Surveilled and Isolated: How European authorities are turning essential devices into targets

For people on the move, staying updated on news from home can be just as important as knowing what is happening around them; a phone helps people to stay in touch with their family and friends, offering comfort against feelings of isolation and loneliness while supporting psychological well-being.They can also help to gather evidence, documenting illegal pushbacks, and other violence exerted against them.Most importantly, phones can save lives. Yet, despite the vital role phones play, authorities often fail to recognise - or deliberately ignore - their importance. We have heard, worryingly, numerous accounts of Serbian, Croatian and Bulgarian police smashing or confiscating devices. Our Advocacy and Communications Officer in Sarajevo looks further into the issue…

Phones as tools of empowerment

Staying updated on news from home can be just as important for people on the move as knowing what is happening around them; a phone helps people to stay in touch with their family and friends, offering comfort against feelings of isolation and loneliness while supporting psychological well-being.

Phones also serve as a personal archive, storing photos of loved ones, memories of people's past lives, and proof of their journeys. For many, these photos are the only precious belongings they could bring with them.

Beyond emotional support, phones grant access to crucial and potentially lifesaving information during a journey. People use them to look for services, shelter, aid, to learn about asylum procedures and their legal rights, and to stay in contact with fellow travellers. Moreover,  it is often only through a phone that people have access to money. They use online banking services or they are sent money from their family back home, and without a phone they just have no way of having access to life-supporting funds.

Geolocation services help people find safer travel routes by providing direct access to maps and travel information. They can also help to gather evidence, documenting illegal pushbacks, and other violence exerted against people on the move. Most importantly, phones can save lives. People use them to call for help in dangerous situations, such as boats in distress.

Because of their vital role, phones are often considered even more important than food. People always make sure to protect them, and have waterproof bags to ensure they stay dry and functional throughout the way. Phones also serve as torches, translators, and, in many cases, the only way to store documents and receive official communications, such as asylum application appointments sent via e-mail.

Leaving people on the move voiceless

Yet, despite the vital role phones play, authorities often fail to recognise - or deliberately ignore - their importance. We have heard, worryingly, numerous accounts of Serbian, Croatian and Bulgarian police smashing or confiscating devices.

These actions deliberately put lives at risk and undermine people’s sense of autonomy, forcing them into an unnecessary state of increased vulnerability. They isolate, endanger and dehumanise people. By stripping individuals of their phones, institutions rob them of their very selves, erasing a fundamental part of their identity, leaving them not only voiceless, but invisible.

 Leaving people on the move voiceless seems to be one of the primary concerns of institutions in various European states.

In the UK and the Netherlands, personal smartphones are confiscated in immigration detention, while in other countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France and Poland) people can keep and use their phones, but only if they have no built-in camera, a condition which of course amounts to a de facto ban. If people were held in decent conditions, there would be nothing to hide. However, this restriction is used exactly to prevent people from sharing information and exposing the reality of what happens in these centers.

In Italy, the Civil Court of Milan, on 23 February 2021, found that confiscating a detained asylum seeker's mobile phone lacked constitutional basis and limited the individual's rights, including the ability to communicate with family and legal counsel. This ruling should serve as a precedent for all other countries that still impose phone bans in administrative detention, ensuring that detainees retain their fundamental rights and access to communication.

Photo taken outside Blazuj Temporary Reception Center, Sarajevo

 Another cause for concern is the compulsory registration required when purchasing a prepaid SIM card. 

For the past 15 years, buying a prepaid SIM card in Greece has required presenting a passport, a practice that forces individuals to leave a trace of their presence. If an individual’s presence is documented in Greece, such as through a SIM card registration, they risk being returned there via Dublin Regulation procedures, which recommend that the first EU country where an asylum seeker is registered is generally responsible for processing their asylum application. As a result, some people avoid buying a SIM card altogether, which intensifies the attempt to erase these people’s lives and connections. In addition, they are cut off from essential services, jobs, and legal support, exacerbating their isolation.

In Italy, the same policy is in place, causing similar issues to those seen in Greece. But while requiring a passport is already restrictive, an Italian proposed law (Decreto Sicurezza, Security Decree) introduces an even stricter measure: the prohibition of selling SIM cards to individuals without a residency permit. If the law is violated, authorities could shut down the seller’s shop for up to a month. Beyond restricting personal freedoms and violating the individual rights outlined above, this law also shifts the burden of enforcement onto ordinary citizens, effectively turning them into agents of state control and undermining solidarity efforts.

A similar approach was recently implemented outside of the EU’s borders. Last year, Serbia introduced mandatory SIM card registration and the policy became fully effective on 10 February 2025.  Although Serbia is not currently an EU member state, it has had active readmission agreements with the EU since 2007, requiring it to readmit third-country nationals who do not meet the legal requirements for entry or residence in an EU member state, including rejected asylum seekers who transited through Serbia. This raises concerns that increased documentation requirements could facilitate deportations, further restricting migrants' mobility and safety.

Photos taken outside Blazuj TRC, Sarajevo

Phones as an increased source of vulnerability

The very tools that empower people on the move also expose them to heightened risks of government surveillance, as their devices store crucial information about their movements, activities, and contacts, making them vulnerable to arrest and abduction.

In a security-driven approach to migration, state authorities frequently use GPS apps to track movements, and are able to detect phones, and thus people, through advanced technologies such as drones, satellites and offshore sensors. As a result, many individuals at risk of border violence by state actors are forced to avoid using their phones precisely when they need them most through fear of being surveilled and harmed.

European states also systematically monitor phones and social media under the pretext of tackling security issues related to terrorism and smuggling. In fact, after the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, phones were increasingly considered not as “refugee essentials”, but as “terrorist essentials”, while Europol itself emphasised that:

“Proactive sharing of information from social media platforms, hosting providers, and electronic communications providers is of paramount importance. Enhanced content analysis of social media at national, European, and international levels is essential for developing a real-time understanding of migrant smuggling dynamics, facilitating early warning systems, and informing strategic, tactical and operational responses.”

In many countries, the police or migration authorities forcibly access phones and compel individuals to provide their SIM card and PIN number upon request, under threat of criminal sanctions. Authorities scrutinise contacts, photos, and social media activity to determine asylum claims, a practice that has been in place for at least a decade. For instance, in 2017, both Germany and Denmark expanded laws enabling immigration officials to extract data from asylum seekers' phones, whereas, in the UK, immigration enforcement officers have been permitted to hack phones since 2013.

In many instances, such as in Austria, as highlighted by Welcome2Europe, phones can be confiscated for several weeks in order to be checked. In some reported cases in the UK, seizure times have extended to over a year, raising serious concerns about due process. Such prolonged deprivation is both unreasonable and unacceptable.

This practice violates privacy, forces self-incrimination, and leads to deportations based on arbitrary digital evidence. 

Courts in the UK and Germany have declared such practices unlawful.

In the UK, the High Court ruled on 18 October 2022 that the “Mobile Phone Policy”, which involved seizing phones and collecting data from people arriving by small boats between April and November 2020, violated art.8 ECHR (right to private and family life) and of art.1 Protocol 1 ECHR (right to protection of property), as well as of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Similarly, on 16 February 2023, the German Federal Administrative Court determined that the routine analysis of data carriers, including mobile phones, by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees during asylum registration was unlawful. The procedure allowed searching phones in case of lack of passports or passport substitute documents, in order to assess nationality. But in fact, such a practice was extensively used, even when milder means could have been applied, thus violating the proportionality and strict necessity principles.

We firmly oppose the indiscriminate seizure, ban and destruction of phones, which constitute clear violations of privacy, fundamental freedoms and personal autonomy. Governments must end these practices immediately, and adopt policies that strike a just balance between security and human rights, ensuring that human dignity finally becomes a priority. 

Words by Elisa Andreolli