Friday, 28th May
15:30-16:45 CEST
Do we want to live in a society in which people are tracked, judged and classified based on their appearance and behaviour?
Throughout Europe, governments are experimenting with highly intrusive facial recognition systems and other biometric mass surveillance in public spaces.
Currently, there is no European legislation that regulates the use of these technologies in public spaces.
The Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament is calling on the European Commission to acknowledge the adverse effects of biometric surveillance on our fundamental rights, and to impose a ban on the use of biometric mass surveillance technologies in public spaces in the European Union.
We know that biometric surveillance is an enormous breach of our right to privacy and unfairly discriminates against women and ethnic minorities. It happens without our consent and it has a chilling effect on our societies.
Let’s stand up for a society built on trust and respect for human rights, not one built on suspicion!
Speakers
 | Ella Jakubowska, Policy and Campaigns Officer, European Digital Rights (EDRi) Ella is Policy and Campaigns Officer at European Digital Rights (EDRi), the largest European network defending fundamental rights and freedoms online. She leads the network's advocacy on biometric technologies (such as facial recognition) and is one of the coordinators of the "Reclaim Your Face" campaign to ban biometric mass surveillance. Ella has a background researching feminist approaches to the Sociology of technology and before that, worked in digital business transformation. | |
 | Andrej Petrovski, Director of Tech, SHARE Foundation Andrej Petrovski (MSc in Digital forensics) focuses on issues in the intersection between internet and society, such as biometric mass surveillance, surveillance capitalism, cybersecurity, data protection and freedom of expression. He has authored numerous publications and multimedia content in the aforementioned topics and together with a group of experts and enthusiasts is active in the #hiljadekamera initiative, with the goal to ban biometric mass surveillance in Serbia. | |
 | Annika Ojala, Rights & Democracy Campaigner, Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament Annika Ojala is an international human rights advocate and expert on gender equality, LGBTIQ+ rights and non-discrimination in the digital world. She coordinates two campaigns for Greens/EFA in the European Parliament; one calling for a ban on biometric mass surveillance in public spaces in the EU, and another advocating for a Europe free from gender-based violence. Born in Helsinki, Annika currently lives in Brussels with her Alaskan malamute Rauha. | |
 | Juliana Wahlgren, Senior Advocacy Officer, ENAR – European Network Against Racism Juliana coordinates ENAR’s Advocacy Strategy in the field of anti-racism and anti-discrimination at both EU and Member States Level. She has extensively covered issues related to migration, integration, strategic litigation and national action plans against discrimination. She is an expert in the different intersections of structural and institutional discrimination with race, gender, migrant status, LGBTI and other minorities legal frameworks and policies. With strong expertise on gender-based violence, Juliana also provides, as volunteer, legal support to victims of domestic violence across Europe. She was recently nominated as an Expert to the EC Expert Group on Migration, Integration and Asylum. |
Moderator:
 | Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, Member of the European Parliament, Greens/EFA Group Born in the UK, Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield grew up in Ivry-sur-Seine before moving to Grenoble for her studies, where she was elected municipal councillor and then regional councillor. A member of the European Green Party leadership from 2012 to 2019, she has always linked local political action with commitments at the European level. In the European Parliament, she works on constitutional issues, civil liberties, digital rights and gender equality. Vice-President of the Greens/EFA group, she defends a Europe of values, which is feminist and inclusive, and works to ensure that the action of environmentalists is useful to all, especially in countries where ecology is fragile or even absent. |
