The EFAy have written to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso to ask the Commission to undertake an investigation into the safely and human right implications of using the controversial Mosquito ‘anti youth’ device.

The Mosquito device emits an uncomfortable high frequency sound that only youths can hear and is designed to disperse young people away from public areas where they are deemed to be causing a nuisance. Although the device has been pioneered and already used widely in the UK, there have been reports that the Mosquito is now also being used on mainland Europe. A court in Brittany recently banned the use of the device in one instance and said that is was causing discomfort to the public in the village. However, to date, the European Commission and other European state Governments have refused to ban the device.

The Young Scots for Independence called for a ban of the device last year and this year the Scottish Nationalist Party adopted their position after their Spring Conference. Bethan Jenkins (Plaid Cymru Welsh Assembly Member and former youth leader of Cymru X), has also suggested that Plaid is not in favour of the device.

The full text of the EFAy letter can be found here.