Meeting on 20 and 21 January, the Management Board of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, asked its executive director, Frenchman Fabrice Leggeri, to urgently implement measures to shed light on all incidents at external borders and to immediately hire 40 Fundamental Rights Monitors.
In particular, the Management Board requests that the Agency, by 26 February, clarifies several incidents at sea identified as possible pushbacks. At this stage, out of 13 incidents examined, five still need further clarification, according to a press release. And of the eight identified incidents that the Management Board seems able to close, evidence of fundamental rights violations could not be established, says the Board.
“I am satisfied that, at this stage, the Working Group has not found any evidence of any involvement by Frontex in the pushback allegations”, Fabrice Leggeri immediately commented on Twitter on 21 January.
Assuring that the Agency would make every effort to ensure that the working group could conclude its report with the remaining missing elements, the executive director also committed to ensuring that any potential violations of fundamental rights would be notified and investigated.
For her part, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, was pleased that the investigation is proceeding quickly; she recalled on Twitter that it is in Frontex’s interest that “the recommendations be applied and that the outstanding issues be resolved immediately”.
Among the recommendations made to the executive director: - make the current incident reporting system more efficient: - ensure that Serious Incident Reports on alleged violation of Fundamental Rights are always reported to the Fundamental Rights Officer; - provide that every Operational Plan should include a transparent reporting mechanism.
There is also a need for more diligence, but also publicity for incident reports, ensuring that confidential reports from Frontex employees and team members are handled in an appropriate way, given prompt follow-up and that the protection of the identity is guaranteed.
The Management Board also agrees “with the Working Group that there is no reason to establish the principle that any Serious Incident Report should be classified automatically as ‘EU RESTRICTED’” the statement adds.
Fabrice Leggeri will have to give his opinion on all these points by 19 February and also submit “a roadmap developed in cooperation with the Fundamental Rights Officer on any further steps that the Agency needs to take in this respect, with a view to guarantee their swiftest possible implementation”.
All incidents not yet classified will have to be the subject of a final report by 26 February. And for the 19th, Fabrice Leggeri will also have to say where the hiring of the 40 Fundamental Rights Monitors stands.
Link to the conclusions: http://bit.ly/3639ljE (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)