The “Biometric_on”: on the (Dual) Use of Biometric Data in Migration and International protection in Europe

The European Union has recently reached an agreement on the so called New European Asylum and Migration Pact. Thanks to a new set of common measures Member states will be able to reach relevant reforms in the field of international protection and migration. Such a result will be possible also through the collection of (new) sets of biometric data. This “agreement”, as well as its framework, does not seem to be entirely new in the EU, especially if we look at the previous Pact adopted by Member States confronting the “Refugee crisis”, back in 2015, when more than a 1,000,000 of migrants, refugee, and asylum seekers crossed the European blue and green borders to claim for international protection. Looking at the consolidated texts of the new European Laws, the enforcement of Eurodac II will include not only a fingerprinting database but a new biometrical data system to identify, track, evaluate, repatriate (irregular) migrants as well as to investigate and prosecute terrorists and and/or criminal offenders. A few times after NIS II directive stressed out the attention to the rights of individuals as a primary consideration need, also looking at the use and liability of IoT technologies and challenges, recent declarations of European Data Protection Supervisor outlined concerns on the matter: legal risks in the guarantees foreseen by Art. 9 of the GDPR for Europol operations to justify the management of biometric data on asylum seekers. Even more serious concerns on vulnerable migrants have been highlighted, considering such collection will be mandatory for every irregular migrant over 6 years old, thus leading to the construction of a “Biometricon”, on migration and asylum, in the EU.