Archive
Frontex: the ongoing failure to implement human rights safeguards
A legal case alleging that Frontex was involved in an illegal deportation and the annual report of its Consultative Forum on Fundamental Rights, made up of NGOs and international organisations, show once again that fundamental rights are not at the top of the agency’s agenda. Read More
European Parliament: unlawful internal border controls must be halted and rights upheld at external borders
The European Parliament's resolution on the functioning of the Schengen Area calls for an end to illegal internal border controls imposed by EU member states, the upholding of individual rights at the external borders of the Schengen area, and calls for more stringent evaluation of the operational activities of Frontex and close oversight of the implementation of the security and law enforcement provisions in the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Read More
Pushback practices and their impact on the human rights of migrants
Submission by Statewatch to the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants. Read More
The role of technology in illegal pushbacks from Croatia to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia
Border Violence Monitoring Network has published its submission to a recent UN Special Rapporteur inquiry on race, borders and digital technologies. The submission highlights how "drones, thermal imaging cameras, and vehicle scanners have been weaponised against people-on-the-move, making them easier to detect and thus compounding their vulnerability and the dangers they face." Read More
When informal means illegal: Italian interior ministry guilty of pushbacks to Slovenia
A court in Rome has ruled that “informal readmissions” from Italy to Slovenia are unlawful, in a case concerning a Pakistani asylum seeker who was subjected to a series of violent pushbacks stretching from Italy to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Read More
European Ombudsman to investigate human rights violations at Croatian borders
The European Ombudsman is taking aim at alleged human rights violations at the EU's borders. As well as a recently-announced inquiry into Frontex's compliance with its fundamental rights obligations, the watchdog agency is to investigate the alleged failure by Croatia to set up a human rights monitoring mechanism at the borders following receipt of EU funds, and the European Commission's failure to ensure that the country did so. Read More
European Commission plans to visit Croatia in light of human rights violations – looking to clear their conscience or in increasingly hot water
The latest newsletter from Inicijativa Dobrodošli!/Welcome! Initiative covers the European Commission's plans to visit Croatia in light of news of fundamental rights violations at the borders; pushbacks at the Greek borders; deaths at sea; and police violence in Trieste against anti-racist demonstrators countering a far-right protest. Read More
Travel surveillance: Croatia and USA sign PNR agreement
Croatia and the USA have signed an agreement on the transfer of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data, taken from air passengers during the booking process, as part of Croatia's ongoing attempts to achieve a visa waiver for its citizens. Read More
Court judgment confirms that Slovenia and Croatia committed “chain pushbacks”
The latest newsletter from Inicijativa Dobrodošli!/Welcome! Initiative reports on a Slovenian court judgment confirming that both Slovenia and Croatia participated in the "chain pushback" of a man identified as J.D., who was illegally expelled to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Read More
Montenegro: Frontex launches second operation on non-EU territory
Frontex has launched its second executive operation in a state outside the EU, deploying officers in Montenegro on 15 July. Read More