DONATE to help Dr. Younes with legal costs<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In November 2019, Dr. Younes, a scholar of critical race theory, was invited on a panel to discuss strategies against right-wing extremism in Germany. She was uninvited<\/strong> the evening before the event. Weeks later, it emerged that RIAS Berlin (an organisation that \u201creports and monitors antisemitic incidents in Berlin<\/a>\u201d), along with MBR (an organisation \u201cidentifying and dealing with extreme right-wing, right-wing populism, racist and anti-Semitic behavior<\/a>\u201d) had surveilled her<\/strong> and privately processed her data<\/strong> to frame her as anti-Jewish racist, sexist and as a terrorist sympathiser. RIAS collected and distorted Dr. Younes\u2019 personal information, her academic publications on Israel-Palestine, and information pertaining to her alleged support to the BDS (Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions) movement which were available online. Using this personal data RIAS created a secret dossier<\/strong>, which was sent to the organisers of the event and resulted in her being uninvited. RIAS Berlin and MBR are two projects of the umbrella organisation VDK e.V.<\/a> (Society for a Democratic Culture in Berlin) and are funded by German public bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In March 2020, Dr. Younes requested access to her personal data from RIAS under European data protection law. This request was refused. Three months later, with the assistance of the European Legal Support Center (ELSC), she initiated complaint proceedings to the Berlin<\/strong> Data Protection Authority (DPA)<\/strong> against RIAS and MBR. The complaint requested that the DPA acknowledge the unlawfulness of RIAS’ data processing and order it to provide Dr. Younes with the personal data it had collected. Over one and a half years later, the decision of the Berlin DPA is still pending. <\/strong>Dr. Younes, with her lawyer and the ELSC, decided to file a complaint against the DPA for its \u201cinactivity\u201d as well as a civil lawsuit against VDK<\/strong> e.V.<\/strong> to expedite the process. The first is already before the 1st Chamber of the Administrative Court of Berlin for decision, which deals, among other things, with data protection law, statistical surveys and disputes under the Stasi Records Act[1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other individuals have sent privacy-related requests to RIAS Berlin in fear that they are being observed<\/strong> and that secret papers are being created by RIAS about them due to their critical stances on Israeli domestic and foreign policy. Following the same pattern, RIAS denied having processed any of their data and claimed exemptions not to give access in any case. Unconvinced by this response, some of these parties concerned now intend to join Dr. Younes’ action<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last update, May 17, 2022:<\/strong> <\/em>The Berlin Data Protection Authority and VDK \u2013 the German state-funded organisation that legally represents RIAS Berlin and MBR \u2013 aknowledged Dr. Younes’ right to access her data and VDK released the dossier. On 6 May 2022, the Berlin District Court upheld Dr. Younes\u2019 claims and ordered VDK to give Anna Younes access to data that the two civil society organisations had gathered on her and passed on to others. The information released so far reveals that RIAS and MBR have been collecting people\u2019s personal data based on their \u201cpositions on Israel and BDS.\u201d Read more in our press release.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cms.elsc.support\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Donorboxqrcode-1.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nFacts of the Case<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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