning border control, security, and terrorism. This securitization of migration discourse is claimed to justify the use of controversial practices to examine asylum applications. Against this background, the article reflects on the use of technology-assisted and automated decisions in this area. In particular, it questions whether the existing safeguards provided in the EU data protection framework ensure asylum seekers’ rights to privacy and the protection of personal data. In doing so, the article seeks to offer a more nuanced understanding of European asylum policy and the potential flaws therein that allow individuals’ fundamental rights – enshrined in the EU Charter and the European Convention on Human Rights – to be infringed. In conclusion, the article engages with the debate relating to the use of automated decisions, in particular those based on artificial intelligence, and whether they should be excluded from certain policy areas, such as migration.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the asylum system

“…20 Additionally, privacy is paramount, as the sharing of asylum seekers' data can jeopardise the very safety and protection they are seeking. 21 To mitigate such harms, individuals and institutions must remain accountable and AI-based tools need to be explainable and grounded in an explicit normative framework. Organisations must be transparent about their use of AI and ensure that applicants are informed if algorithmic decision-making processes are applied to their data and Medicine, Science and the Law 64 (2) made aware of potential implications and ensure safeguards are in place.…”

Epistemic domination by data extraction: questioning the use of biometrics and mobile phone data analysis in asylum procedures

“…Discussions about the ethical and political implications of digital technologies in asylum procedures, for example, often buy into the efficacy and functionality that technology providers attribute to digital methods of identification and country of origin determination (e.g. Beduschi 2021 ; Jasmontaite-Zaniewicz and Barboza 2021 ; Molnar 2021 ).…”

Derechos fundamentales e inteligencia artificial emocional en iBorderCtrl

“…3 Ahora bien, la observación de las recientes iniciativas adoptadas en el seno de la UE revela que nos encontramos ante una nueva fase de dicho proceso, caracterizada por el creciente interés en los sistemas de inteligencia artificial (IA) para el control fronterizo, la migración y el asilo. 4 Esto conlleva la introducción, en una pluralidad de procedimientos administrativos, de mecanismos automatizados basados en algoritmos capaces de apoyar o hasta remplazar la toma de decisiones por parte del ser humano (Leese et al, 2022): 5 a modo de ejemplo, las acciones más recientes emprendidas fuera y dentro de la UE comprenden la aplicación de la IA en los controles fronterizos, 6 el examen de las solicitudes de visados 7 e incluso la protección internacional (Jasmontaite-Zaniewicz y Zomignani Barboza, 2021;Forster, 2022;Ahmad, 2021). 8 En particular, dentro de estas iniciativas destaca la existencia de un tipo de sistema de IA que se dirige al reconocimiento de emociones (emotion recognition) destinado a categorizar a las personas sobre la base de 1 Agradezco a Augusto Aguilar Calahorro, Juan Francisco Sánchez Barrilao, Jorge Agustín Viguri Cordero y a los revisores anónimos por sus comentarios acertados y constructivos que me han permitido realizar una mejora substancial del texto.…”