[ad_1]
Serious accusations are leveled against the EU border protection agency: it is said to have committed legal violations and covered up human rights violations. However, the internal investigation is apparently in poor condition.
By Heiner Hoffmann, SWR
Frontex can monitor the Mediterranean with drones and satellites and the images are transmitted directly to the situation center in Warsaw. But technology went on strike at the biggest videoconference of the year.
On 10 November, the Management Board of the EU Border Guard Agency met for an emergency meeting. Over and over again, several participants reported, that day they were eliminated from the line. For a long time, the Cyprus representative was unable to speak. The passage should last three hours, by the end it was almost five.
EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson had called the internal meeting. He wants to know from Frontex head Fabrice Leggeri if his agency is involved in human rights violations in the Aegean.
The ARD-Magazin Report Mainz had reported that Frontex had been involved in at least six so-called push-backs in the vicinity and in at least one case itself since April. According to a joint research with media platforms Lighthouse Reports, Bellingcat, “Spiegel” and the Japanese broadcaster Asahi, Greek border guards intercepted refugees by boat and forcibly withdrew them into Turkish waters.
Push-backs violate international law
Push-backs violate international law. The mood of the videoconference was therefore tense accordingly, the participants reported.
To get evidence from Report Mainz Leggeri presented an internal report to the participants on 10 November. Slight confirmation that Frontex units were nearby during the reported pushbacks. However, it was not possible to definitively assess whether they were aware of the legal violations or were even involved. Questions remained, such as visibility.
Frontex officials must actually report illegal push-backs under the agency’s rules, but relevant “Serious Incident Reports” have not been included, Leggeri says. His conclusion: Since there are no such reports from the crews, there is no evidence of pushbacks.
Many attendees and observers at the meeting find this explanation to be poor. The fact that Frontex has no reports on pushbacks shows that internal mechanisms for the protection of migrants are not working, it is said.
Frontex in the Aegean Sea: blocking instead of saving
The Frontex chief not only denies his officials’ involvement in pushbacks, he covers up according to research by Report Mainz and “Spiegel” also apparently reported illegal pushbacks by the Greek coast guard in the Aegean Sea. The Greek authorities had dispelled his doubts, Leggeri said in an interview with the newspaper “Die Welt” in late October, a week after the revelations of ARD and “Spiegel” – despite the fact that his own agency has been warned of alleged human rights violations in the Aegean in at least five cases by its own officials. Internal documents prove this Report Mainz to exist. In one case, Frontex even recorded from the air how Greek border guards loaded refugees onto a “rubber boat” and then had to be rescued by the Turkish coast guard.
A lot has changed in the Aegean this year. Since March, the Turkish coast guard has often not stopped refugees en route to Greece, and sometimes even accompany boats to the sea border. Numerous videos prove this. The Greek coast guard responded with a brutal tactic: refugee boats should be stopped anyway, according to Greek officials. Sometimes migrants are even dragged into the sea, even if they have already reached a Greek island. The Greek government dwarfs it as “aggressive surveillance”.
Almost no rescue by the border guards
Since then, Frontex EU border guards have barely rescued other people in the Aegean Sea and no longer take refugees on board. This is what EU officials, residents and fishermen of the Greek islands describe. Instead, Frontex is focusing on tracing the inflatables in a timely manner and reporting them to the Greeks. The further procedure is then left to the Greek Coast Guard.
Frontex informs you in writing that you always follow the instructions of the responsible authorities during operations. EU border guards do not want to say how many refugees they have pulled out of the sea.
Criticism of the European Parliament
The procedure shows once again the systematic nature of push-backs in the Aegean, says Tineke Strik, MEP for the Greens. “The evidence against Frontex and the Greek government is mounting. These practices are not just accidents, they are political.”
The Danish border guards have also experimented with this policy. On 2 March, a Greek officer ordered a Danish Frontex crew to return the refugees already rescued to the dinghy and take them to Turkish waters. This is the Frontex internal e-mail message published by the “Ask the State” transparency portal. But the Danish crew refused. Finally, the Greek command center withdrew the order and the Danish crew was authorized to take the refugees ashore on the island of Kos.
Just a single case?
The incident became known at Frontex headquarters on March 6 after Danish media reported it. “Dear Fabrice, dear colleagues,” the press spokesperson wrote at 11:39 am, and comments will have to be made soon. On the same day, Frontex was certain that it was an “isolated case”. Apparently no one was surprised that the illegal order was not reported to Frontex headquarters by its own officials. There was no “serious accident report” as prescribed in these cases. At 8:13 pm, so it goes from the emails, the files were closed.
In front of the European Parliament in July, Leggeri spoke of “misunderstanding”. A Greek coast guard officer on the spot did not understand the plan of operations. Even then it was clear to numerous observers that the Greek coast guard systematically carried out push-backs.
At the supervisory board meeting on 10 November, some participants made further allegations against Frontex. The chief of the Swedish border police said, according to several participants and internal documents, that a Swedish crew from Frontex wanted to write a “serious accident report” on 30 October. The Frontex officer in charge advised her not to. Neither Frontex nor the Swedish border police wanted to go Report-Mainz– Make a request for details.
Leggeri ignored the concerns of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights
Respect for human rights at Frontex should effectively be ensured by the office of the fundamental rights officer. It should be activated if there are any doubts or if suspicious violations have been reported. But the search for Report Mainz and “Spiegel” show: if the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights raises his voice, this must have no consequences.
In March, when thousands of migrants tried to cross the Greek land border on the Evros River and Frontex hastily sent reinforcements, Leggeri received a letter from the then fundamental rights officer. There are strong indications of fundamental rights violations, among other things, the requirement not to refuse applicants for protection has been breached, the letter says. Report Mainz and “mirror” could see. Leggeri should reconsider the use of Frontex officials on Evros.
There would have been sufficient reasons for withdrawing. Days earlier, at least two migrants had been killed on the Evros, most likely by the Greek security forces. Many other refugees reported violent push-backs; the Greek prime minister had suspended the right to asylum. But Leggeri, so it appears from the documents, rejected the proposal. Its officials should stay.
A specially set up committee of the Frontex Management Board is now investigating the allegations against EU border guards more closely. Before the next board meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, the EU Commission sent Leggeri a questionnaire. Sounds like cross-examination. “We are very dissatisfied with the way Frontex is handling the situation,” said a senior EU official.
Leggeri should have answered questions by Friday. But even Tuesday at lunchtime no answer had arrived in Brussels.
.
[ad_2]
Source link
