On Tuesday 27 March, two officials from the European Border and Coast Guard (Frontex) provided an update on the action taken in the Mediterranean. This update was addressed to the European Parliament's civil liberties committee and certain shortcomings were admitted to with regard to the way this service functions.
Fabrice Leggeri, the Executive Director of the agency and Inmaculada Arnaez Fernandez, the officer in charge of fundamental right at Frontex, gave a presentation of the new joint Themis operation launched on 1 February 2018 in the central Mediterranean (see EUROPE 11952).
According to Mr Leggeri, this new programme is in certain aspects a direct continuity of the Triton programme it replaced. Search and rescue at sea, coast guard training and support for identification centres ("hotspots") for migrants arriving in Italy therefore remain the priorities in the new joint operation.
Themis also includes new features such as inland controls, such as in Sicily, in addition to the extension of the western operational zone in Sardinia up to the Adriatic Sea, on the basis of agreements with Italy.
Mr Leggieri subsequently provided a more general update on Frontex action in the Mediterranean, highlighting the different networks; - drug trafficking, the trafficking of human beings, organs and terrorist threats - confronting the European agency. He also looked at the opportunities Frontex has for gathering personal data that can be used in criminal proceedings.
Agustín Díaz de Mera García-Consuegra (EPP, Spain) responded by pointing out that, "Frontex is supposed to save lives and is becoming an intelligence agency!". In response, Mr Leggieri indicated that Frontex had a mandate to help prevent terrorism and authorisation from the European data supervisor to process personal data and that any action was being carried out with the competent national authorities and Europol.
Shortcomings in appeals procedures when fundamental rights are breached
Ms Fernandez provided a presentation of the operations and results from the appeals mechanism when migrants' fundamental rights have been breached. This registration and analysis system of complaints involves breeches of migrants' fundamental rights by Frontex staff and entered into force in 2016. Over recent months, the procedures have been translated into 10 languages and made available on the Internet.
The system is managed by the service headed by Ms Fernandez and has resulted in 19 complaints of which five were deemed admissible by Frontex. The admissible complaints were then sent to the appropriate authorities.
Ms Fernandez admitted to the ineffectiveness of this instrument, which had been pointed out by several MEPs. She referred to the effective lack of resources that facilitate the effective functioning of this system, which is supposed to facilitate the approaches taken by migrants.
Another controversial point involved the right to healthcare. Cécile Kashetu Kyenge (S&D, Italy), highlighted the case of the death five days earlier of a seven month pregnant migrant. The MEP questioned Ms Fernandez in this connection with regard to access to health care for migrants.
The officer responsible for fundamental rights at Frontex replied that, "There are no standards governing the expulsion of pregnant women” and added, "Although medical staff are often on board Frontex boats, responsibility in this area is exclusively that of the host member state". (Original version in French by Mathieu Solal - trainee)