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File Name | S21-Policy-NCFCA-07-AFF-Frontex.docx |
File Size | 134.54 KB |
Date added | September 12, 2020 |
Category | Archived |
Tags | Debate, NCFCA, Policy, Season 21 |
Frontex is an EU agency that supplements the border enforcement agencies of the individual EU member countries. It also operates a coast guard patrol that searches for illegal migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. It has been greatly expanded and better funded in recent years in response to the migration crisis 5 years ago, but with that expansion there has not been an expansion in oversight and accountability. In fact, Frontex routinely violates human rights, European law, and international treaties governing the treatment of migrants (legal or illegal). While it may seem, to some at least, inappropriate to worry about the rights of illegal migrants, there are some basic standards of human rights that must apply. Some (not all) of them are fleeing for their lives from natural disaster, war, oppression, famine, etc. Mixed in with those could be some just looking for better jobs. Others are trying to reunite with family members who immigrated to Europe earlier. All of these groups show up at various borders or seashores, and often Frontex is called in to handle the mess and the chaos. (Whether you agree with such laws or not…) Treaties signed and ratified by EU members, as well as EU law, require border agencies to give hearings and adjudicate the situation of each migrant to determine if they are valid, deserving refugees who merit consideration for immigration. They should be sorted out one by one. Rounding up all of them and deporting all of them (or worse, abusing them and then deporting them) without a hearing is a violation of human rights, but Frontex does it anyway. And when someone has a complaint about Frontex behavior, the only one they can turn to for filing a complaint is Frontex itself. [“Internal investigations” of law enforcement are always problematic: Imagine you and your family are driving a long and get stopped for speeding. The driver tells the officer: “Don’t worry officer, our family will conduct an internal investigation and if there’s any problem with our speed, we’ll resolve it internally.” If that sounds silly…why do we allow law enforcement to do it?] Frontex needs better training, oversight, transparency, and outside independent monitoring to ensure it complies with human rights. Those who enforce the law need to start complying with it.