A new investigation published on Wednesday 27 April in several European newspapers has questioned the actions of the Frontex Agency, which was allegedly involved in the pushback of at least 957 asylum seekers in the Aegean Sea between March 2020 and September 2021, according to Lighthouse Reports.
According to the investigation, the agency’s internal database of incident reports, ‘Jora’, recorded observations of the pushback of asylum seekers in the Aegean Sea, described by the agency as “departure prevention”. According to Frontex, this is an incident in which migrants are stopped at sea by the authorities of a non-European country in their territorial waters and returned to their point of departure. The investigation focuses mainly on Operation Poseidon on the Greek-Turkish maritime borders and records 222 incidents.
The European Commission “takes all allegations and reports of pushback very seriously and has considerably strengthened its support and advice to Frontex”, it said.
A number of measures have been taken “to improve governance, including the establishment of a Fundamental Rights Officer and a Deputy Fundamental Rights Officer as well as 20 Fundamental Rights monitors in post since mid-2021. A working group on fundamental rights and legal and operational aspects of operations has also been established”.
The European Parliament’s investigation group has recently re-launched its work (see EUROPE 12921/29). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)