Statewatch is a UK-based charity founded in 1991 that produces and promotes critical research, policy analysis and investigative journalism to inform debates, movements and campaigns on civil liberties, human rights and democratic standards.
Its work primarily focuses on Europe, and in particular the institutions and agencies of the European Union, but it also engages with issues at the national level in the UK and member states and with organisations elsewhere in the world.
[1][2] According to their strategic plan, Statewatch's vision is: “An open Europe of democracy, civil liberties, personal and political rights, free movement, freedom of information, equality and diversity.” As of 2022, its mission is: “To monitor, analyse and expose state activity that threatens civil liberties, human rights and democratic standards in order to inform and enable a culture of diversity, debate and dissent.”[3] To achieve this, Statewatch produces news, analyses and in-depth publications covering a range of topics related to state activity across Europe and the UK.
These include topics such as policing; surveillance and security technologies; counter-terrorism; asylum and immigration; criminal law; racism and discrimination; and secrecy, transparency, and freedom of information.
[4] Statewatch began operating in 1991, following an initiative by the founder and subsequent director, Tony Bunyan, and a group of other individuals from across Europe who perceived a need to produce research, reporting and analysis on civil liberties issues in the context of the new EU laws, policies and institutions that would be introduced by the Treaty of Maastricht.
The technical limitations of the early web meant that to view material, users had to visit the organisation's office or request photocopies in the post.
[7] The online database hosted by Statewatch was part of the organisation's work to create more transparency and openness around the powers and activities of EU institutions developing justice and home affairs laws and policies.
Measures introduced by the EU and European national governments frequently relied on the promise of new technologies to detect or prevent terrorism and crime.
It continued producing the quarterly editions of the Bulletin/Journal, articles published via Statewatch News, and gave talks and presentations at events and conferences in countries across Europe.
A conference held in 2011 for the 20th anniversary of the organisation once again brought together hundreds of people from across Europe for workshops and panel discussions on border control, immigration and asylum; state surveillance; the policing of protest; and racism and Islamophobia, amongst other topics.
[35] Statewatch News continued publication, providing access to a wide array of articles, press releases, sources, and hundreds of leaked EU documents every year.
The report highlighted the ongoing provisions of millions of euros in public funding to major weapons and IT corporations, many of whom also played a role in determining the priorities of the research programme.
[44] In 2019, the organisation was awarded the Hostwriter Story Prize as part of a consortium of journalists working on the project Invisible Borders, which investigated the introduction of biometric identity controls by European and African governments.
The earliest records begin at the time the Trevi Group (an ad hoc intergovernmental cooperation on Terrorism, Radicalism and Violence) was created.