On the 16th of April, the European Parliament will vote on the proposal for a Regulation on the maritime surveillance by the European agency for the coordination of the cooperation at the external borders (Frontex). There is no reason to celebrate: Frontex’ mandate is to intercept migrants, not to save lives.
[...]
The Parliament
has introduced in the regulation a definition of non-refoulement – basic
principle of Refugee Law according to which it is forbidden to send a person to
a country where s/he risks facing death penalty, torture, persecutions or
inhumane or degrading treatments or threats to her/his life of liberty. But to
assess this risk, Frontex will only use governmental and European sources and
will not publish its conclusions, which therefore will not be submitted to
debate. The Agency will also have to take into account the existence of
agreements and projects between the EU, its Members States and third countries
in order to make such assessments. But the aim of the EU, for many years, is to
“cooperate” with third countries to externalize migration control and prevent
migrants from reaching Europe. This “cooperation” does not prevent human rights
violations by these third countries. Libya, Morocco, Turkey or Ukraine for
example are blindly seen as safe countries where migrants can be sent.
Read the Press Release
Read the Press Release
